MOBILE APP
Digital Freight Network
DURATION
May 2021 - August 2021
CLIENT
Vagoo
TEAM OF 5
UX Designer: Aline Saruhashi
PO: Edson Luiz
UI Designer: Luana Olindo
Back-end: Fabricio Cerci
Front-end: Marcelo Teixeira
Overview
My role
Research: I conducted our competitive analysis and user research.
Design: I created the product's informational architecture and wireframes.
UX RESEARCH & UX DESIGN
About the Client
Vagoo is a digital freight network that connects shippers and carriers and focuses on optimizing freight capacity by generating round trips that eliminate empty miles from the long-haul trucking industry. This freight marketplace creates revenue and cover operational costs of previously unused capacity of carriers, while lowering the cost of moving goods for shippers.
Vagoo hired Mestres da Web to turn their idea into reality and, as the only product designer in the team, I got to be a part of this project.
Problem background
One of the most common examples of waste in the freight industry occurs when truckers drive empty, typically because there are no nearby loads available for drivers to pick up that are headed in the same direction as their return trip. The trips a truck makes when returning from a delivery with no cargo is traditionally referred to as backhaul miles.
What are some of the major problems caused by backhaul miles?
Increased carbon emissions
Increased operational costs
Increased traffic congestion
Unfortunately, a large number of carriers with both private and dedicated fleets end up driving empty backhaul miles. Some shippers attempt to look for backhaul opportunities as they are less expensive than spot markets, however the act of finding, contracting, and then managing them can be too cumbersome and time-consuming.
How might we improve the experience for shippers who need to find, contract, and manage their backhaul loads?
Initial Problem Statement
Solution
The solution involved the addition of 3 new features to the platform:
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Kanban Board to improve the experience of managing their loads (past, ongoing, and upcoming);
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Countdown Timer to speed up the process of finding and contracting carriers;
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Interactive Map to track the progress of ongoing freights in real-time.
Wireframes (from left to right): Kanban Board when managing loads; Countdown Timer when requesting a vehicle; Interactive Map when tracking an ongoing freight.
Research
Competitive analysis
Goal: I analyzed five well-known freight platforms in Brazil and requested a mock freight quote in each platform to understand how long a shipper has to wait in order to close a deal.
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Key takeaway: As proven by mock requests, freight marketplaces in Brazil make shippers wait at least 6 hours —most of them even days— to get a quote and booking, requiring many phone calls and email chains to close a deal with a carrier.
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Design implication: The solution should reduce the waiting time of freight quoting and booking for shippers.
Questionnaire
Goal: Gather information on shippers' thoughts on booking a freight on existing freight platforms, such as common habits and struggles with the process. I was able to get 16 responses.
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Relevant findings:
1. Half of the respondents use their computers to book a freight, while the other half use their mobile devices.
Design implication: The solution should be both a web-based platform and an app.
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2. 68.8% of the participants believe that the process of finding, negotiating, and then booking a freight is time-consuming. All of them wait hours to book a freight, some even days.
Design implication: The solution should reduce the waiting time of freight booking for shippers.
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3. 83% of the respondents don't get their cargo within the estimated time of arrival.
Possible reasons:
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Lack of shipment tracking;
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Lack of transparency from carriers and truck drivers regarding the status of the cargo;
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Communication problems between shipper, carrier, and truck driver.
Design implication: The solution should provide shippers with precise information on the status of their shipment.
Reframing Problem
Statement
The above findings helped me narrow down the scope of my problem, which ended up being two specific questions:
P1: How might we reduce the waiting time of freight booking for shippers?
P2: How might we create a seamless managing ongoing cargo experience for shippers?
Success metrics
After completing the research stage of the project, I set the following north star metrics for Vagoo:
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Retention rate: An unbounded retention is a good fit for the product, as Vagoo is not a daily consumer product—shippers are expected to request a vehicle sporadically.
- Completion task rate: A high completion task rate (task = login>request vehicle>receive answer from carrier) is the main goal of Vagoo, and what will set it apart from other players in the Brazilian freight market.​​​​
Ideation
Overall request flow
Goal: Grasp a better understanding of the core flow of this project and identify potential features to include. In order to complete a full user flow, from requesting the vehicle to delivering the cargo, 3 users are involved: shipper, carrier, and driver.
Outcome: By laying out the overall request flow, I was able to identify the exact moments in the flow that I would need to tackle my problem statements.
Informational Architecture
Goal: Laying out the content of each page of the platform in a manner that leads users to perform the most important engagement in the platform which is requesting a vehicle for their cargo.
Outcome: The IA has shown that there is a lot of different data for shippers to visualize in each cargo card, which can be overwhelming especially when there are numerous cargoes being shown on the Kanban board.
Design implication: Prioritizing the right information in the cargo cards is key to reduce cognitive overload and fulfill the ultimate goal of optimizing users' time.
Key features
After researching the users, understanding the core flow, and creating the informational architecture of the platform, I gathered all the design implications to wireframe the mobile-app screens of the key features on the platform.
FEATURE 1
Kanban Board
Kanban boards are a well-known way for visualizing a specific process and its progress, so including this system in Vagoo was a great solution for our second problem statement which is related to cargo management.
This kanban board allows shippers to quickly visualize past, upcoming, and ongoing freights. The status of the load is automatically updated in the platform.
FEATURE 2
Countdown Timer (30 minutes)
The timer shows the amount of time left for the carrier to claim the freight. The carrier has access to the same countdown time, which creates a sense of urgency and encourages them to make a decision quickly.
This design decision tackles the main value proposition of Vagoo—and our first problem statement—which is reducing the waiting time of booking freights for shippers.
FEATURE 3
Map
Waiting for the cargo to arrive can cause stress on shippers, thus visualizing the operation in real-time with the guidance of a map helps reduce this tension by offering GPS tracking of the truck. The truck driver's location is updated continuously, so that shippers can see and estimate the time their cargo will arrive.
This design decision tackles our second problem statement by proving more control and assurance for shippers who are managing ongoing hauls.
Design
Wireframes prototyped
Interested in taking a look at the interactive prototype? ​
Send me an email so I can share it with you!
Reflection
Constraints
Understanding the difficulty in designing for a very specific user group
As the target audience of this project is very specific, the process of recruiting users to answer the survey was challenging. Not having direct access to the target users made me rely on my client's effort to share the survey with his connections, yet that didn't yield many responses. I was planning to conduct 3 - 5 user interviews from the small sample poll of the survey, but got major pushback from my clients.
For this reason, I believe this project lacks qualitative data from more potential users through interviews. For instance, I would like to have known if 30 minutes is enough time for carriers to accept/refuse the shipper's vehicle request, and if shippers are willing to wait more than that.
Lack of UX for carriers and truck drivers
Vagoo has three different end-users: shippers, carriers, and truck drivers (who are part of the carrier's private fleet). Even though the shipper initiates the flow, Vagoo's solution is a transaction between the shipper, the carrier (who has the opportunity to opt-in), and the truck driver (who will deliver the haul). Due to time constraints, my product manager and I decided to focus this UX exploration on shippers, who are the end-users with purchasing power in the platform. Yet, not understanding our other two users is a problem that could potentially hamper Vagoo's success in the future.
Lessons Learned
Better communication yields better design
Client meetings can be challenging, especially when they don't understand the value of research in design. This project was the first time that I had to lead client meetings on my own, so I really put into practice the lessons I learnt from reading Tom Greever's "Articulating Design Decisions". I figured out not only how to communicate with my clients my design rationale, but also how to answer their questions in a way that made sense to them.
The importance of having specific goals in a project
UX Design is a new branch in Mestres da Web, which means that there isn't an established process for ensuring stakeholder alignment and guiding decision making. The task proposed by my product manager was to design Vagoo's experience — there wasn't a specific goal, just a generalized "get it done" one.
Still, I took the responsibility to establish the project goals, so I could focus on the exact problem Vagoo sought to solve. I've aligned the product's vision by coming up with the problem definition, problem statements, and success metrics. My team found that this information was very important for the overall progress of the project and established it as a mandatory step for all of our future projects.
Next Steps
High-fi prototype
My internship ended before our UI Designer had the chance to create the high-fi screens for this project. I'm looking forward to seeing the final design of Vagoo once it is launched.
Evaluation
Conduct usability studies as well as qualitative surveys to understand our users' thought process while using the interactive prototype. Gather their feedback and implement changes to the platform based on their observations. Unfortunately, my internship in Mestres da Web came to an end before I could perform the evaluation stage.