Mini UX Walkthrough of India Post Website
My journey for a simple Use Case: Shipment Tracking on indiapost.gov.in
This Tuesday night I got a message from the Passport Authority that my renewed passport has been dispatched and I could track with a speed post tracking no.
My first reaction was to get any insight on when my passport will be delivered, so that I can plan my work from home and let me colleagues know that I would not be available in office.
Step 1: Enter your tracking no. on the India Post Site
A quick Google search landed me here
Now here is where my bad experiences start.
- Enter Item No.?? I have a Speed Post Tracking No. but what is my Item no? I have decided to try my luck here.
- I understand the verification codes are used to avoid bots and automated server attacks. Last I checked, the web technologies have advanced and there are checks available to stop the automated server attacks and therefore there is no need for users to enter the verification codes. However they also have a timer set to timeout and ask users to re-enter the verification code. By the time I typed the long tracking number looking at my message on phone, I was asked to re-enter the information.
Step 2: Look for delivery information
- When I get here, I was expecting to see an estimated delivery time and date, not when my delivery has happened. I ended up clicking on details in that table. More in Step 3 below.
- What is Track More? Apparently to track another shipment.
- “Click here and enter details to get contact information” Any guesses on what this is? To get contact information of a post office. More in Step 4 below.
Step 3: Get to details of the shipment
I think this step was unnecessary, I should have got the information I was looking for in the previous step. Well, lets move on.
Well now i know that the Indian Postal system works round the clock, impressive. I still don’t have answers to the information I was looking for.
When will my passport be delivered at home?
Looking at the information, I can infer that the passport has reached the nearest post office, so I might get the delivery today, or maybe not. Maybe if I know where this post office is located, I can drop by on my way to office and not take work from home.
My guess on “Click here and enter details to get contact information” worked, it is indeed to find information about the post office.
Step 4: Finding where the post office is located.
Again, an unnecessary step, initiated only because I was not able to find information about when the delivery be done.
I land on this page:
Oh wait, Pincode or Office Name ?? Then I read the information in Green above and below the text field, which I ignored as it looked like ad content (center aligned and is link and is in color)
A quick look at the other two options:
I am not sure why the other two options exist, why couldn’t they have one search box with additional advanced filters. Also can the state field be autofilled based on my IP address?
Anyways, I use the information I learned from the previous step that the office name I was looking for is “Vimanapura”. Takes me to next step
Step 5: Find details of the post office
Err…. ok one more step here, lets move to Step 6. I would have expected to find an address column in that table to give me what I was looking for.
Step 6: Find details of the post office again!
Now this is where I hit the block and gave up. I am given with all details expect for what I was looking for. Only contact information previded here is the telephone number and it is a clue I can use. I could have called them up to find out where the post office was, or better find out if my passport will be delivered that day.
Conclusion:
I expected this to be two steps:
Step 1: Enter my tracking no
Step 2: Find estimated delivery date and if time (even a window of 3–4 hours) was provided, I would have been a delighted customer.
The Search for contact information can be simplified with smart auto fills, filters for advanced search and providing address and phone no info upfront and maybe even a link to a Google map for the post office.
In the end my journey on India Post site for a simple use case took me to 6 steps and I was left with no answers!
This post is part of the UX4India series, I plan to publish every week, with my journeys and UX issues encountered on Indian Service Websites (most of which will be Govt services)
