Roots Bowls
Mobile app for food ordering, order tracking, and loyalty rewards
Where
San Diego, CA
Role
UX Designer
What
IOS mobile app
Category
E-commerce, B2C
Why
Volunteer project
When
09/22 - 10/22
Why I made this project?
I had a conversation with the owner of Roots Bowls, a local business in San Diego. During our conversation, I learned that partnering with third-party food ordering platforms such as Uber Eats, Postmates, or Doordash was a significant challenge for small businesses like Roots Bowls due to their high fees. Despite the challenge, online ordering is essential for businesses to remain competitive and meet customer demand. I wanted to get valuable real-life experience and offered my UX Design skills to try solving this issue.
Market research
The Claim
Restaurants are charged 15%-25% per order by third-party platforms such as Doordash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, etc. However, being represented on these platforms alongside competitors is not advantageous for business.
According to a survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association in 2020, 79% of customers agreed that having access to technology-based ordering options such as online ordering, mobile ordering, or self-service kiosks is essential for restaurants.
The Problem
The challenge is to find a solution that addresses the high fees and potential competition on third-party platforms while still enabling small businesses to meet customer demand through online ordering and supports potential expansion.
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Online food ordering has grown 300% faster than dine-in since 2014 and now accounts for roughly 40% of the total restaurant sales.
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60% of Americans order delivery at least once per week.
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59% of restaurant orders from millennials are takeout or delivery.
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Mobile orders account for 14% of a restaurant’s total revenue on average.
The Market research confirmed that there is an opportunity to increase business results and improve the overall user experience by providing online orders via mobile app.
Competitive analysis
In order to gain insights into market opportunities, I analyzed two competitors. The first is a popular franchise chain that offers a mobile app for food ordering. The second is a local business that utilizes a mobile-friendly website for ordering.
Strength
+ Brand popularity
+ Online presence (web + app)
+ Rewards program
+ Online ordering
Weakness
- Customer service quality varies on different locations
- Prices
- Cluttered ordering experience
Nekter Juice Bar
Strength
+ Customer service
+ Product variety
+ Local support
+ Online ordering
Weakness
- Website interface
- Item customization
- Cluttered ordering experience
- Order pick up system is not accurate
Liv Juice
What people say about the competitors
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The competitive analysis helped me to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors. It allowed to create a product that offers a better solution for customers.
User Interviews
Although I had limited time, I conducted four interviews with current Roots Bowls customers, which allowed me to identify common pain points and brainstorm possible solutions. Ideally, I would have liked to conduct more interviews not only with Roots Bowls customers but also with customers of competing businesses to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the market.
“I order food at Roots 3-4 times per week and it’s nice that they have a rewards coupons for loyal customers. But I always forget them and it sucks”
Michael Reid, 30
Software Engineer
“I have a limited time for a lunch break, so I prefer to order food in advance. The only think that I don’t like is to use third party platforms for my orders”
Sarah O’Neil, 36
Accountant
“I’m more of a pick-up and go kind of a person and I love to customize what I eat because of my food allergies”
Angel Dominguez, 20
College Student
“With my work schedule I prefer to value free time and order food for to-go. But I hate to arrive in time and wait for my order to be ready”
Rodrigo Alvarez, 33
Real Estate Agent
Pain Points
And each of them had in common, that they loved food from Roots Bowls, but they were not satisfied with the current ordering process. After combining insights from research process, I’ve offered a solution to answer discovered pain points.
Initial research summary
After conducting market research, competitive analysis, and user interviews, it became evident that Roots Bowls must continue offering online ordering to remain competitive in the market. Additionally, implementing a loyalty rewards program would support marketing efforts and incentivize repeat business. To further strengthen the brand identity, encourage customer retention, and reduce costs associated with third-party partners, it is recommended that Roots Bowls develop its own mobile app.
User Persona
My goal was to create a user persona that would enable the development of a better product that addresses user problems and supports their goals.
Using the insights from interviews, I was able to identify a range of goals and determine what users require to achieve them and combined it into User Persona.
Journey Map
User Journey Map aided in identifying potential solutions to address user pain points.
I developed a user journey map to highlight and comprehend all aspects of the customer experience.
After analyzing all of the research data, I began to sketch out the initial flows and create low-fidelity prototypes.
Then I started designing
Flow Diagram
Below is a sample flow (note that failure state flows were also designed but not shown).
In order to outline the necessary functionality, I created a fundamental flow diagram to showcase the essential actions that user can take.
Paper Mockups
After gathering research insights I started my design process with paper mockups. It helped to quickly ideate and generate many variations before creating low-fidelity mockups.
Low-fidelity Prototype
The purpose of creating a low-fi prototype in my project was to test the initial user flow and see if it is efficient and intuitive.
High-fidelity UI Design
Following the completion of the low-fidelity design for the initial flow, I began creating high-fidelity screens. The first step was to establish the color scheme and typography.
Color palette
Primary, secondary, background
Font
Open Sans- Bold, Semi-Bold, Medium
Montserrat - Medium, Regular
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Primary color for CTA's
High-fidelity prototype
I connected my high-fidelity designs into a clickable prototype. That allowed me to test the mobile app on a group of users.
Usability Testing
I’ve conducted the usability testing to check and observe how users are interacting with the app. I was happy to discover that initial version of high-fi prototype was simple to use and users completed the goal in 100% cases. But also the testing helped me to fix some features.
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The main feature that was added after the usability testing is the ability to select the amount of each ingredient on the customization page.
Participants: 6
Duration: 20 min
Time on task: avg 1:30
2/3 of users(4 out of 6) were able to complete the task within 1:30 min.
83% of users(5 out of 6) mentioned that they want to have the option to select the number of ingredients.
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Study Results
Project summary
Throughout this project, I discovered that user research and identifying the problem is crucial to developing a successful product.
I realized that designing a product with the user in mind must align with the current business objectives of the company. UX design involves problem-solving while simultaneously achieving the business goals.
By conducting market research, competitive analysis, and user interviews, I was able to identify the common pain points of Roots Bowls customers and come up with a solution that addressed their needs. The development of a loyalty rewards program and the creation of a mobile app for online ordering will help the business increase brand identity, retain customers, and reduce costs associated with third-party platforms.
I created a user persona and user journey map to gain a better understanding of the target audience and their experience with the product. This helped me to develop a flow diagram and high-fidelity screens that aligned with the user's needs and business goals.
Through this project, I learned that the key to designing a successful product is to put the user at the forefront of the design process and align it with the business goals of the company.
