Why Building an Inclusive App Matters
The Story of the Voice Over feature by the Tokopedia iOS Team
Did you know? According to Pertuni (Association of People with Visual Impairments in Indonesia) more than 3,750,000 or about 1% of people in Indonesia have a visual impairment.
While this number is huge, individuals with a visual impairment still lack the support. Every day, their ability to live independently depends on the supporting infrastructures that exist around them, both including public facilities and mobile applications that support them.
This is the problem that the Tokopedia iOS Team is trying to solve. As the go-to app for people in Indonesia, Tokopedia realized that inclusivity matters. With over 550 million products listed and over 11 million merchants, Tokopedia can be the one-stop solution for people with visual impairments in fulfilling their daily needs seamlessly.
The question is, how can we make that happen?
Yes, we do have many products on our platform.
Yes, we do have many sellers on our platform.
However, how can we make them accessible for people with visual impairments?
In consequence, the Tokopedia iOS Team decided to solve this problem by creating a feature called Voice Over! It’s a feature on Tokopedia’s iOS App that allows people with visual impairments to easily operate the app by verbally giving instructions.
Building an inclusive ecosystem with the Voice Over feature
In April, the team placed the creation of the Voice Over feature in the timeline and connected with the relevant teams, from the UX Research and Product teams, followed by a discussion with the PIC of each product or page on Tokopedia’s e-commerce platform, such as cart, payment, and many more.
“As we have several other priorities, we need to make sure we have the capacity to complete the project. That is why the Voice Over feature was launched this month, or essentially 6 months after the idea was first introduced,” said Ferico Samuel, Engineering Manager at Tokopedia.
Creating the Voice Over feature was indeed challenging. Not only did it take a lot of manpower and resources, the team also faced several technical issues in regard to building the accessibility across several different pages and products on Tokopedia. The team also had difficulties conducting regular user usability testing with users with visual impairment. Therefore, they needed to be more empathetic towards the feature and use their instincts in improving it.
“Through this feature, we hope that Tokopedia can become an even more inclusive platform and make life easier for everyone, including people with disabilities,” added Ferico.
Building Bridges, Not Walls
At Tokopedia, we believe that we should build bridges that connect people, so that everyone, wherever they are, has the same opportunity. This is also the case with the Voice Over feature. We believe that everyone should be able to get the same opportunity to maximize their potential, including the 3,750,000 people with visual impairments in Indonesia.
With continuous improvements, the Voice Over feature has been really helpful in supporting people with visual impairments to fulfill their needs easily through Tokopedia. Reza Akbar, one of our users, loves this feature and shares his story with us.
“I lost my sight due to a ruptured blood vessel back in 2010, and this forced me to quit my job,” said Reza. However, determined to continue living an independent and fulfilling life, Reza soon started working as a Content Editor in a digital agency in Jakarta.
As he needed to fulfill his daily needs easily and independently, Reza has been looking for any app that can support him. This is when he found and tried the Voice Over feature at Tokopedia. Since then, the feature has become a particularly crucial part of Reza’s daily life, enabling him to seamlessly purchase his daily essentials such as groceries and FMCG goods.
With his frequent use of the platform, Reza is now a Diamond member, the highest loyalty tier on Tokopedia, given to people with high transaction frequency at Tokopedia.
Make It Happen, Make It Better
Creating a feature is not a one-off project. After you create a feature, you need to make continuous improvements to make it even better. At the same time, you also need to listen to our users to understand their needs.
“We always listen to our consumer needs, whether it comes from product reviews, social media, email, or other available platforms, and try to accommodate their requests. The Voice Over feature is one of the results of our active listening, and we hope that we can do more to serve our users,” explained Jefferson Setiawan, Principal Engineer iOS at Tokopedia.
For the last few years, Tokopedia’s iOS Team has been providing users with many features and innovations, and the Voice Over feature is only one of them. Tokopedia’s iOS App was one of the fastest adopters of the night mode feature on Apple in Indonesia and other updates by Apple. Tokopedia’s iOS App was even featured on the Apps Store, a prestigious achievement for iOS developers worldwide.
In the future, Tokopedia’s iOS Team has a lot in store for our users, and it is just a matter of time before all of these exciting innovations can be experienced by our millions of monthly active users across the country. ! So, what feature would you like to see on Tokopedia? Let us know!
