Finding a way to Retain Clients in the Face of Funded Delivery Startups, Empowering Local Meat Shops.
Local business owners are concerned about losing clients to funded meat delivery apps. They are seeking an alternative and efficient system to counter the competition from these delivery startups. These owners are unable to afford and manage a dedicated home delivery team like gig economy platforms do, and they also want to avoid overcharging their customers. They are in search of a solution that allows them to offer delivery services without compromising their financial stability or customer satisfaction.
User Persona
Local business owners are concerned about losing clients to funded meat delivery apps. They are seeking an alternative and efficient system to counter the competition from these delivery startups. These owners are unable to afford and manage a dedicated home delivery team like gig economy platforms do, and they also want to avoid overcharging their customers. They are in search of a solution that allows them to offer delivery services without compromising their financial stability or customer satisfaction.
Frictions & Findings from user interviews
- Standing in a long queue on a Sunday morning is frustrating
- Ordering from home offers convenience and saves time.
- Users have some understanding of placing orders due to their experience with competitors' apps
- Customers prefer to pick up their orders from the shop instead of paying extra for delivery.
- Users desire the convenience of digital platforms but are reluctant to pay extra for it.
- Users are hesitant to download a new app due to trust concerns.
- Users are skeptical about local vendors' apps and doubt their technical knowledge.
- Users already use WhatsApp as an ordering platform with local vendors.
- Familiar apps include Gpay, PhonePe, WhatsApp, Facebook, ShareChat, and YouTube
- Most users have Android phones with a price range between 5k to 20k.
Assumptions
Developing an app may not be the most effective approach due to user hesitancy in installing new apps, particularly if the app is hyper-local in nature.
To overcome user reluctance towards installing new apps, the optimal solution would be to leverage existing hardware and apps in their smartphone and develop a service around them. and allowing users to place orders without requiring the installation of a new app.
The Implications of Not Having an App: The purpose of developing an application is to establish a user base and facilitate personalized interactions, offering customized solutions. Additionally, a mobile application serves as a bridge to provide users with a wider range of products and services, allowing for potential expansion. However, in the case of our local vendor, extensive customization or connectivity is not required. The main goal is to provide a seamless buying experience for customers.
Explored Options
Building a Web App
WhatsApp Chat Bot
Phone Order
Constraints of these options
Constraints of Building a Web App in a mobile-friendly world
Mobile users often find it challenging to manually type URLs on a browser, such as "www.Rajachickenandmuttonstall.com". This poses a significant hurdle as people tend to hesitate or forget URLs, hindering their ability to navigate further.
Running a web-based app on a mobile platform differs from the familiar app interaction that users are accustomed to. For instance, pressing the back button on a browser often closes the entire browser instead of taking users to the previous page, resulting in a suboptimal user experience.
Without an app, the ability to send push notifications to users regarding updates is compromised. Instead, we would have to rely on web push notifications, which can be intrusive and we anticipate that users may not readily agree to receive them. As a backup solution, SMS notifications can be implemented as a failsafe.
Constraints of Building a WhatsApp Bot - Running a business in Whats’s App is scary
The cost per interaction for messaging is relatively high, and over time, it can exceed our initial expectations, potentially resulting in increased expenses.
Building a platform solely reliant on another platform poses risks, as unintended community violations or rule changes within that platform can disrupt our operations.
Managing a high volume of sales orders through a WhatsApp bot can pose scalability challenges, as the platform may not be optimized to handle large-scale operations efficiently.
Integrating a WhatsApp bot with other business systems and processes, such as inventory management or payment gateways, may be more difficult and require additional development effort.
Communicating complex order details, special requests, or addressing customer queries through a WhatsApp bot may be more challenging, potentially leading to misinterpretations or delays in order processing.
Constraints of Phone orders:
Handling sales orders over the telephone often involves manual processing, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors, leading to order inaccuracies or misunderstandings.
Customers may face difficulties reaching out via telephone during peak hours or when customer support lines are busy, resulting in delays or frustration in placing orders.
Without a digital system in place, tracking and managing sales orders can be challenging, potentially resulting in difficulties in providing accurate order status updates to customers.
Running sales orders over the telephone may require additional staffing and resources to handle customer inquiries, process orders, and manage customer support, resulting in increased operational costs for the business.
Considering the limitations of other options, designing a web app appears to be a promising solution with fewer constraints.
To ensure the effectiveness of a web app system on mobile devices, it is crucial to address four key aspects:
Simplifying the Access to Shop URL
Onboarding Process
Ordering Process
Notifications and Updates
By successfully addressing these four aspects, a web app can offer several advantages similar to a mobile application. These include scalability at a lower cost, Digital tracking and analytics capabilities, the ability to handle high sales volumes online, and the Flexibility to customize the process and user experience as needed. This surpasses the limitations of a “WhatsApp bot” or “Telephone”-based sales system, allowing for a more effective and tailored solution.
Simplifying the Access to Shop URL
To inform existing customers about the meat shop's new order and pickup services, we need to reach them while they are waiting in the queue. Considering customers carrying a bag one hand and a mobile on another, I devised a one-handed method for accessing the URL on their mobile devices. The ideas ensure easy access with minimal keystrokes.
1. QR Code Scan
Display a QR code on the counter for users to conveniently scan and access the web app's URL. By scanning the QR code, users will be redirected to the desired web page, eliminating the need for manual typing or searching. This enhances accessibility and encourages user engagement with the web app.
2. Call a Toll free number to get the URL
Brands often use missed call campaigns for voting or support. Users receive a text message thanking them after giving a missed call. To share the shop URL conveniently, users can call a specific number and receive a text message with the URL. They can tap on the URL to place their order easily. This simplifies the process and avoids manual typing or searching.
3. can Using WA and send “hi” to receive an automated URL
By leveraging WhatsApp Business's welcome message feature, we can include the shop link in the initial message users receive when they interact with the business. Additionally, we can prominently display the same shop link in the business profile for easy access.
4. NFC to tap and send a URL
Using NFC Chip, we can simplify the process of accessing the shop URL. By placing an NFC chip near the counter, users can simply tap their phones or bring them close to the chip to trigger NFC communication. This prompts the URL to appear on their device, eliminating the need for manual typing or scanning.
5. Created website
Asked users to enter a simple 3 digits to redirect to the page and host that in we, We acquired an easy-to-type domain name “www.ulloor.com” and listed vendors on it. Users can tap on their desired shop to access its URL. to prevent customers to switch vendors, and maintain vendor loyalty, each shop is assigned a unique three-digit number. Customers can simply type the number to access their preferred shop's URL.
After evaluating these five points, we realized that implementing a call-to-receive URL solution would impose significant costs on vendors, making it unsustainable in the long run. The expenses associated with call charges and SMS renewals would burden vendors financially.
Considering that phones below 15k do not have NFC readers, we reluctantly decided to drop the NFC option with heavy heart. Although NFC provides a seamless way to share URLs without friction, it is not feasible for our target user segment with budget phones.
Design Process Story
show-and-tap method.
During the initial stages of the design process, my mind was filled with vivid stories told by Saravanan (persona) about preparing delicious mutton dishes. However, Saravanan is not particularly tech-savvy and prefers spending his time on Facebook and WhatsApp. It was intriguing to observe him interact with Facebook, where he would scroll, like posts, open them, navigate to the comment section, and even use voice input to comment in his regional language.
His interaction with Facebook resembled that of a 5-year-old child, pointing at things (tapping to view posts) and expressing his thoughts (commenting through voice input). Inspired by this observation, we focused on striking a balance between technology and usability. Taking into account my uncle's behaviors, i tailored the ordering process, checkout process, and other aspects of the user interface to adopt a show-and-tap method. I emphasized clear visibility of inputs and deliberately removed unnecessary visual noise, including the "POS system."
Onboarding Process
We simplified the onboarding process by using only the mobile number for user authentication. Personal information and delivery address are collected during checkout, prioritizing a seamless user experience.
Ordering Process
In designing the web app for browser usage, we made a deliberate decision to repurpose the back button as an exit button. This choice aligns with the browser environment and ensures a seamless user experience. Our design direction was centered around creating a POS system-inspired interface that encourages users to navigate through the app primarily via taps, rather than relying on the back button. By prioritizing tap interactions and streamlining the navigation process, we were able to deliver a design that feels intuitive and efficient.
Notifications and Updates
We utilized web push notifications to provide status updates to users. Once the meat is packed, an SMS notification is sent to the user, informing them to collect their order.
Final User story (as mockup)
QR Scan with (Gpay) > Enter mobile number - OTP- > Choose product > review and place order > Address > Place Order > Order Ready SMS. Loop Close.
Two Weeks after deployment
After two weeks of deployment, we conducted interviews with customers who had placed orders. It became clear that there were two distinct user bases with different preferences. One group was willing to pay for the delivery service as they valued time savings, while the other group simply wanted the convenience of preorder and pickup.
Retrospective & Opportunities to improve
Enhancing user engagement through push notifications and efficient SMS distribution.
The introduction of third-party support for scanning GPay QR codes rendered other URL sharing methods obsolete. Now, we can exclusively rely on QR code scanners for seamless user experience.
Further exploration of user types is underway to better understand their specific needs and preferences.
Considering the trust gained over time, transforming the solution into a hybrid mobile app would cater to users who are open to downloading and using the app for convenient access to the service.