Analysis of Grab’s
Pick-Up Point Navigation System
Roles: UX Research, Usability Testing, Documentation, UI Design
Project Objectives:
This is a UX analysis project that took place over 1.5 months. This included the team's analysis of the app, paper prototyping, user testing, wireframing, iterating, and prototyping. As the Grab app encompasses many features, we narrowed down on a specific issue users have: Finding the correct pickup point.
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The following are our objectives of the project:
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1. Increase Clarity - Users have a lot of information to take in when using the Grab App. How might we simplify users’ choices to help them make quicker and more concise decisions?
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2. Improve Wayfinding - With multiple pickup locations available, how can we better guide users to the accurate location of their pickup point?
Team's Analysis:
Our analysis of the app focused on the ride-hailing service.
We analysed the usability and engagement of the app. We then made the following positive/negative observations:
Defining Our Users:
The team developed user personas for our target users so that we can make informed decisions. It also helps the team have a common understanding of the users we are designing for and better empathise with their pain points during the ride-hailing process.
User Personas
User Journey Map for Justin
Lo-Fi and Mid-Fi Prototypes:
To gain more insight into how the proposed changes might affect the user, the team conducted two rounds of User Testings. The paper prototype allowed us to rapidly showcase our idea for the app while we gathered pain points and gained a general sense of how users felt about the idea.​
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The great news was that the idea was well received, and we created a Mid-Fi prototype and tested it with more users. This is to help them visualise our feature on the app and provide accurate areas for improvement for the team to work on.
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Lo-Fi Paper Prototype
Mid-Fi Prototype
Insights from Data(I)
Based on results from 12 user testing sessions, here are some interesting insights:
1. 50% of the participants found their pre-boarding experience unsatisfactory.
Participants were not aware they were at the incorrect pickup point until the driver arrived and contacted them. This results in a payable waiting penalty if the participant walks over to them or the driver cancels on them completely. Additionally, the grace period for boarding a ride without penalty was decreased from 5 minutes to 2 minutes.
One participant mentioned that they may not use Grab and switch to a different ride-hailing app. They want to check if the Pick-Up Point is nearer/more accurate to their actual location. ​
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"Every time I book a Grab, when I’m at a mall, I'm worried if this is the place. If the driver will be where I'm going to."
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- Participant A’s Response when asked about their experience with the ride-hailing service.
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2. 100% of the participants have experienced the issue of waiting at the wrong pickup point.
Some notable areas of concern are malls with many exits. Users are not sure of which exit to head to. Walking from the wrong exit to the right one may take too long. Locations in older estates may be confusing as well.
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3. The majority of the participants (83.3%) were not aware of the app's pick-up point instructions feature. The only participant who has experienced this feature found it to have a wall of text with a static image. It was not helpful. She mentioned that having a visual diagram to tell her where to go would be better, especially in malls with complicated layouts.
User Testing Reports
Summary (I)
Based on our user personas, we organised our data into 2 separate groups. The first set of participants represents Justin, while the other represents Alicia.
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We also added Usability Severity Levels to help us prioritise issues that were brought up by participants and address them in order of importance.
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
Hi-Fidelity Prototype Screens
Summary of features implemented
Post-Mortem:
In our team, I contributed by carrying out the majority of the user testing sessions and writing reports based on the feedback collected. These are some of my thoughts upon completing the project:
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What went well?
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1. Rapid Prototyping and Testing
By drawing out the Lo-Fi wireframe and quickly gathering feedback from users, I was able to get to know Grab's users better and hear their perspectives and unique cases when using the app.
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2. Effective Communication
The team worked quickly based on the user testing reports, which had severity ratings, allowing us to prioritise issues that require our attention the most.
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3. Identifying and solving an issue step-by-step
The team's solution improves Grab's user retention by providing directions to the pick-up point, rather than switching apps to get a pickup point they think is near them. By reducing the users' guesswork, we can make booking Grabs a more satisfying experience for everyone.
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What could have been improved?
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1. Uncertainty of using AR
Augmented Reality (AR) is still a relatively new tool that has been introduced. There are still many things to consider and also many uncertainties, like the risks and safety hazards when using AR. We did provide workarounds to this issue, such as a top-down 2D map view.
Final Prototype:
If you would like to view the final prototype, click the link below. ​​
