Cafe order & Loyalty App
Introduction
Cafe Loyalty is an app designed to assist both new and returning customers in earning and tracking points after every purchase. The app enables users to view the rewards they have accrued, explore new featured items or offers, and conveniently place orders directly online while utilizing their rewards. This functionality not only saves users money but also time by allowing them to stay ahead of their orders.
role
UX Research, UX Design, UI Design
Figma Prototype
Problem
Returning customers seek opportunities to earn rewards and derive benefits from their loyalty, fostering a sense of appreciation for their continued patronage. Many loyalty apps are often challenging to comprehend or become confusing, hindering the overall user experience.
GOAL
The Cafe Loyalty app will let users earn points after every purchase, catering to returning customers seeking to benefit from rewards through point redemption.
Design Process
Design
- Lo-fi Wireframes
- Hi-fi Wireframes
- Usability Testing
Recollect
- Challenges
- What I learned
- What can be improved
EMPATHIZE
COMPETITOR AUDIT
Our key competitors are Gregory’s Coffee, a small NY based coffee shop, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts as strong international brands. Gregory’s Coffee and Starbucks are direct competitors while Dunkin Donuts is an indirect competitor to Cafe App.
Type and quality of competitors’ loyalty program
Gregory’s Coffee is a simple app with key functions of mobile pay and order ahead. The Loyalty program was especially unique compared to the other competitors The higher tier you are in the more you get out of your rewards.
Starbucks has an amazing layout that doesn’t use the typical hamburger drop down menu and everything is visible and accessible from the home screen. They use a lot of imagery in the app but also provide Aria app for visually impaired users. Loyalty program is point (stars) based and offers occasional promotions to earn double points or half off items. You can pay and order ahead and save previous orders.
Dunkin has shifted from donuts and drip coffee to be more competitive by adding variety of drinks and food items. Promotions are shown in the home page while everything else is navigated through the left hamburger menu icon. The loyalty program is a little better than Starbucks since you can earn more rewards faster with less money to spend while also collaborating with other companies for discounts elsewhere. Dunkin Donuts also offer a pay and order ahead feature as well as delivery right from the app.
Opportunity Idea
An innovative feature not yet integrated into existing applications involves the capability to scan desired beverages directly at the point of sale. This functionality serves to accommodate individuals with speech impairments who seek to place orders in-store without verbal communication. Moreover, it addresses the needs of customers with multiple customized orders, thereby mitigating potential errors during the ordering process.
INTERVIEW
I conducted interviews with college students and working adults to understand their frustrations and how they can be resolved. The user group in this case consists of young adults who seek a streamlined process for ordering and earning points. The main concern of the user group wasn't solely acquiring points, but also ensuring they have alternative methods to earn points, access better rewards, and have options for calculating nutrition.
Interview Questions
- Can you describe your current schedule and how you incorporate going to a cafe?
- How often do you order from the cafe? When you do, what is your motivation for doing so?
- How do you feel about loyalty programs? Have you faced any challenges or frustrations participating in a loyalty program?
- Does the cafe you go to have a loyalty program already? Is the loyalty system easy to understand?
- What challenges do you face in the ordering process? How does this make you feel?
- Is there any way in which you feel these challenges could be resolved?
User Pain Points
- Time
Wants an estimated time that it would take for the order - Cant sign in/Slow internet or app
automatically signs you out or the internet is too slow to sign in. Wants an option of giving a phone number that's linked to the account to still receive points. - High cost, Low reward
A lot of places require you to spend a lot of money before getting any rewards. Which is discouraging to use. - Nutrition calculating
Wanted a way to calculate nutrition especially with customization
DEFINE
PERSONA
Rachel
Age: 38
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Status: Single
Occupation: Financial Consultant
Rachel is a financial consultant often traveling for work and has a busy schedule. She goes to the same coffee shop because it's on the way to work and the baristas know her drink by heart. She doesn’t doesn't have time to fully understand how the loyalty program works and finds it confusing. The coffee shop she goes to uses physical loyalty cards which is hard to keep track where it is because she's always on the go often misplacing causing her to lose points. Rachel wants a loyalty system that is easy and to the point and does not want to worry about managing physical cards and miss loyalty points.
Goals:
- To have a set routine, time management
- Be quick and efficient at the things she needs
- Keep things organized especially financials
Fusterations:
- Doesn’t fully understand how the loyalty program works
- Have too many cards and hard to manage where it is when it's time to scan
Kevin
Age: 20
Location: Laurelhurts, WA
Status: Single
Occupation: College Student
Kevin is a student working towards a bachelors in communication. He finds it hard to study at home because his roommates can be distracting so he spends hours at the local coffee shop often buying multiple things throughout the time at the shop. The loyalty program that the coffee shop has is difficult to earn points and even when he does have enough points it can only be used on drinks. Kevin wants the option of using his points towards food to save some money as a student.
Goals:
- Have a place to study
- Minimize the energy on basic needs such as cooking to focus on school
- Save some money
Fusterations:
- Food & drinks can get expensive over time
- Loyalty points can only be used on drinks
- Loyalty points are hard to earn
USER JOURNEY MAP
Persona: Kevin
Goal: An easy way to gain and use loyalty points over the course of studying long hours at a cafe
IDEATE
SKETCH
INFORMATION Architecture
LO-FI WIREFRAME
Originally, the Cafe app was meant to showcase just the function of a loyalty program but designing the app was so much fun, I thought incorporating an ordering system was necessary to demonstrate the possibility of using the points straight from the app while ordering.
HI-FI WIREFRAME
USABILITY TESTING
The goal of usability testing is to ensure the design reflects what the users need and that the users’ pain points were addressed correctly.
Moderated usability study
Location: Remote
Length: Each session can last up to 8 to 10 minutes
Usability Study Results:
Many of the issues encountered pertained to locating specific functions, such as the rewards page and the save order feature, which were attributed to the wording of the buttons. Subsequently, adjustments were made, changing "Redeem" to "Rewards" and "Store order to scan" to "Save order," respectively.
Check out the prototype
here.RECOLLECT
CHALLENGES
When doing the usability test, there was an issue of finding the right tools to record the session. After doing the usability test, I realized that the audio did not get captured. This reinforces the practice of double checking applications and equipment before testing to be better prepared. Thankfully, I had taken notes to remember most of the results.
WHAT I LEARNED
I learned that while designing for a specific function, in this case a loyalty program, other ideas for more functions easily came in mind. When thinking about all the potential users in this project, the 'save order to scan at store' came to mind for multiple uses. Not only people who have speech impediments or anxiety can benefit from this feature but so can people with large orders or long customized orders can be scanned and sent straight to the register's system without mistakes. Finding a solution that I haven't seen used before really excited me.
WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED
In the future this app can be improved by adding a nutrition calculation feature. For health conscious people, counting calories or knowing the ingredients can help users understand what they are ordering a lot better.
