Rover.com Project

Time | 6 weeks

Role | Researcher, UX + UI Designer

Team | Design Director, UX Design Students

Enhancing Trust for Rover.com Through UX Design

Background
I spearheaded a team of 4 UX students for my capstone project at Rover—an international online pet care marketplace born in Seattle. Our goal was to boost trust in Rover Now, the on-demand dog walking service, resonating with the reluctance similar to rideshare apps. We conducted in-depth research, ideation, and user testing, presenting diverse design proposals to Rover's leadership, aiming to fortify user confidence in the new service.

Problem

Research
In leading a team of 4 UX students for my capstone project at Rover—an international pet care marketplace rooted in Seattle—we delved into enhancing trust within Rover Now, their on-demand dog walking service. Our aim was to address customer hesitancy, similar to the initial skepticism faced by rideshare apps like Lyft or Uber. The typical Rover user base consists of tech-savvy, mid- to high-income individuals aged 25-45, highly regarding their pets as integral family members.

Our approach involved an intricate research phase to discern the apprehensions and needs of three key user groups: current Rover users, non-Rover users, and Rover walkers. We employed a varied spectrum of research methodologies:

My personal contribution to this thorough research included orchestrating 6 in-person interviews spanning the user groups, curating two comprehensive surveys that amassed over 120 responses, analyzing competitor strategies, and conducting an in-depth exploration through online channels. This meticulous research aimed to extract nuanced insights and paint a holistic picture of user sentiment, enabling us to craft tailored design solutions poised to address the identified concerns.

Findings

Upon thorough analysis, we extracted overarching concerns shared by the triad of user groups. From this collation, we distilled three pivotal pillars for bolstering trust: fostering greater transparency, ensuring a consistent user experience, and nurturing a sense of community.

In our pursuit of fortifying trust, we pinpointed key areas for UX enhancements where we believed our interventions could wield the most impact. Our team brainstormed multiple proposals aimed at addressing user apprehensions. Prioritizing rigorously researched design choices, we curated a list of 7 proposals, ranging from the readily implementable to more intricate solutions.

Given the constraints of our timeline, we adeptly divided and conquered the design challenges among our team members. My focus centered on elevating trust through refinements to Rover's review system. In tandem with a teammate, I endeavored to fashion a provider badge system, aiming to imbue profiles with a mark of credibility and trustworthiness.

Design

In the process of deep-diving into user behavior, I unearthed a crucial revelation: customers heavily relied on reviews when selecting a service provider. However, an intriguing paradox emerged – customers were notably hesitant to pen down their feedback. To tackle this conundrum, I initiated the creation of the “fast-feedback” review feature, aiming to streamline the process for customers to swiftly share detailed reviews. Commencing with initial simple sketches, I expediently transitioned to crafting medium-fidelity mockups, ensuring a seamless and user-friendly experience.

To complement this approach and address the dearth of written reviews, I devised a straightforward button system. This intuitive feature empowered users to effortlessly select from a range of common feedback responses, serving as an alternative avenue for capturing user sentiments.

Recognizing the value in harnessing this feedback, I collaborated with a teammate to develop a comprehensive provider profile badge system. This system ingeniously incorporated insights gleaned from the fast feedback, enriching the profiles of service providers with pertinent information from customer reviews. This dynamic integration not only personalized the experience for users but also bolstered the credibility and transparency of the service providers' profiles.

Prototyping

I leveraged Figma to craft a high-fidelity prototype for the fast feedback system, delving into the intricacies of its development. Collaborating closely with my teammates, I sought their insights by having them rigorously test and scrutinize the design. Their valuable feedback enabled a series of iterative refinements to the user experience. Each iteration was meticulously shaped to ensure a seamless and user-centric design, driving the enhancement of our proposed fast feedback system.

Testing

In team-based sessions, we conducted tests comparing the existing Rover experience with our new design proposals among customers. Initially, customers rated their perceived trust with the current Rover experience. Subsequently, we tested our designs and posed the same trust-related questions. As a result, we observed a 2-point increase in perceived trust, indicating that our design proposals were promising in enhancing Rover's customer trust.

Findings

After the 10-week project, our team presented our design proposals and research findings to Rover’s Design Director. Impressed, he invited us to Rover’s headquarters to showcase our work to other directors and stakeholders.

The directors and stakeholders at Rover were also impressed, noting that our designs aligned well with their ongoing projects. They appreciated the level of research we conducted, finding it on par with their previous efforts. Post-presentation, several features from our proposals have been integrated into the current Rover Now experience.