Role
UX Design Intern
Product Thinking, Interaction Design, Content Design
Timeline
Nov - Dec 2021
4 weeks out of 4 months internship
Team
1 Design Lead
1 UX Design Intern (me!)
As a UX Design intern, I worked on multiple projects to improve the usability of DOZR marketplace. In this project, I worked with my design lead to synthesize research and ideate solutions. I designed the next in line feature for DOZR that was shipped in early 2022!
Context
DOZR is an online marketplace for heavy equipment rentals. They connect contractors and construction companies with equipment suppliers, allowing them to rent machinery such as bulldozers, excavators, and loaders all from the platform.
Problem
Each supplier has just 10 minutes to book before the offer expires and is passed to the next supplier. Expiry rates are high because suppliers often let offers expire, not due to a lack of interest, but because they don't have enough time to respond, even when they’re still interested in booking the order.
An Expired Order
Solution
Be Next in Line to Book the Order!
Suppliers can book an expired order if the order is still available. By booking next in line, they will be placed next in line to book the order, but only if the current supplier reviewing the order does not claim it.
Impact
Book Next in Line is launched for 4K+ Suppliers on DOZR!
“Next in Line” is used for 10% of the time out of all orders being sent out
Reduced the workload of the sales team managing orders.
Established a new design pattern to communicate order status.
Let's start from the beginning!
Research
Gathering Context
To kick off the project, I talked to key stakeholders and conducted preliminary research about how DOZR Marketplace work.
So.. how does DOZR Marketplace work?
DOZR's marketplace ensures fairness by sending rental orders to suppliers one at a time, allowing each to bid based on their own pricing. This unique queueing system sets DOZR apart from competitors, who often send orders to multiple suppliers simultaneously, leading to a race to book the fastest or compromising on price.
DOZR's Queueing System
When an expiry rates are high, it means that some orders are not fulfilled. As a result, the DOZR team will have to contact each supplier one by one until the order is fulfilled. On top of that, suppliers aren’t able to book an order they missed, even when they’re still interested.
Design Prompt
Goals
Business Goal
Increase the number of secured orders in DOZR Marketplace.
User Goal
Book an order that was previously missed
Analyzing the Current Solution
Extending the timer
DOZR allows suppliers to extend the timer by 10 minutes before it expires. However, suppliers reported that the extra 10 minutes isn’t enough to make an informed decision. Additionally, if suppliers aren’t aware of the order within the initial 10-minute window, they lose the chance to extend the timer. As a result, expiry rates remain high.
Current Solution: Extending the timer
Takeaways
Key Findings
10 minute extension is not enough for suppliers to make a decision to accept an order. We’re not comfortable increasing that time because it could be a long time for a contractor to get their orders fulfilled.
There needs to be a sense of urgency for suppliers to accept orders with the queueing system.
Suppliers might not be aware that the queueing system exists.
Design
Let them get back in line!
Considering the constraints of the business model and the needs of the user. We decided to find a way to get suppliers back in line to book their order. We outlined the user flow to accommodate to the different use cases.
Getting Back in Line Userflow
Initial Designs
With the time constraint for the project, we tried to implement minimal changes to the current designs so we could get it reviewed and shipped as soon as possible. But we realized that given the context that users might be missing, it can be hard to understand what is happening to their expired order if we simply added the option to book the order.
Initial Designs
Challenge
Communicating the opportunity to book an expired order
A huge pain point of this feature was to make sure that suppliers understand what they can do with their expired order. We realized that adding in the booking button and some helper texts wouldn’t be enough for suppliers to understand, especially when we realize through research that not all suppliers understand that there is a queueing system.
Banner Explorations
Iteration
The goal here is to encourage suppliers to retrieve an order that expired, but still interested in. So we refined the microcopy to clarify that, even though the 10 minutes window has passed, they still have an opportunity to book. We chose green to indicate that the opportunity is still available, and added a CTA in the banner to clearly guide users on the next step to take
Banner Final Design
Challenge
Communicating the state of the order
Another layer of cognitive load that we want to reduce is helping suppliers understand what is happening to their order. With the added status of being back in line to book an order, we want users to understand that although the order is expired, it’s still unfulfilled and there’s a chance for them to retrieve the order.
Order Status Exploration
Iteration
To address both challenges, we decided to remove the term “expired” from our UI to reduce cognitive load. Suppliers typically interpret “expired” as meaning they’ve lost the order and that no further action is possible, which makes it unclear that the order can still be retrieved and booked. By using “next in line” as a status, we clearly communicate that the order is still available, helping users understand both its status and the action they can take.
Order Status Final Design
Next Steps
Other than the tablet, DOZR has another web app called the SupplierHub that allows suppliers to respond to orders in addition to other administrative operations. Next steps is to map this feature onto the design pattern of the SupplierHub.
SupplierHub Explorations
Learnings
1/ Balancing User Goals and Business Goals
This project relates directly to how DOZR works as a business. I had to learn how to brainstorm ideas with a huge business constraint in mind.
2/ Designing Tablet
Designing for a tablet experience for the first time challenged me to further understand my tablet-specific interactions and design limitations
3/ Be Creative with Communication
This was a high priority project at the time, however, it was hard to get together all the stakeholders to review the designs. With the time constraint of my internship, I took the initiative to create walkthrough videos in order to get asynchronous feedback from the team. It made me realize that there are more creative ways out there to get feedback efficiently other than the regular design critiques.