Persona and As-Is Customer Journey Map
User Persona
For this User Persona, it is based on a young Singaporean Foodie that likes finding new foods to try and frequently uses food review websites to discern whether places are worth trying.
This Persona is:
- Tech-savvy — being frequent social media users.
- Outgoing— loves going out with friends and family
- Adventurous — likes trying new food and different actitivites
Thus, we can capitalise on incorporating elements of social media and community to create a website that has an emphasis on non-biased food reviews and promote hidden gems.
The Persona’s journey is also based on some of the insights garnered from the interviews such as:
- Lack of authentic food reviews due to sponsorships
- Difficulty finding the perfect place to dine out at (online search)
- Creating user-driven reviews that are more trustworthy
As-Is Customer Journey Map
For the As-Is Customer Journey Map, it’s based on our persona using currently existing food review websites such as Eatbook, Burpple or The Dining Advisor (which we reviewed in the competitor analysis). Some of these sites do have collaborations with food establishments and would provide benefits for users who decide to visit them.The main touch-points of this customer journey would be when our customer uses their phones or computers to find food reviews and browsing the service provider’s websites.
Before
Our customer’s experience before looking for places to eat at would be scouring online on Google or social media or word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family.
For the service provider (the food review websites), they would update their social media and promote new places to eat whether it’s through articles or videos they post.
However, for our users, they may compare reviews from different competing websites and potentially get indecisive on whether a place is worth trying.
During
After deciding on using the food review website, the user will start searching for the kind of food they want based on cuisine, price or location. They will also be able to view articles written by the websites to find new places to eat at. Using the search bar or navigating the website to find the perfect place to try.
The website would provide the best recommendations based on the user’s search term based on their requirements and also showcase their latest articles or reviews.
The user will read the reviews and find out whether they are biased by cross-referencing other reviews or looking out for sponsored articles. They may also ask their friends for their opinions if they have been there before.Users may also encounter difficulty searching for the food establishment if reviews on them are not available on the website. The search bar or terms may not suit what they need as well and may be difficult to navigate such as Burpple’s navigation for ‘Neighbourhoods’ and ‘Categories.
After
Once the user has decided on the food establishment to try, they will look out for details such as the exact location, menu and prices of the reviewed food place.
The website will then provide similar recommendations at the end of the webpage, providing the user with more places to try. The websites that have premium memberships will also provide vouchers and discounts exclusive to members.
The pain points for this phase would be a lack of information or in a sense community reviews on the selected food establishment. This may make user unsure and dissuade them from their choice. There may also be a lack of updates if the food establishments may have closed down.