Empathise
During the discovery phase, we started off by trying to identify and validate UX problems within the Just Eat app. We carried out a product walkthrough and a nano usability test.
We wrote a discussion guide and conducted five interviews on Microsoft Teams, gaining valuable (qualitative) data, which helped us understand some of the problems that user's faced.
Armed with these results, we created an online questionnaire using Microsoft Forms and obtained further (quantitative) data helping us to better understand the user's perspectives.
In our survey, 69% of respondents reported that they had been ordering food online for over a year, with 59% of respondents reporting that they order food online every week, the most popular days for orders being Friday and Saturday.
The three main reasons reported in our survey were a reward by 82% of respondents, 41% of respondents cited ordering food online was due to convenience, and 18% of respondents reported that they were too busy to prepare food.
Just Eat was reported as the most popular online platform for ordering food by 71% of respondents, followed by Deliveroo (41%) and Tesco Online (35%). While the overall consensus among respondents was that ordering food online is a positive experience, however many areas could be addressed to improve the user experience.
Define
Using the research data, we created two role-based perspectives. Our primary persona is Clara, 27, a Marketing Professional and self-confessed foodie who lives in the city with friends. She loves to socialise, enjoys time with her family and likes cooking, eating out and ordering takeaways.
Our secondary persona is Nathan, 50, a Public Sector Worker, a home-owner who lives alone in the city. He's very busy with multiple demands on his time. He likes technology and the convenience of online shopping. He enjoys cooking but doesn't always have the time to cook.
We then created Empathy Maps, To-be User Journey and As-is User Journey Maps. Helping us identify our user's actions and behaviours while interacting with the application, allowing us to understand their positive experiences and negative experiences (pain points).
From our research, including both insights from qualitative interviews and results from the quantitative survey on users, we found that there were a number of issues while using the app, as well as general trends on online food delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The key problems identified from these research findings are as follows;
- Difficulty in finding special offers
- Difficulty in finding new dishes/cuisines
- Inability to search by dish
- Real-time delivery tracking
Ideate
We introduced several new features to our Just Eat redesign, as per the feedback from our research.
The first of our new features is a large, ‘search by dish’ search bar. Making it easy for user's to type in a dish rather than a restaurant or a cuisine type. As we are working from home more during (and after) the pandemic people are ordering food at different times throughout the day as opposed to the traditional weekend takeaway treats.
The new trends see breakfast, brunch and lunch becoming more popular and specific dishes as people want to eat healthier and try new dishes/cuisines.
Next, we added a carousel of ‘Special Offers,’ followed by a carousel of ‘Trending Dishes.’ Both carousels have large images of the dish and a detailed description of the dish and its ingredients - something the users asked for in our research - almost like a restaurant menu!
A visible estimated delivery time is displayed on each dish/restaurant, along with delivery cost and distance.
Prototype
We used standard elements across the app that users are already familiar with. The colour, language, menus, and buttons are consistent throughout the app. There is nothing that will throw or confuse a regular user of the app.
Much of the feedback from users was on the lack of or how poor the images of food across the app were. As we know, we eat with our eyes first. We wanted to introduce delicious-looking imagery, to tempt and entice the user.
We also redesigned parts of the UI without interfering or losing the overall look and feel of the Just Eat brand.
We rearranged the filter and search icon to the right and changed the colour.
Replaced the images on the 'cuisine type' carousel to outline icons.
And also changed the menu items on the footer slightly and made them a fill colour instead of an outline.
Testing
For our usability testing, we used three participants, giving them two tasks to complete. All three tests were carried out online.
Task 1
You have an appointment in 50 minutes but want to grab a quick bite to eat beforehand. You have heard that the ‘trending dishes’ on Just Eat are really good and you’ve been meaning to try one. Can you find the trending dish with the fastest delivery time?
Task 2
A friend has told you that there is a ‘special offer’ on Japanese food on the Just Eat app. You are excited to try it as you haven’t had Japanese food in ages. Can you order a dish, then add a miso soup to the order? After that, can you check the delivery status of the order?
Test Outcomes
Participant 1
In an earlier iteration, we had an arrow beside the 'Special Offers' and 'Trending Dishes' carousels. The arrow was there to prompt the user to scroll right to see more. We felt that the design didn't need the arrow as almost half the image and text of the next item was 'off the screen' and this should be enough of a prompt.
The decision to remove the arrow was justified when it was noticed that participant 1 tried to click the arrow on a couple of occasions - mistaking it for a link. This may have been down to the participant testing the app on a laptop and using a mouse.
They may have acted differently on a phone or tablet. Nevertheless, following a team meeting, it was decided to remove the arrows as we felt they were unnecessary.
Participant 2
Participant 2 suggested we include a tally of the amount spent per month. A great suggestion but for the purposes of this project, we decided it was not necessary.
Participant 3
Participant 3 found no issues in completing the tasks.
View Figma Prototype Conclusion