WEWORK ON-DEMAND
Accelerating the growth of a hybrid-ready workforce in India
OVERVIEW
After the initial wave of COVID-19, there had been a transition to a hybrid work setup due to a prolonged need for human interaction and collaboration coupled with flexibility to work from anywhere. WeWork identified this need and started offering its workspaces on pay-per-use basis. We refined the digital booking experience of WeWork On-demand to help people meet their co-working needs.
DURATION
4 months (Jan 21’ - Apr 21’)
MY ROLE
Research, Ideation, Visual Design, Interaction Design, Usability Testing
COLLABORATORS
UX designer, Design manager, Engineering lead
PROBLEM SPACE
Booking on-demand workspaces through the website posed challenges, causing frustration and abandonment of the process.
Reflections
Working on this project was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked on various aspects of it. As a designer, this project has helped me upskill and gain valuable learnings.
Testing is King
1. Through this experience, I truly learnt what “Fail Fast, Fail Forward” means.
2. The countless iterations and design directions which would go down the drain when tested out with users made me realise the value of prototyping, and not to get too attached to my designs.
Success hinges on prioritization
1. It is very important to prioritize the insights obtained from user testing in order to ensure that the most critical issues are addressed first.
2. With prioritization, companies can make data-driven decisions about where to allocate resources and achieve business objectives faster.
The impact
Besides the positive feedback received from the users and great reviews from the stakeholders, the redesign of the on-demand website was a huge success as it resulted in increased traffic, improved user engagement, higher conversion rates.
25%
sales contribution from day pass bundles within 2 months of launch
44%
increase in conference room sales after making it a standalone service
12%
increase in On-demand conversion rate
30k
active users after the launch
Finally, the insights derived in this project, along with other redesigned components, were incorporated in redesigning the WeWork India website too. Here’s the link to the project.
Final Design tweaks
I incorporated user feedback into my design revisions, prioritizing feasible changes that considered resources and technology. I didn't ignore important usability issues, even if they couldn't be addressed immediately. My goal was to create a user-friendly product through a thoughtful approach.
Quicker day pass flow
Regular users who book multiple day passes are familiar with the locations so a quick pop-up in the beginning can help them skip a lengthy flow and save time. More importantly, recently booked option will enable 1-click booking experience.
Conference room quick book
Since we had deprioritized the proposed conference room booking experience (due to technical constraints), I had to pivot to a pop-up approach, which is quick and consistent with the day pass flow.
Day pass bundles
Adhering to the need of booking day passes in bulk, we introduced "day pass bundles" as a value for money option for users. This would allow users to purchase day passes in bulk at a discounted price and plan their week at their chosen location.
Scannable listing page
I iterated the design of product list page by adding more visual aid to make information more scannable which will help users to explore and compare WeWork locations more efficiently.
Usability Testing
Since we had narrowed down to two versions, we wanted to get first hand feedback from the users to understand their mental models and which approach works better for them. Although we had determined the need of an option to view and book specific conference rooms, we still wanted to test this hypothesis and gather feedback.
Hence I designed two versions of prototypes (mobile and desktop for each).
I conducted usability testing with 13 participants for 30 minute sessions each. I did both in-person and remote testing on both website and mobile platforms:
USABILITY TEST SCRIPT - TASK BASED
“During google search, you land on this website. You want to book a conference room and a day pass. Take me through the flow and during this I want you to think out loud.”
OBSERVE:
If the user understands the process and if any information is confusing or missing.
If the user is able to book services quickly.
Flow taken for booking conference rooms. (which version users prefers, A or B)
What information they expect to see while booking conference rooms.
If the user needs to book multiple day passes and conference rooms.
If the user finds the map useful to search for a workspace.
Testing with the users
Synthesizing Insights
I synthesized the usability test observations and organised raw data like video recordings, notes, etc. in a meaningful way. Subsequently, I collaborated with the principal ux designer to identify common themes and patterns that emerge from the insights gathered:
Affinity mapping exercise
MAJOR INSIGHTS
Separate booking flows
Users find the new flow essential because it meets the needs of two different target audiences, making the experience frictionless and more personalized.
Version B
preference
Users want to spend some time to view actual conference room details like images, capacity, amenities offered etc. and want to have control over the selection process
Quicker booking options
Users who book on-demand services regularly need quicker booking options, like 1-click workspaces
Multi-purchase value
Users see value in booking multiple day passes in advance to save time and money
Note: I've added the detailed user feedback about improvements & their needs as opportunities in the prioritization matrix below:
Our team of designers, developers and a project manager collaborated with the client in developing a prioritization matrix to assess the deeper insights according to their potential value and the amount of effort required, with the aim of determining the feasibility of implementing each insight to the final design.
You can view in detail here
Learn from the market
I put on my detective hat and went in search of other companies offering co-working spaces. I researched about a few things like the website navigation, booking experience and also evaluated responsiveness for mobile web. By evaluating these factors, I gained valuable insights that I used to inform on my design decisions:
Product search with input selection
The first touchpoint on the website is to capture users’ input through which they can filter their search results and quickly find products that match their criteria.
Ability to choose suitable conference rooms
This lets users select a conference room that best fits their needs, typically found in room booking systems.
Making information discoverable via visual aid
This approach helps users quickly identify and comprehend important information, and make informed decisions.
Walk a mile in users’ shoes
I stepped into the users’ shoes and built user flows to map out each step the user would take when interacting with the website. The modifications to the flow were based on the user journey mapping exercise and aimed to address the pain points:
New user flow
Putting Pen to Paper: Sketches
Sketching was the first step in bringing my ideas to life. With all the ideas and thoughts I had built up in my head during the groundwork phase, pen and paper made it easy to rapidly iterate on ideas. I also collaborated with a ux designer in my team to work on this:
Brainstorming on paper
Iterating the way to succeed
It took us multiple iterations to come up with a good design. Since there was an existing UI system and also a tight timeline, we decided to design high fidelity wireframes, which gave a real picture of the idea. During this time we also incorporated feedback from our client to align with their vision too.
Below are screenshots of some of the wireframes we designed:
HOME PAGE
Old home page
Iteration 1: Information overload
Iteration 2: No targeted start point, less user input
Final layout
PRODUCT LIST PAGE
Old PLP
Iteration 1: Filter buildings by product
Final Version A: Old approach to view building amenities & randomly assign conference rooms as per availability
Final Version B: Ability to view actual conference room details & choose as per requirements
You can view product detail page iterations here
Following an extensive brainstorming session, we had identified two potential versions of the design that we chose to focus on.
VERSION A
Adhering to the old approach which involved displaying a list of buildings with available conference rooms that match the search criteria, and randomly assigning the available rooms.
VERSION B
Allow users to view list of conference rooms based on specific information, such as actual images, the size of the room, amenities included, etc. and book rooms that best suit their individual needs by giving them control over the selection process.
Understanding the users
I wanted to design with specific users in mind, rather than assuming that everyone has the same needs or preferences. I conducted user interviews with 5 folks to understand their co-working needs.
Defining Pain points
With the help of existing user data, I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the user experience problems and identify the areas for improvement, so I created a user journey map:
Use case: Booking a conference room
The biggest pain point was that the initial flow of the website only allowed customers to book a conference room as an add-on service when booking a day pass, but did not offer the option to book a conference room as a standalone service without purchasing a day pass.
Additionally, it was misleading to see building information while searching for a conference room and that information wasn’t enough for users to take informed decisions.
Opportunities for Redesign
I identified and reframed the above pain points into opportunities:
Revise the website flow to allow users to book a conference room as a standalone service, so that the services become discoverable.
Allow customers to search for and book conference rooms based on their specific needs.
Arushi has been amazing working on our website and has been instrumental in helping design and build all the WeWork digital products in India. From in-person customer interviews to very rapid design and flow changes to match our fast growing pace, she has been able to anticipate upcoming challenges as the products scaled and designed for them in advance which has been instrumental for us as a product in the growth phase.
-Akshaan Nambiar, Senior Product Manager at WeWork India
Whether you're a potential co-worker, a fellow creative, or simply a curious soul, I'd love to hear from you!
Drop me a Hi and let's get the conversation started.
arushi.aa13@gmail.com
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