“Unlocking Uniqueness: The Blueprint for Personalizing My Booking Experience on Urban Company’s Order History Screen”

Personalizing the user experience is a well-established concept in product design. Virtually all apps provide a personalized experience for returning users. For example, Uber displays relevant destinations, YouTube suggests videos based on watched content, and Swiggy/Zomato showcases favourite restaurants, among others. Typically, these personalizations occur in the pre-booking journey or until the user places an order, such as on the home page, cart page, and checkout pages. Once the order is placed, it transitions to the order history page where everything is organized chronologically based on date and time, with additional filtering options.

But have you ever wondered why the order history lacks personalization or why data isn’t presented in a smart, user-centric manner when needed? At Urban Company, we made it a mission to elevate the experience on our My Booking (Order History screen) and provide answers to these intriguing questions.

What is the My Booking (Order history screen)?

The My Booking (Order History screen) is essentially a feature within an app designed to keep track of all past orders or bookings made through that specific app. It acts as a digital ledger, systematically recording all completed, active, or upcoming orders. In essence, it provides users with a consolidated view of their ordering journey within the app.

This screen is a common feature in nearly all transactional apps, including Airbnb, Swiggy, Uber, Gojek, and many others. The nomenclature and placement of this section may vary across different apps; for instance, Airbnb labels it as “Trips,” Swiggy manages order history within the “My Account” section, and Uber refers to it as “Trip,” among other variations. Despite the differences in naming and placement, the functionality remains consistent across these platforms.

What is the purpose of this screen?

In simpler terms, this screen enables users to conveniently access a comprehensive record of all their past, ongoing, or upcoming orders, transactions, or bookings on the platform.

What was wrong with the ‘My booking’ screen at Urban Company (UC)?

Similar to other apps in the industry, Urban Company’s My Booking screen served as a hub where all booked services or transactions were systematically organized based on date and time, following a chronological order.

Indeed, that’s how an Order History page is typically structured, isn’t it?

Before diving into this project, my response would have been a resounding ‘Yes.’ It seemed like the most straightforward method to locate any transaction or booking on a history screen. Following the L.A.T.C.H framework, sorting information based on time makes perfect sense, especially when time is a critical attribute. After all, humans have a natural inclination to remember and reference events chronologically.

Now, let’s take a moment to reflect:

Do you remember the date you last ordered a pizza?
Most likely not; you’d need to scroll through your order history.

Can you recall which booking resulted in your last refund?
Again, it’s uncertain; you might need to apply a filter on your booking page.

What transpired when you cancelled your last service and then rebooked it?
You’ll see two entries on the order history screen: one for the cancelled booking and another for the new one.

And, if you’ve raised any complaints about a booking or service?
Checking the help centre is necessary; the My Booking page remains consistently sorted by date and time chronology.

In each of the instances mentioned, it’s evident that sorting the order history by date and time with additional filters is a sensible design approach. However, the question arises: can it be optimized for an even better user experience? Is it possible to obtain the desired information with minimal scrolls or clicks? Can the screen display only relevant information, ensuring a clean and clutter-free look? Essentially, can this screen operate intelligently rather than functioning as a static repository where everything is indiscriminately dumped?

What approach did we take to give answers to the above questions?

Upon scrutinizing the challenges with our My Booking screen, we embarked on sketching out potential solutions. Interestingly, every proposed solution seemed to circle back to the familiar ground of date and time chronology. This observation underscores the deeply ingrained nature of our minds to process and visualize data within the framework of this established sorting logic.

We decided to take the ‘Deconstructive approach’

This methodology is qualitative in nature, offering researchers and practitioners a detailed lens to analyze problems. Opting for the most fitting solution often requires breaking away from existing solutions and embracing a fresh start.

“The deconstruction approach is used in an art, derived mainly from work begun in the 1960s by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida”

Where to start from?

User-First Approach: In our user analysis, we delved into the motivations behind a user visiting the My Booking screen on our app:

Tracking Active Bookings
Most users land on this screen to monitor the status of their ongoing bookings.

Claiming Warranty
Users often visit to initiate a warranty claim.

Checking Plans or Subscriptions
Some users explore this section to review ongoing plans or subscriptions.

Taking Booking-Related Actions
Users frequently visit to perform actions such as sharing OTP, calling the partner, making payments, and providing ratings and reviews.

Checking Raised Issues
Users want to verify the status of issues they’ve raised in connection with any booking.

Refund Status Check
Another common reason for visiting is to check for any refunds.

Data Validation
To validate these user behaviours, we examined existing data. On average, a user has around two active bookings per month. Notably, 80% of the time, users land on the screen to perform booking-related actions. The remaining 20% of visits are dedicated to tasks like claiming warranty, accepting quotes, checking refund status, and seeking help with related issues.

The solution:

To transform the My Booking (Order History Screen) into a dynamic and intelligent interface, we implemented the following strategies:

Relevant Bookings in the First Fold

Display all ongoing bookings, completed bookings with pending actions (e.g., Claim Warranty), and bookings with active help tickets in the initial view. The first and second folds of the screen maintain a Date & Time chronological order.

Introduction of Multiple Bookings

Introduce the concept of Multiple Bookings to enhance the page’s cleanliness. Bookings related to the same category are grouped. For instance, if a user schedules a video consultation followed by an in-person visit, these bookings are now bundled under a single category. Similarly, services that are cancelled and then rebooked are linked to the root booking.

Upfront Actionable Buttons

Place essential actionable buttons prominently on each booking. This ensures that users don’t need to perform additional clicks to access relevant information or take actions like sharing OTP, making payments, tracking refunds, accepting quotations, etc.

Visual Enhancements

Recognizing that users typically have around 2 active bookings simultaneously, we designed the screen to show one-and-a-half bookings within a single viewport. This approach facilitates users in digesting booking information more effectively.

By implementing these changes, we aim to not just present a ledger of past transactions but to create an intuitive and user-friendly space where relevant information is readily available and actions can be performed seamlessly.

Key Takeaways

In today’s fast-paced world, time is a precious commodity when it comes to app usage. The most optimal experience is one where your needs, wants, or desires are met swiftly. While fulfilling wishes might be beyond the capabilities of an app (unless it’s Aladdin’s lamp), addressing user needs and wants promptly is achievable. Hence, the design should prioritize a user-first system that is intelligent enough to deliver pertinent information to the user in the shortest time possible. It’s essential to strike a balance, recognizing that an excess of principles and industry standards can stifle creativity.