Overview
Context
This UX design project was created for Didi Chuxing Technology, the top transportation company in China that offers app-based transportation services to over 550 million users.
Currently, the app does not formalize the function of requesting rides for another person, forcing users to go through a troublesome process. Additionally, riders are exposed to safety issues, making it imperative to formalize the process for requesting rides on behalf of others.
Problem
Painpoint #1:
users need to manually notify the person they booked the trip for about all the trip details. They also need to contact the drivers to let them know that they will be picking up someone who doesn’t match the profile. This back-and-forth communication causes inconvenience for the users.
Painpoint #2:
A greater concern is that the riders in this situation are not directly ordering their trips through the platform, they do not have access to our in-app safety features and such trips cannot be monitored. Without access to the riders’ real-time location and contact information, it’s difficult for us to offer instant help when an emergency happens. What’s more, the riders involve young children and elders, who are more susceptible to safety issues.
Painpoint #3:
The problem has severe ramifications and requires immediate attention. Our safety reports have shown that “the person who placed the order is not the actual rider” has become a leading cause of safety incidents including attacks and sexual assaults. What’s more, such trips counted for approximately 7% of the trips on Didi platform--this number has increased by 2 percent since last year.
Solution
After thoroughly investigated the users’ pain-points and carefully analyzed the user needs, we have made the decision to formalize the process of requesting trips for others. The design goal is to ease the hassle, increase the the platform’s revenues, and enhance user safety.
I analyzed the trip details with SQL to define the patterns and characteristics of such trips. I found that a majority of them are long-distance trips
Is it a long-distance trip or a short-distance trip?
Is it a cross-city trip or a same-city trip?
Users will be prompted to fill in the rider's contact info, which they can easily pull up from their contact list. They will then proceed to enter the rider's id, which gives us the information about the rider's sex, age, and background info, helping us consolidate the matching algorithms and assign drivers based on the rider's condition.
The users can also change the settings in their app to ban others from ordering trips for them or add someone to the blacklist.
Via the link provided in the confirmation text, the rider can access a html page where they can see real-time updates of the trip progress.
Reflection
visual
reported by user research team, share voice recording strongly. further enhance the experience.
After filling out the required fields, the users can move on to the next step to request the ride. The rider's info will be automatically stored, saving time for future orders.
Understand the Challenge
How might we create a smooth, user-friendly experience for all parties involved?
How might we ensure the safety of the riders who don't order through our app?
Examine the Old Strategy
Users who want to request rides for others usually go through an unformalized process by directly entering the rider's pick up location and destination and communicating the trip details with all the parties involved. As previously analyzed, this will result in not only bad user experience but also safety issues.
The platform has adopted the strategy to stop users from requesting rides that are not for themselves. We are able to detect 20% to 30% of such trips in an early stage. For example, if the user enters a destination that's in another city, it's is very likely that the trip is not booked for themselves.
Once being detected, the user will be prompted with a page explaining the risks involved in requesting a ride for others. This aims to persuade the users to cancel the trip.
However, only 5% of the orders were cancelled in this way. Most users ignored the warning and proceeded to request the ride.
Design
Major Design Decisions
1. I will provide a formalized entry for requesting rides for others on the booking page.
2. Once we identify a user requesting rides for someone else, instead of asking the user to cancel the trip, I will lead the user to the formalized entry.
3. Important trip details along with a link to real-time tracking page will be sent to the rider via text. There will no longer be a need for back-and-forth communication.
4. The process will make it easier for all parties involved, orderers, riders, and drivers. It also allows the platform to better monitor the trip and provide help when necessary.
Formalizing the process of requesting rides for another person to create a safe, simple, and user-friendly experience
Research
Define the Problem Space
To better understand the user journey, I envisioned a number of possible scenarios of users requesting rides for another person, and categorized them into the following three types.
(the orderer refers to the person who places the order, the rider refers to the person whom the trip is booked for and who actually takes the ride)
Same location order
The orderer and the rider start off at the same location and then depart from each other.
“I will book a car to send my friend home, she’s so drunk! As for me, I’m gonna stay at the party and have more fun.”
Different location order
The orderer and the rider are at spatially different places throughout the trip
“My parents who live in LA need to go shopping the but they don’t have a car. I will book a trip for them.”
Pick up order
The orderer and the rider are at different locations, but the rider will meet the orderer at the destination
“My partner just arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport! I will book a car to pick her up and meet her at my place. “
To define user personas and incorporate the needs, goals, and behavior patterns of our target users, I proceeded to investigate whom they usually book these trips for and why.
Who do you order the trip for?
Why do you order a trip for them?
Top reasons:
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They will only be riding this once and don’t want to download the app. It's easier to do it on my end.
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Elders/children don’t know how to use the app.
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I want to show my care for them since I can pay for the trip if I’m the one who places the order
Through semi-structured interviews and surveys, I generated many interesting findings:
1. The rider is usually someone who’s close to the orderer, such as their parents, partners, friends, or children.
2. Some riders don’t want to bother downloading the app and setting up a profile, so they let those who already have the app installed to book the trip for them. Some other riders may have difficulty using technology.
3. The orderers take the responsibility of booking the trips to show care and support.
...
Prototypes
The users can find a checkbox for "requesting rides for others". Once the box is checked, they will be promoted to fill in required information. If they are not using this formalized entry, a safety notice will direct them to the right place.
The trip details card will indicate whom the trip is booked for. The orderer can track the trip in app. The rider will be notified via text of important trip details including pick up spot, destination, car and driver info. They can also ban others from requesting trips for them if this is not a service they want, lowering the risks of scam or prank. The rider will be updated via text throughout the process on important changes in trip status, such as cancelations.
The orderer will also receive text notifications at the time when the rider starts and finishes the trip so that they can keep an eye on the rider .
Problem
Pain point 1: Inconvenience
Users will have to to manually notify the person for whom they booked the trip about all trip details. Additionally, they must also contact the drivers to inform them that they will be picking up someone who does not match the profile. This back-and-forth communication can be inconvenient for the users.
Examine the Old Strategy
The platform has adopted the strategy to stop users from requesting rides that are not for themselves. We are able to detect 20% to 30% of such trips in an early stage. For example, if the user enters a destination that's in another city, it's is very likely that the trip is not booked for themselves.
Once being detected, the user will be prompted with a page explaining the risks involved in requesting a ride for others. This aims to persuade the users to cancel the trip.
Pain point 3: Loss of revenue
Based on our location-analysis algorithms, we have observed that only a small percentage of users (20% ~ 30%) are detected as not ordering trips for themselves, leaving the rest unmonitored. Despite being prompted with a warning pop-up, most of the detected users ignored the message and proceeded with their ride request.
Attempting to halt all users from ordering rides for others is an unsuccessful strategy due to two reasons: Firstly, it is challenging to identify all users who do so, and secondly, even for those who are detected, they often ignore the warning and continue to request the ride.
Furthermore, even for the 5% of orders that were cancelled through this approach, the company lost revenue and potentially lost users who may opt for alternative platforms that offer a secure and streamlined process for requesting rides on behalf of others.
Therefore, we have decided that preventing users from requesting rides for others is not a practical solution and adversely impacts the company's revenue. Ordering rides for others is a valid user need and we should aim to provide this feature.
Pain point 2: Safety risks
A greater concern is that riders in this situation are not directly ordering their trips through the platform, and therefore do not have access to our in-app safety features, and such trips cannot be monitored. As a result, without access to the riders' real-time location and contact information, it becomes challenging for us to offer immediate assistance in the event of an emergency.
Moreover, these trips tend to be long-distance and may involve young children and seniors who are more vulnerable to safety issues.
Overview
Context
This UX design project was created for Didi Chuxing Technology, the top transportation company in China that offers app-based transportation services to over 550 million users.
At present, the app does not provide a formalized function for requesting rides on behalf of another person, which can make the booking process troublesome for users. Furthermore, without access to in-app safety features, riders who are booked for by another person are exposed to safety risks. Therefore, it is crucial to formalize the process of requesting rides for others to improve the overall user experience for all parties involved.
My role
Product manager
Goal
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Ensure the feature meets the needs of the users and aligns with the company's strategic goals
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Lead the end-to-end product development process from ideation to launch.
Responsibility
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Conducting user research using qualitative and quantitative methods, analyzing data with SQL
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Identifying user pain points and user journeys
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Generating user flows and prototypes
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Overseeing the development and launch of the feature