Research, Design
March 2021 - May 2021
It is hard for pet owner's to figure out what is wrong with their pet and even harder in the heat of the moment. Owners struggle to find the right information and products for their pets.
Saint Louis University students collaborated with the UX team at Nestlé Purina to provide research and insight on the online user experience during these times.
These emotions begin to overwhelm them and makes it harder for them to get the right information and treatment for their pets. How can we help mitigate the impact of these emotions and walk the user through the right steps to take?
We conducted our research through two different approaches:
We initially sent out surveys using Google Forms, garnering 100+ responses. This survey aimed to gather qualitative data about pet owner’s current thoughts, experiences, and concerns with canine supplement usage.
The questions were designed to provide the opportunity for open-ended answers that were input into a text analysis tool to determine the overall sentiment on supplements.
We presented scenarios to our participants where they were given a problem with their dog and were given the task of finding and purchasing the best supplement for their dog from a specific e-commerce site.
We recorded their journey through the scenario and analyzed the different studies to gain insights on what pain points, touch points, and opportunities are present
Has a hard time finding affordable products and gets discouraged when repeatedly finding expensive options
Highlight lowest priced goods and provide easy way to compare prices
Has too many different products and options which causes confusion and frustration
Provide method for consumers to quickly check what they should look out for with their dog’s breed
Needs access to research and information that can help identify safe products that will help their dog
Generate general health summaries for customers to quickly skim and reference to
We thought of two different areas we could move forward to best fit this problem:
A mobile app approach would allow users to track their dog’s health, receive notifications for important tasks, and use to help diagnose what might be wrong with their dog.
The home tab provides a summary of registered pet’s health and any important tasks for the owner, and a search tab would allow users to quickly identify what is wrong with their dog through inputting different variables such as breed, symptoms, or conditions.
The web app approach mimics a similar tool that already exists on Purina’s site, the breed selector quiz.
The breed selector asks a series of questions and then outputs a recommended breed for the user.
Similar to this concept, the web app will ask for a series of inputs upfront and then outputs general information on the user’s dog based on the inputs given. This information includes possible ailments, supplements that are beneficial for their breed and information on these supplements.
Having an app allows notifications, tracking, and real-time updates to reach users
88% of mobile time is spent on apps; Average American checks their phone 262 times a day
Greater retention capability compared to web app
Needs to be downloaded or installed compared to in-browser function
(Higher barrier of entry)
More expensive to build and maintain
Convenient and quick for users to quickly diagnose their pet
(Lower barrier of entry)
Users will already be familiar with the web apps that Purina already provides and will be more comfortable with a familiar product
Potential users can be found through SEO
Limited capabilities for notifications, tracking, and real-time updates compared to mobile app
Needs an internet connection to access
Ultimately, we decided to go with the web app as it would reach more users with the lower barrier of entry compared to the mobile app approach while still being accessible on mobile devices.
The web app will be able to solve the different pain points we found without compromising the user experience with needless complexity or features.
Contains an efficient web form to allow users to quickly get the results they need
We found that when users are doing research, many of the results they found were tedious to navigate and subsequently had a high bounce rate.
By providing a streamlined form that is customizable to the user's needs, the web app allows a broad number of users to quickly get results with a few clicks.
Provide users with brief summary of possible conditions that match the inputs given
The cards give the users an easily digestible summary with a call to action for more information.
Aggregate different products from across the web and narrow down the choices for the user
Websites like Amazon and Chewy provide many options for their customers. However, it can get overwhelming with the amount of products that may or may not be exactly what they are looking for.
With the information provided by the user, the web app can quickly provide recommendations for products from across the web.
