Pitch In Progress Report #01: First Steps
What is the project and where do we stand?
What is Pitch In?
Pitch In is a new way to give back to your local community. Inspired by the “Buy one, Share One” model used by suspended coffee movement in which customers buy an additional coffee that can be collected by those less fortunate. Pitch in aims to make it easier to bring the Buy One, Share One model to local businesses near you, within coffee and beyond.
The plan to achieve this is to create a system that allows members of the public to fund goods and services for those in need within their community. Through the use of micro-donations in the form of payment rounding on bank cards, users will be able to discover and fund goods and services that local businesses list on the platform, such as a cup of coffee for someone else. These funded goods can then be redeemed by those in need from the community, and collected in-store using the unique ticket that is generated upon redeeming of the good. 100% of the funds raised for a good or service will go to support the local business that the user purchases from. Making it a win-win scenario for all involved.
One of the major issues with the existing Buy One Share One model is that there is no way to validate the goods and services bought for those in need actually reach those that need them. Using Pitch In, all of this will change. Pitch In plans to introduce a validation system that will only reward local businesses with their additional stream of revenue when goods are delivered to those that redeem them.
Where do we stand today?
This progression blog for Pitch In hasn’t started from the very beginning of the project, so as it stands there is quite a bit to show off initially.
There has been plenty of research behind the underlying issues of the project, further insights based on this research will be being posted on this publication on occasion but you can also view the rough research notes on my Tumblr. The type of research that can found ranges from interviews with local charities to scouring the internet for data that can help inform product decisions. In addition to brainstorming exercises and planning workshops.
In addition, to the underlying research, there has also been progression on the design front. From planning and testing the initial information architecture of the consumer-facing platform to building flows for how users will achieve tasks within the app. The platform as we understand can be split into two sections a consumer platform and a business platform. The business platform is a place in which local businesses can post new goods and services and validate that their funded goods are delivered. The consumer platform is a space for those in need and those looking to help their community to fund and redeem the goods made available by local businesses in their community.
As the AI Map above indicates the consumer platform is currently split into 5 sections; Funding Goods, Redeeming Goods, The User’s Wallet, Their funded goods and account settings. Under fund goods, a user will be able to view local businesses and the goods/services they provide and choose to fund them. Under redeem goods they will similarly be able to search through local businesses, except in this case they will be able to claim a good or service for free. In the wallet section, the user will be able to see their balance history and manage their connected bank accounts. Under funded goods, a user will be able to track the goods they have funded in order to ensure they are delivered to those in need. In settings, the user can manage how Pitch In functions, from accessibility settings to how they receive notifications.
As it stands, most of the wireframes for the consumer-facing platform have been completed. Currently, there are flows in place for users to find goods and services to both funds and redeem, as well as their accompanying flows for the actual redemption and funding processes. In addition, the “wallet” flows that display users with their account balance and transaction history have been created.
Outstanding flows include:
- Redeemed Goods Flow: A section in which users can find their past and present redeemed goods. Within this section, users will be able to review the details or redeemed goods as well as access yet to be redeemed goods and services in the form of “redeem tickets.”
- Funded Goods Flow: A section outlining the details of goods and services they have funded for those within their community. Most vital to this section will be the tracking of good delivery so as to build trust with consumers regarding whether their money is actually going towards helping those within their community or not.
- Filter Flows: While the business discovery flows for finding goods and services to redeem and fund have been completed the wireframes for how these available options can be narrowed through filters have not been finalised yet.
Where do we go from here?
With the consumer side of the product nearly ready for user testing, my plan for the next week or so is to get these flows finished. From there I can push on to developing the business side product that while testing the consumer product for flaws.
Plan for next week:
- Finish wireframes for Pitch In Consumer Platform
- Get Started on the Pitch In Business Platform
- Begin testing the usability of consumer platform wireframes
- Begin to ideate what the hi-fi appearance of Pitch In may look like
