JAXAY:
Craft Beer Delivery App
Overview
I worked with Connor Almon and Tara Tahlor on a three-week project for Veltek Group and their online craft beer delivery concept, Jaxay. Our goal was to provide the client with user research in order to validate product assumptions and user needs, define the value proposition and determine the MVP through the creation of personas, user flows and wireframes/prototype.
My Role
Competitive Research
User Research / User Testing
Persona Development
Design Strategy
Competitive Overview
In order to get an idea of the competitive landscape, we used Abby Covert’s heuristics analysis method to evaluate five alcohol delivery apps: Minibar, Drizly, Swill, Thirstie and Craft Shack. For the most part, the competitors had strong usability performances throughout. Where we saw opportunities to further distinguish Jaxay from its competitors was in making the app more delightful, findable and credible.
Using Abby Covert's heuristics analysis, competitors' sites were evaluated across 10 usability factors.
Results showed an opportunity to further distinguish Jaxay by making it more delightful, findable, and credible to users.
Using Abby Covert's heuristics analysis, competitors' sites were evaluated across 10 usability factors.
User Discovery
To get a sense of how users interacted with existing alcohol delivery apps, we conducted quick contextual inquiry sessions on three users; 2 females, 1 male, aged 22-27, who had experience ordering alcohol delivery through an app. We gave users the task of completing the end-to-end process of ordering alcohol to be delivered to their home on the Minibar app. We found the following key insights:
PRICE as a top factor for purchase.
"I’d consider price first and recommendations second. But I also wouldn’t wait longer for delivery for a cheaper price point."
RECOMMENDATIONS based on what they like or had previously purchased was desired.
"I’m pretty open if someone (website/app) would give me a suggestion on what to get."
TIMELINESS and RELIABILITY of delivery are key factors in increasing the likelihood of a repeat purchase.
"If I didn’t care about speed, I would get it myself. Unlike food, I don’t have to wait for alcohol."
User Interviews
We conducted moderated 1:1 interviews to get more in depth data regarding user's behaviors and experiences when finding, consuming and purchasing craft beer. The raw data from these interviews were digitally affinity mapped on Trello and grouped into the following categories: Taste Profile, Context/Situations, Behavior/Habits, Pains, and Wants/Needs. From the affinity map, it became apparent what users' main pain points and needs were. From there we were also able to see that there were 4 types of users we were seeing of which we then narrowed down to three main personas.
Participant Profile:
10 Total: 4 Females, 6 Males
Ages 23-45
People who drink and enjoy craft beer
PAIN POINTS
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Hard to keep track of beers they’ve tried before.
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Building a taste profile takes time.
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Not getting accurate recommendations for new beers to try.
NEEDS
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Ways to expand taste and try new beers.
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Authoritative descriptions of beer flavor profiles.
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A way to discover new beers.
Affinity Mapping User Data
User Personas
Defining Value Proposition
The presence of alcohol delivery apps in the U.S. market has quickly grown over the last few years due to the popularity of on-demand delivery services and a growing demand for craft beer. Creating a well-defined value proposition is key to clearly communicate the unique customer value that Jaxay offers over other competitors in the market.
User Trends:
Task Flows
We mapped out the user's task flow through three main tasks: Task 1: Onboarding — where users are given a brief walkthrough and asked to register or begin building their taste profile, Task 2: Discovery — where users are asked to search for and rate beers, and Task 3: Purchasing — where users go through the checkout process to complete their order for delivery.
User Testing
A/B testing on users determined use of thumbs up/thumbs down rating system in second iteration. A total of three rounds of user testing was performed and adjustments were made to content with each successive iteration to make the design more accessible and clear.
Annotated Site Flow
Findings
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Our research revealed that a large part of the craft beer experience for users was influenced by discovery, personal tastes, social context and the need to continously try something new due to the vast selection available in the market.
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Key pain points among users included difficulty in recalling beers they’ve tried, becoming more knowledgable about their own taste preferences and the need for more accurate recommendations for beers they will like
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We determined a value proposition for Jaxay that capitalized on discoverability and crowd-sourced reviews to make the app more useful and enjoyable for the end user.
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We delivered an MVP craft-beer delivery prototype that lets users search for beers based on their preferences, build their own taste profile and receive recommendations based on other users with similar tastes.
