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TIER - Group rides redesign

OVERVIEW

This project aimed to leverage learnings from the group rides MVP based on user needs and pain points, and design a flow that is scalable with all the features currently available in a single ride.

ROLE

Product Designer
User research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing

Background

TIER Mobility is a shared micro-mobility provider, with a mission to change mobility for good. The company provides a range of shared, light electric vehicles, from e-scooters to e-bikes and e-mopeds, powered by a proprietary Energy Network and helps cities reduce their dependence on cars.
 

TIER is committed to being climate-neutral that will benefit the environment and also ensure a liveable and sustainable future. TIER was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

I joined TIER in July 2022 to work on the group rides feature. We were a team of 8 people (product designer, product manager, tech lead, iOS developer, android developer, 2 back-end developers and data analyst). I was closely collaborating with user researcher and other cross-functional team members that had an overlap with our team.

Understanding the problem

When I started working on group rides redesign there were already enough user research conducted of the current MVP version. This allowed me to have a better understanding of the pain points users had with the existing user journey and to understand their goals and needs.

Raw data from group rides MVP flow:

Screenshot 2022-12-18 at 14.27.45.png

It was revealed that:

  • There is potential to reduce ambiguity of starting rides:

    • One user subconsciously started a single ride with the intention of adding another scooter and paid for an unplanned unlock.​

    • 30% of users who clicked Group ride drop out after accepting the terms, but 30% of them start a regular rental within an hour.

  • When reaching a destination together, users want the option to end all rides. This would save clicks and effort.

  • Pausing a group ride would allow users to make short stops without paying for new unlocks.

Group rides vision and solution

From these findings, we decided to identify key business goals:

  • We want users to be able to easily move from a single ride to a group ride without cancelling the rental.

  • We want users to have a possibility of ending all rides at once.

  • We want users to have an option of pausing group rides.

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As a starting point, I did competitor analysis to investigate the current offerings in the market and take inspiration from particular features that I liked about each app.

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Direct competitors that offer group ride feature and their user flows:

Screenshot 2023-01-07 at 17.14.35.png
Screenshot 2023-01-07 at 17.14.52.png

Later, I conducted an ideation session to encourage each member of the team to draw out their vision of the solution.

Sketching the solution

Based on the ideation session, it was revealed that there were commonalities in the product vision. We identified the following key user stories:

  • Starting group ride from a single ride. Users can add a vehicle from a single ride with a click of a button.

  • Managing group ride directly. Users can manage vehicles directly once group ride has been started.

  • Having an element of playfulness. Users are guided through the flow with enjoyable micro-interactions that enriches the journey.

  • Pausing and ending individual rides. Users can pause and end individual rides by using three-dot menu which is a well known pattern.

  • Pausing and ending all rides. Users are able to easily pause all rides as well as end all rides at once.

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I mocked up the main screens for the group rides 2.0 based off the ideas created by the team and came up with the following:

  • "Add rider" button in a single ride view.

  • Direct group ride manager view once group ride has been started.

  • Three-dot menu for each vehicle to manage them in a group ride (each action follows up with the double confirmation since users prefer double confirmation for extra security when ending/pausing ride (confirmed by user researcher)).

IMG_9953.jpg

Designs

TIER already has an established design system with all the necessary components, so my next step was to quickly create high-fidelity mockups based on the previously made sketches.

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Main high-fidelity mockups showcasing the single ride that has been converted into the group ride:

all gr views-7 (6).png

Validating the designs

I conducted unmoderated usability test on UserTesting platform with 6 users that used micro-mobility service at least once in the last 12 months. The goal was to see whether creating a group ride from a single ride and managing it works for the users or are there any action items that should be addressed and iterated further. I wrote a script including scenarios so the users would feel more connected with the situation of city exploration with scooters while in a group ride.

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I took notes while observing the sessions and placed everything into the Miro board:

Screenshot 2022-12-20 at 23.16.42.png

The usability test revealed that users were concerned about end all rides functionality not having an after ride picture. Note: before the usability test we decided in the team to remove the after ride picture for end all rides functionality due to it's complexity. I did communicated to my team the concerns that users had about no after ride picture when ending all rides.
Apart from that users have successfully managed to complete all the tasks (starting single ride, adding 2 friends into an ongoing ride, pausing a ride, resuming a ride, ending a ride and, lastly, ending all rides at once). There were no major action items to iterate on therefore the mockups were delivered to the team.

Developing the designs

All the mockups were created in Figma and the flows were broken into milestones (prio 1, prio 2 etc...) so that developers would have a convenient and understandable way on how to begin with design implementation and move forward.

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Below you can see the group rides 2.0 prototype:

Results and takeaways

Working in a startup was an extremely steep learning curve. It was an eye-opening experience that taught me a lot about being lean and knowing when and where to focus my energy and efforts.

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Unfortunately I am no longer at TIER because the business had experienced some serious financial hurdles and these changes caused the lack of resources to sustain my position, hence I won't be able to assist developers and other key stakeholders further with group rides 2.0. Nonetheless, I have learnt so much during the six months and these would be a few takeaways from this project:

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  • Work with data. I've learnt to understand how crucial it is to have a data analyst in the team who provides information related to the product that I am trying to improve. All the meaningful insights guided towards making a better decision while redesigning group rides.

  • Involve engineering upfront. By involving engineering team upfront I made sure they are more user centric (helping to solve real user problems) as well as it helps to reduce any rework later on as an understanding of the technical limitations upfront helps to inform my design strategy.

  • Design thinking is key to effective products. This lean framework really helped to shape the workshops and discussions with the team as it allowed me to stay focussed and on track throughout the entire project.

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