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Awayco Online Renting

Improving Search Experience

The Awayco website is a SAAS platform that not only helps users to find items they want to rent/share in a quick and efficient way but also helps to protect our planet.

Timeline:

2 months

My Responsibilities:

Analytics Review

UX

UI

Role:

Product Designer

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“The sharing eocnomy is the value realized in taking under-utilized assets and making them accessible/ re-usable online to a community, leading to a reduced need for ownership of those assets.” 

- Alex Stephany

Introduction

Awayco is a software as a service global rental platform. Its online store model allows stores to build their own rental online stores for their products. At present, Awayco focuses on surfing and snow products, and will soon expand to more areas.

The project journey was around the three questions raised by Awayco.

  1. How is product search currently being used?

  2. How can product search be improved to meet user needs?

  3. How should I handle the categorisation of products as Awayco grows into areas outside surf and snow?

After a series of analytics review, user research and competitor analysis, we found out people’s search habits and main concerns about renting. In order to provide a more sufficient search experience for renting, we designed three-level search filters and redesigned the product page.

How is Awayco’s product search currently being used?

  • Analytics review 

  • Usability testing on the current Awayco’s website

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Analytics Review

I analyzed the data of Awayco in Google Analytics and Algolia Analysis.

Where are Awayco’s users?

According to Google Analytics, in the nearest three months, Awayco’s main users are in the United States and Australia.

So, I suggest Awayco focuses on user needs in these two countries.

Another finding is that of all the users, more than 42% load the product page. This data is good, which means over 40% of users have an interest in Awayco’s products.

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What devices do they use?

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Most people use desktops to browse Awayco’s website. This is the reason why we decided to design desktop first.

Surfboards are the most popular products

Surfboards are the most popular products

According to Algolia Analysis, surfboards are the most popular products in Awayco. So maybe Awayco should give priority to surfboards when displaying products.

People are most concerned about the location

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90%

90% of top searches are locations, this shows the location is the most concerning factor for people.

So we decided to add location as a primary filter into the search box.

70% of top searches without result are still based on locations. 

This means, to Awayco, there is a huge potential market to develop.

p.s. "Searches without result" means that people input something into the search box but didn't get any search results about that.

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70%

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Usability Testing

We conducted usability testing with 7 participants who had prior renting experience with other platforms. 

 

We asked them to complete a task on the AwayCo platform in order to discover their needs & frustrations.

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e.g. "Imagine you are going to  Canada, and you want to ski there. Take a look at the website and book a snowboard or other equipment before you arrive there. "

People have a good impression of the homepage

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Users prefer to use filters other than to use the search box

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"There are categories, countries and locations on the sidebar filter, which is very convenient and effective for searching sports equipment."

None of the participants used the search box.

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Users are confused about some features on the Search Page

"Why do these filters change?"

"I clicked the show more button, but nothing happens."

"If the price can be displayed in my home country's currency, it would be more convenient."

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Users want to see more information on the Product Page

"How can I go back to the homepage?"

"It's hard for me to decide whether I could trust the retailer and the product."

"I don't know which size suits me."

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Users are not familiar with the SaaS model, they still assume Awayco as a marketplace 

"I feel I am lost on this website."

"I don't know whom I will sign up, Awayco or the retailer?"

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Need some improvement on the booking calendar

"How can I pick a different time period?"

"Dose the "+" mean some extra fees?"

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Users need more explanation on rental prices

"Why are there so many different prices?"

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How can product search be improved to meet user needs?

  • User interview

  • Affinity mapping

  • Competitor analysis

  • Personas

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Competitor Analysis

We conducted competitor analysis of 8 companies, such as Gumtree and facebook marketplace, and compared 18 factors such as retailer ratings and reviews.

Most common features in competitor’s platforms

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Retailer Profile

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Product Rating

Product Condition

Retailer Contact info

Returning Policy

Product Review

Retailer Rating

FAQs

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Retailer Reviews

Availability Date

Wishlist

Most common filters in competitors platforms

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User Interview

We also interviewed those 7 participants to learn more about their experiences with other rental platforms, needs & frustrations.

"Where did you rent the item from?"

"How was your experience?"

"If you wanted to rent something, what information would you want to know before renting?"

"Did you have any concerns when renting items?"

"Why would you consider renting an item instead of buying it?"

"When you won't be able to touch or feel a product when online shopping / renting, how would you trust the retailer?"

User research insights

After these user interviews, we synthesized insights by affinity mapping.

Awayco - visual deliverables - Affinity

We found the following insights about online renting.

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Popular items

User rented vehicles, tech products, clothes & luxury items, sports gear, books & DVDs and household appliances

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Length of rent

Most people rent items for less than 2 weeks for personal reasons. People rent items for more than one year for business reasons.

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Reasons for renting

Financial reasons and short-term use of a product are the most important reasons for renting an item instead of buying it

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Device preference

Users prefer the convenience of using a desktop to find items, however, they reported using both mobile and desktop to search for items

Renting Pain Points

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slow responses

Individual retailers might respond to your questions very slowly.

No contact info

Think about you can’t find other contact information about that retailer, what should you do?

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Confusing price

Sometimes you can’t understand the price showed online, so there is a lot of back and forth about price with individual retailers.

Low-quality product

It is very annoying to find out that you rent a low-quality or even faulty product. It is terrible that you have no confidence in items you rent because if they are cars or sports products, you are at risk of getting hurt. 

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Unclear policy 

As I mentioned before, people rent items for financial reasons, so they need to know a clear return policy and repair cost policy before renting. Otherwise, they are in a risk of losing money.

Information that users want to know before renting

Retailers Reputation

Reviews and ratings are the best way for the user to find out whether a retailer is trustworthy.

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Product Condition

If users can’t check product condition in person, they need to see pictures or videos. Real product pictures are better than stock pictures, videos are the best.

Product Availability

Most of the users would like to see the availability at first glance on the calendar.

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Shipping Info

According to people's lifestyles, delivery or self-collection are both possible, but most people prefer to pick up in person.

Cost

People want to know a clear cost description about each day and the whole renting period, also how much they need to pay if they break the item.

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Return Policy

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As the final step of a renting process, how to return is crucial. People need to know whether they have to dry clean clothes, fill up cars, or do something like that.

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Personas

After synthesizing user research insights, we defined three types of personas. They are frequent renter, cautious shopper and spontaneous renter.

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How should we handle categorisation of products as Awayco grows into areas outside surf and snow?

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  • Design solution

  • Second round usability testing 

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Design Solution

After all the above research work, we made low-fi wireframe, hi-fi wireframe and prototype.

Low-fi Wireframe

On the search page, we added locations as the primary filter to the search box and added price and condition as the secondary filters.

On the product page, we added shipping info, return policy and products reviews and ratings.

On the retailer page, we added the retailer reviews and ratings.

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We tested the low-fi wireframes with 5 users, they said all the information they wanted were included and they want to view this information in an ordered and clear layout, so we went ahead to design the high-fi wireframes.

High-fi Wireframe

In the development phase, we iterated our designs according to users' feedback, then completed the final design.

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On the search page, I added categories and locations to the search box.

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On the search result page, I made tags, price and condition as the secondary filters. Each tag contains the quantity of the item. Under the secondary filters, users can see the retailer's location on the map.

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On the product page, users are able to see the retailer's location, the description of the product, business reviews and return policy. For users who want to know more about the size, they can click the question mark near the size. On this page, people can view the videos for this product so they can check the item before they rent it.

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On the store page, users are able to see the store address in the form of text and a map. They can find their closest store, and view all the products in that store.   

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Prototyping

The following video shows how it works.

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You can click Awayco Prototype to play with it by yourself.

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Second-Round Usability Testing

We tested our design with 6 participants, and they all said that the search box, filters and product descriptions meet their renting needs.

Next Steps

These are something we made in our design and maybe they could be used as next steps for Awayco.

  • Search bar : Primary filters such as Location, Category list, Keyword

  • Sidebar filters: Secondary filters such as Product tags, Price range, Condition

  • Specific item filters: Tertiary filters such as Size , Color, Skill level 

  • Rating & Reviews: Increase consumer confidence & engagement

  • Item availability dates : Should be provided at the beginning of the booking process

What I learnt

Compared with online shopping, people pay more attention to the return policy when conducting online renting.

People rent items mostly due to financial reason, so renting platforms should provide a clear return policy to users. 

People want to know the exact product condition before renting.

Unlike online shopping, most renting items are used, so people have concerns about whether they are in good condition, especially if they cannot pick them up in person.  To give users confidence, renting platforms should provide real pictures, descriptions, even

videos.

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