Food Delivery Merchants| E-Commerce | Redesign | Data-driven
Duration
August - September 2023, 3 Weeks
Team
Worked with PMs, Engineers, and operators.
Contributions
Research, Ideation, Prototyping, Testing, Designing.
Status
Launched 🚀
Overview
Context
DiDi Food is a global meal delivery platform. I worked on the team that focuses on merchants in South American countries.
Business Objectives
The company aimed to reduce the number of orders canceled by merchants.
Because customers who have ordered and waited for their food only to find it canceled have a disappointing experience, which might cause the platform to lose both customers and revenue.
What are the benefits for merchants?
📈
Increase Sales and Revenue
Fewer canceled orders mean more completed transactions.
😊
Improve Customer Satisfaction
It will encourage repeat business and positive reviews.
💪
Enhance Reliable Reputation
Attract new customers and strengthen trust in their brand.
Metrics
Business Metric
Business cancellation rate = Orders not canceled by customers / All canceled orders
UX Metric
Help the merchants receive orders easily and efficiently
Results
We reduced the Business cancellation rate in three countries from 3.69% to 2.45% in two months and provided merchants with a more convenient order-taking experience.
Research
Why do merchants choose to cancel orders?
I read reports from workshops with merchants to understand the order-taking process. And I brainstormed ideas to identify potential directions.
The item is out of stock
Low willingness to accept orders
Too many orders during peak periods
The order taker is late and leaves early
App is not running in the front of the system
No aware of any order
The status is online but the kitchen is not ready
Constraints
We are unable to conduct user interviews with merchants due to language barriers.
Solutions
I conducted data analysis to identify the problem and prioritize the issues.
Finding #1 Systematic cancellation more than cancellation by the merchant
Finding #2 A significant increase in the cancellation rate during holidays
Design Challenge
How might we assist merchants in receiving orders before they timeout?
How do merchants receive online orders?
A sound alert will notify merchants when new orders arrive. The orders will then be displayed on the screen, requiring merchants to confirm them within 5 minutes.
In-depth research
I collaborated with the operations team in Mexico to raise this issue during a workshop and gather feedback from merchants.
Insight #1 Forget to set the special business hours
Kayla Ray
"I forgot to set the special business hours for some holidays and were online automatically without awareness."
Insight #2 Miss the voice alert
Eva Elle
"I can't hear the voice alert now and then and will miss the order. I don't understand why the volume changes all the time. "
Part I — Special Hours Settings
Problem
Merchants have to manually remember and set their holiday business hours. This can lead to overlooked important days and increased cognitive load.
Before
Solution
I added a list of upcoming holidays for users to choose from and enabled them to name special days, making it easier to remember and reducing the likelihood of forgetting.
After
Usability testing
Because the new design requires more actions from customers, we conducted a brief usability test to understand how merchants perceive it.
They found it helpful and suggested adding features that would allow them to quickly set special hours for upcoming days.
Responsive Design
To accommodate the diverse needs of merchants who use tablets, or desktops to receive orders, I created a responsive design for different screen sizes.
Part II — Sound Alert
Problem
I noticed that the product lacks a volume control for voice alerts in the settings, causing it to default to the system volume. When users lower the system volume while navigating away, the reduced volume remains when they return.
Before
Solution
Merchants were enabled to adjust the volume directly within the product settings, ensuring that the sound volume remains unaffected by system volume changes.
After
Iterations
After speaking with the software engineers, I found the button unnecessary since the test audio plays automatically when users release the slider.
Results
Successfully reduced B cancellation rate and optimized order-taking experience.
Next steps to reduce Business Cancellation Rate
Enable merchants to identify and report sold-out items in a timely manner, preventing customers from placing orders for out-of-stock products.
Enable merchants to set various business statuses, for instance, if they're busy during peak hours, we could minimize their appearance frequency on customer devices.
My takeaway
Identifying problems is just as crucial as finding solutions. Without a thorough understanding of the underlying issues, it’s challenging to develop effective solutions that address the needs of users.
There are various approaches to solving a problem, and each one may have its own set of benefits and challenges. It’s essential to evaluate these options and prioritize the most critical issues to ensure that efforts are focused on the most impactful solutions.