TL;DR

Soona creates same day photos and videos (custom content) for customers, they noticed a gap in their sign up process.

Inconsistent brand reflection and messaging created a gap in user experience leading to a lot of uncertainty for the user.

Updated terminology, additional suggested wireframes to understand booking flow and additional screens to add a step in the process to highlight the value soona offers.

soona 

Soona offers same-day photos and videos for customers who need product shots for their online merchandising, websites, and/or social media feeds. soona’s integrated business platform includes software-as-a-service, in-person photo sessions, and in the end, edited photos and videos as products. Customers book the shoot online, request backgrounds or props, and finally create a “shot list” of the looks they desire. Essentially, soona allows its customers to be remote art directors. Customers then either drop-off or ship their products to soona to be photographed or videoed. The soona team uploads the raw photos to their website where customers can choose and purchase their content ‘a la cart’ style.

Learning about the Competition

I conducted a competitive audit to help me understand the business overall. My findings identified features, flows, processes, and UI elements that—while similar—showed me soona’s value, which isn’t offered by any other competitor. These value propositions were not communicated to the customer anywhere on their website. And there began my journey into further research.

The Current Journey 

During the stakeholder interview, I discovered, that soona frequently received emails and phone calls from potential customers regarding questions about the overall sign up process. The CFO—and one of soona’s developers—shared with me the feedback they collected from their customers. Most of these calls were related to the booking process, the next steps post-booking, and the photos/videos soona provided. She understood there were parts in the booking process that confused the user, and she wanted clarity behind the booking flow. To better understand what the users in this problem-space are doing, feeling, and thinking, I created a digital current customer journey map specific to the booking flow.

Frustrating Journey

The customer journey map showed many failed usability heuristics. While the information hierarchy was very strong, there were some design elements that seemed like quick-fixes to patch some usability issues. In one example, I counted 8 different terms soona used to communicate the booking process, this fails the consistency & standards heuristic which, in turn, created unnecessary confusion for the user. Documentation was present but was a frustration for the user as it diverted them away from the sign-up journey. The need to follow a link to see examples of photoshoot styles not only added clicks but also took the user away from the already cumbersome booking flow. With this new information, I worked with a team to help ideate options on how to improve the usability of the website.

Kano Analysis 

The Kano Method is a set of techniques that help determine customer satisfaction with product features. (You can learn more about this method by searching google but I’ve also linked to the Wikipedia page if you’re looking for more detail.)

Using the Kano Method as my guide, I created a set of questions for the participants to answer while reviewing our 12 design options. I collected their answers into a google sheet where I could easily and clearly display them with their respective design option. I was able to see that the results of the Kano analysis revealed similar findings as did the journey map findings from my earlier research. In the images below, I explain in better detail the results of the analysis.

Design Recommendations

I presented high fidelity wireframes of my design solutions to the stakeholders at soona. The high fidelity wireframes were shared in a presentation that I gave to the client. I chose to focus on 3 key goals pulled from the Kano Analysis: 

• Identify areas where potential user gets confused or stuck in the current booking flow. 

• Make advancements to facilitate a more informed progression through the booking/account creation process. 

• Advance soona’s brand and organization values based on a request during the stakeholder interview.

Prototyped Wireframes

Progress Bar

I adjusted the booking flow interactions by adding a progress bar. This helps the user understand where they are in their process and better explains the time commitment they have entered. It also gives the user an idea of where they are in the process as well as explaining visually, what the steps are

Example Images

I prototyped changes to the functionality by adding a button hover-state that explains the terminology used on the soona website during the booking flow.

Are These Already Edited?

Another pain point discovered during my heuristic analysis and the kano model results was the confusion about the unedited images the user saw. While customers are invited to come to the photoshoot or join it remotely, the user frequently thought the photos shared by soona were the final product. These images were often dark and looked unfinished. The customer wasn’t told anywhere on the site that the images they were looking at were “raw” and would still receive an edit before they were ready to be purchased. There needed to be a way to communicate that information to the user. I chose to do that by adding clearer title terminology as well as a new “edited” or “unedited” badge above the title of the images or videos. I also included the term “editors Choice” to encourage the customer to purchase additional images that they wouldn’t normally consider. If soona wanted to be a casual but informed expert, this gave them a way to do that.

‘Shot Builder’ Update

The ‘Shot builder’ steps came after the booking flow was completed. This was the value proposition I found to be the most important and needed to be better explained. The participants of the Kano Method also mentioned they felt that “sometimes I don’t feel like the expert” and wanted art directing help from soona. This third button called ‘template’ gave the user an option that allowed them to be somewhere in between full control or no control.

In Conclusion

I presented my recommendations and annotated wireframes to soona with the hope of helping the user navigate the site more easily. With my changes implemented, the user will have a better understanding of the soona booking process and be encouraged to purchase more prints. The ease of use will also increase the number of repeat customers. I included an updated customer journey map explaining the additional screens and how the designs I have suggested will improve their user's overall experience.