The usability study

I took lead on organizing a usability study of the current Pet Salon booking flow to identify pain points that our customers were facing. I wrote the study script, moderated the study and compiled the findings to create a set of recommendations to our business partners.

Findings from study results & research:

Knowing that 60% of our traffic was coming from mobile devices, we knew that a mobile-first design approach was needed.

Users were looking for the ability to easily refer back to earlier steps in the process of booking.

When looking for appointment times, users wanted to be able to sort by time of day.

Users wanted the ability to see add-ons for their pet and learn more about the services while in the booking flow.

Design considerations:

• Mobile Friendly - I wanted to create a design that was incredibly intuitive for our mobile users that also allowed them to easily review their choices through the process. The accordion-type design accomplished both of these while also maintaining consistency with our mobile app design.

• ADA Compliance - Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design. Creating ADA compliant designs are an absolute must when customers are our number one priority. We conducted extensive research to ensure our color choices and clickable areas were in compliance to allow all users to easily navigate and use the site.

• Personalization - Bringing a sense of delight to our users while they are accomplishing a task that may not be inherently exciting is a benefit of User Experience design. Adding in small features like a pet’s photo instead of using a standard icon is a way to make the experience feel tailored to the user and gain trust and positive feelings towards the brand.