Showroom Benchmarking
For associates in Appliances, Flooring, Millwork, Kitchen Specialist, Pro, Inside Lawn & Gardening.
Role
Sr.Product Designer
Industry
Selling / Inventory
Duration
1 Month
Overview
In mid-July 2020, myredvest UX team were enlisted to conduct quantitative user research for the purposes of collecting data around 17 discrete tasks to arrive at a UX dashboard and answer the question(s): How long, on average, does it take to do a particular task and is the task difficult? These tasks were performed in Genesis with the goal of measuring them against a “future state” which is now Showroom.
In late July 2021, the myredvest UX team used the same set of tasks, tailored to 13 tasks, but with participants using Showroom.
The goal was to compare and see if there are improvements in the time on task metrics. Simultaneously, we also collected single ease task data. Compare ease of use metrics for each task. The goal was to compare and see if there are improvements in the time on task metrics.
Methodology
20 veteran and novice associates working various desks on the salesfloor (Appliances, Flooring, Millwork, Kitchen Specialist, Pro, Inside L&G) were tapped to participate in this study. They came from a cross section of high/low volume stores located North Carolina.
Participants were recorded and timed as they completed all 13 tasks and all participants were asked to give an ‘ease’ rating of each task, as well as fill out a System Usability Scale (an attitude-based Likert scale). Remarks about the tasks were collected to capture specific qualitative data about the experience. Caveats: (1) Not all tasks are executed by all desks. (2) Novice associates were not as familiar with some tasks so they were either not able to complete the task or took longer to complete the task. 'Novice' is a relative term, as some associates with only a few months of training were able to quickly complete some tasks.
Learn & Observe
Our approach was to make the Associate perform the following tasks:
• Find an item and add it to cart
• Find an item & available inventory (SOS, WEX, stock)
• Find related items and add to cart
• Select warranty option (LPP)
• Select assembly option
• Schedule pickup
• Schedule delivery
• Invoicing customers (save invoice)
• Invoice recall
• Creating estimates for customers
• Adding new customer record and saving
• Editing an existing customer record and saving
• Other store/nearby store lookup
Carrie
Radiologic Technologist
"I perform imaging examinations and am responsible for accurately positioning patients to ensure high-quality diagnostic images are obtained."
Grant
Department Manager
"I oversee all imaging operations, ensuring that my technologists deliver exceptional patient care and produce high-quality images. I am also responsible for maintaining and servicing all imaging equipment."
Dana
Service Technician
"I respond promptly to service calls to repair medical equipment, ensuring it is quickly restored to safe and reliable operation for patient use."
Research
For four days I facilitate an in-store qualitative research to determine how users react to additional functionality within the Service Task experience, and how they will affect their tasks completions.
26 veteran and novice associates were part of this test and were intended to help us understand if the new features and functionality are discoverable by users, as well as gather feedback on how we could expand these features to provide additional value to their daily activities. Our findings was going to help us validate our ongoing strategy and implement changes to the experience for a future rollout to stores.
Tasks
Will users be able to discover and understand the Space Detail page?
Will users be able to discover and understand the Service History valuable to their work?
Will associates find value referencing past service as they service a bay?
Will the addition of the photo capture negatively affect the completion of Service Tasks?
What additional photo functionality would associates require to help them be more effective in their daily activities?
Opportunities
Based on the conducted research research, we found a few opportunities to improve the MST experience:
Associates spend most of their time, printing the newest Planogram, and evaluating each sheet to organize the shelf at the store.
Associates need a way to document or photograph their finished work, in many occasions other employees do not do their job properly and others are blamed for no reason.
Onboarding tutorial for old & new features.
Ingredient List
As a group, we write down the key features or "ingredients" that we starred or heat mapped on each individual's whiteboard. Afterwards, we silent vote for our favorite ingredients. The top three votes become our first MVP #1 (Phase 1). We repeat the process again for voting to determine the next MVP #2 and MVP #3. We continue to draw the perfect day for MVP #1 as a group, then take the top 3 ingredients and individually draw again as repeatable process.
Design Sprint
For three days I co-facilitated a design sprint and worked with actual customer to create their perfect day. To kick-off a design sprint, we start by explaining design thinking as a team activity to break the ice! From there, we sketch individual drawings, present them to the group, and heat map the best ideas on each whiteboard. We may come up with hundreds of ideas, but eventually we funner down to a dozen ideas.
Ingredient List
As a group, we write down the key features or "ingredients" that we starred or heat mapped on each individual's whiteboard. Afterwards, we silent vote for our favorite ingredients. The top three votes become our first MVP #1 (Phase 1). We repeat the process again for voting to determine the next MVP #2 and MVP #3. We continue to draw the perfect day for MVP #1 as a group, then take the top 3 ingredients and individually draw again as repeatable process.
Design Sprint
For three days I co-facilitated a design sprint and worked with actual customer to create their perfect day. To kick-off a design sprint, we start by explaining design thinking as a team activity to break the ice! From there, we sketch individual drawings, present them to the group, and heat map the best ideas on each whiteboard. We may come up with hundreds of ideas, but eventually we funner down to a dozen ideas.
Ingredient List
As a group, we write down the key features or "ingredients" that we starred or heat mapped on each individual's whiteboard. Afterwards, we silent vote for our favorite ingredients. The top three votes become our first MVP #1 (Phase 1). We repeat the process again for voting to determine the next MVP #2 and MVP #3. We continue to draw the perfect day for MVP #1 as a group, then take the top 3 ingredients and individually draw again as repeatable process.
Design Sprint
For three days I co-facilitated a design sprint and worked with actual customer to create their perfect day. To kick-off a design sprint, we start by explaining design thinking as a team activity to break the ice! From there, we sketch individual drawings, present them to the group, and heat map the best ideas on each whiteboard. We may come up with hundreds of ideas, but eventually we funner down to a dozen ideas.
Ingredient List
As a group, we write down the key features or "ingredients" that we starred or heat mapped on each individual's whiteboard. Afterwards, we silent vote for our favorite ingredients. The top three votes become our first MVP #1 (Phase 1). We repeat the process again for voting to determine the next MVP #2 and MVP #3. We continue to draw the perfect day for MVP #1 as a group, then take the top 3 ingredients and individually draw again as repeatable process.
Design Sprint
For three days I co-facilitated a design sprint and worked with actual customer to create their perfect day. To kick-off a design sprint, we start by explaining design thinking as a team activity to break the ice! From there, we sketch individual drawings, present them to the group, and heat map the best ideas on each whiteboard. We may come up with hundreds of ideas, but eventually we funner down to a dozen ideas.
Next Steps & Opportunities
The easiest metrics to focus on would be the tasks that have been deemed the most time-consuming on average overall:
• Adding new customer record and saving
• Editing an existing customer and saving
Begin doing analysis into why these are time consuming if unknown. It may be necessary to conduct a follow-up study (and possibly design experimentation) to understand how these metrics might be improved across the various desks. Conduct follow-up qualitative study of the metrics for tasks that indicate difficult but quick execution. The goal would be to understand how we might improve the disconnect between timing and execution. Conduct follow-up qualitative study of the metrics for tasks that indicate extreme ease of execution but done at relatively slow pace. The goal would be to understand how we might improve the disconnect between timing and execution.
Take an opportunity to review remarks provided by associates while completing the tasks for more insight:
• Pay Now CTA – where does it make sense in the flow to use “Pay Now”?
• Would like to access item details from the 60/40 screen
• Vendor Contact Info placement
• New Sale verbiage + clear cart capabilities
• Related Items verbiage
• Auto-fill phone number in form for new customers
• Check Nearby (blue hyperlink would be best for associates)
• Back arrow
Overview
Customers including Radiology Directors, Technologists, Biomeds, and Field Engineers face long hold to retrieve service requests and pull record with no real-time date.
Productivity slows down due to little automation with an unpersonalized user experience.
Goal
Create a one-stop shop service experience for our customers to express the value of GE service and offer the advanced GE service technology available to drive their operational excellence.
Wireframe
I create wireframe sketches with a specific group of customers (Example: Healthcare Department Managers, Repair Engineers, and Technicians) either via paper or whiteboard before we reveal the final UI prototypes the customer co-created with us. Wireframes or even low-fidelity mocks-ups helps provide a tremendous amount of context to build a UX strategy and vision.
Wireframe
I create wireframe sketches with a specific group of customers (Example: Healthcare Department Managers, Repair Engineers, and Technicians) either via paper or whiteboard before we reveal the final UI prototypes the customer co-created with us. Wireframes or even low-fidelity mocks-ups helps provide a tremendous amount of context to build a UX strategy and vision.
Research
For four days I facilitate an in-store qualitative research to determine how users react to additional functionality within the Service Task experience, and how they will affect their tasks completions.
26 veteran and novice associates were part of this test and were intended to help us understand if the new features and functionality are discoverable by users, as well as gather feedback on how we could expand these features to provide additional value to their daily activities. Our findings was going to help us validate our ongoing strategy and implement changes to the experience for a future rollout to stores.
Tasks
Will users be able to discover and understand the Space Detail page?
Will users be able to discover and understand the Service History valuable to their work?
Will associates find value referencing past service as they service a bay?
Will the addition of the photo capture negatively affect the completion of Service Tasks?
What additional photo functionality would associates require to help them be more effective in their daily activities?
Opportunities
Based on the conducted research research, we found a few opportunities to improve the MST experience:
Associates spend most of their time, printing the newest Planogram, and evaluating each sheet to organize the shelf at the store.
Associates need a way to document or photograph their finished work, in many occasions other employees do not do their job properly and others are blamed for no reason.
Onboarding tutorial for old & new features.