Rethinking the Handy Pro App
A case study
The background
When I joined Handy in 2014, the platform used by the cleaning and handymen professionals was a mobile web app; essentially a website in a native wrapper. Professionals, or ‘pros’, relied on the app to claim jobs, manage their schedule and monitor payments.
Though suitable as a minimum viable product at the time, the limitations of a web app were painfully apparent as we continued to evolve the UI and UX of the app. These included:
Confusing app installation process. An issue that was unsolved during my time at Handy, pros had to navigate through a convoluted installation process that was compounded by OS inconsistencies across Android devices and varying user technical aptitudes.
Usability issues. Due to time and technical constraints, we were unable to include animations or transitions that provide visual feedback, system statuses or navigational transitions.
Performance issues. Loading data was slow and delayed. Browser errors or unloaded pages required the user to manually ‘refresh’ the page.
Limited possibilities. We could not take advantage of the device’s native features which limited the features we could build and in turn, the usefulness of the app.
The goal
It was clear from the limitations of the web app that we needed to start fresh with a native app redesign. The objective for the redesign was relatively simple for the first iteration:
- Set a baseline for a better, more intuitive UI
- Establish a foundation to build future features to achieve user and business goals, starting with core functionality
Understanding the user
In order for the product to succeed, we needed to move beyond assumptions and gain a deeper understanding of our pros. For the discovery phase, we started with qualitative research — a first for Handy’s product development. Through extensive interviews we began to uncover the motivations, needs and pain points of our pros.
The results were received extremely well and I was happy that it was adopted throughout the organization as part of the process for product development.
Product principles
To help the team stay user-focused, I distilled our collective learnings into a few principles to keep the team aligned on decisions. These would later guide design decisions for future iterations.
- Understand why. Quantitative data doesn’t tell us why someone does or doesn’t do something. To create effective solutions, we need continuous qualitative testing to help us better understand the motivations, behaviors and needs of our pros.
- Be transparent. Oftentimes pros forget the policies and may inadvertently incur fees or become confused. We can boost user confidence and trust in the platform by providing explanations, statuses and reminders.
- Be helpful and supportive. Real life can be messy and unpredictable. Anticipate when pros would need assistance and provide easy access to the appropriate type of help.
Exploring concepts
With a blank slate, we explored a variety of concepts for the app, illustrating a range of potential ideas from on-boarding experiences to improvements to the job claiming and scheduling flow.
Designing the system
Creating the foundation for the pro app from scratch was an exciting challenge. We needed a system that communicated the brand and tailored to the unique audience and contexts we were designing for. Strongly influenced by Google’s Material Design, I created the atomic elements and UI components we needed to iterate quickly.
Bringing it together
For the first release we distilled down to the essentials, prioritizing concepts that were easiest to develop. Though functionality was basic, we could already see (and hear from pros) the dramatic improvement in experience compared to what it was before.
Final thoughts
As a result of the redesign, we dramatically improved usability through a better interface and faster performance. Unfortunately, we were not able to simplify the installation process since the app includes settings that are not approved for the App or Play Store.
Though this was just the start of the journey, we’re proud of the foundations we’ve built for future iterations of the pro app experience and our foray into formally including user research in the product development process.
Many thanks to Kenny Cohen (Product Manager) and the engineering team for partnering with me on this redesign! 🙌
