Enhancing Blinkit’s search flow experience with an aim to increase AOV, Conversion Rate and User Engagement
An Evaluative UX design Project
Why I did it? How I did it? and the BTS stories.👇
Are you tired of feeling like you need to be a detective just to find what you’re looking for on the Blinkit app?
Well, you’re not alone.
Let me tell you a story about Jane, a busy mom who just wanted to find the perfect recipe for her daughter’s birthday cake. But instead, she found herself lost in a sea of irrelevant search results and endless scrolling. Sound familiar?
That’s where my UX case study comes in. Join me as I dive deep into the search flow of Blinkit and aim to improve it so that users like Jane can find what they need quickly and with a smile on their face.
I have completed this project under the guidance of my mentor UX Anudeep.
Hello readers, I have divided the case study into 2 parts for you. If you want a quick summary of the case study you can refer Part 1 and if you are curious to know the whole journey of this project you can refer to Part 2.
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like, Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs
INDEX:
Part 1- A Quick Summary of the case study
- The Beginning
- The Problem Selection Journey: My Process of Choosing a Problem Statement
- A brief about Blinkit
- Why did I Choose This Problem Statement? - Problem Statement Brief
- Business Metrics Targeted
- User Flow
- Existing Screens vs Improved Screens (Before Usability Testing)
- Interactive Prototype (Before Usability Testing)
- Final Comparison of all Screens (After Usability Testing)
- Final Prototype
Part 2 - Detailed Work Process
- The Beginning
- The Problem Selection Journey: My Process of Choosing a Problem Statement
- Problem Statement Brief
- Business Metrics Targeted
- Problem Identification
- Secondary Research
- Primary Research
- Brainstorming Solutions
- Ideating
- Wireframes
- Existing Screens vs Improved Screens (Before Usability Testing)
- Interactive Prototype (Before Usability Testing)
- Usability Testing
- Final Comparison of all Screens (After Usability Testing)
- Final Prototype
- Future Scope
- My learnings
🕢 The Beginning
This is an evaluative project simulating real-life scenarios, as a team of people come together to improve different parts of an app within 21 days while utilizing the shared resources to drive positive impact on business metrics.
My mentor, UX Anudeep has organized this Evaluative Design project in which we were divided into groups and every group will work on different products and each individual will focus on one flow in a product to enhance the user experience with an impact on business metrics. Our group got Blinkit as a product to work on.
🥷The Problem Selection Journey: My Process of Choosing a Problem Statement
⭐️A brief about Blinkit —
Blinkit is one of the largest e-grocery companies in India.
The app provides a variety of daily needs products ranging from groceries, bakery items, baby care items, and many more to its customers. Their mission is — “instant commerce indistinguishable from magic”.
🤯 Why did I choose to evaluate the search flow of the Blinkit app as problem statement?
I decided to choose this topic because when I researched about all the flows , I saw some Interesting facts which are shown below:
According to a study by Adobe, 73% of online grocery shoppers use search as their primary method for finding products on e-grocery apps.
A report by Google found that e-grocery shoppers are 33% more likely to use search to find products than shoppers in other retail categories.
The same report found that e-grocery shoppers who use search have a 7% higher conversion rate than those who do not.
A survey by Retail Dive found that 69% of shoppers would abandon an e-grocery app if they could not find what they were looking for within two minutes.
These facts and figures highlight the importance of search flow in e-grocery apps and the impact it can have on user experience and sales. It is clear that providing a well-designed search flow can help e-grocery apps attract and retain customers, improve their conversion rates, and ultimately increase their revenue.
So, I decided to work on such a topic which plays a major role in improving some important business metrics for a company.
🥷The Problem Statement Brief:
Evaluate the Search flow of Blinkit, which includes Home Page > Searching by product name > browsing through search results > viewing products details and variants and redesign the experience to make the product design better for the users thereby increasing AOV (Average Order Value), Conversion Rate and User Engagement.
Business Metrics Targeted:
As a Product designer, the main aim is not only to change the UI UX of the application but also find ways to impact the business as a whole.
I target the following Business Metrics:
AOV stands for Average Order Value : which is the average amount of money spent by a customer in a single transaction.
Conversion rate refers to the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
User engagement measures how much time and effort users spend interacting with a product or service. It can include metrics such as time spent on a website, number of pages viewed, and frequency of visits.
“The job of a Product designer is to not only think about their users, but also about how it helps the business”
💪 USER FLOW:
Flow: Home Screen → Tap on search bar → Type your item name there → Scroll the screen to find your preferred item
😵💫 Problem Identification:
I’m starting this project by evaluating the screen with respect to Jakob Nielsen’s heuristics is that it helps optimize usability by minimizing design deficiencies.
As a Product designer, it’s important to prioritize work as we need to work with major constraints like time and money. Also, solve problems that are directly impacting the business and the users.
Below is the heuristic evaluation of each screen of the particular flow:
here are some problems identified through Heuristic evaluation.
- There is a Lack of visual clarity for the main search bar.
- The voice feature doesn’t have a cancellation feature in android which violates User Control and Freedom
- User have to perform multiple searches to order something which violates Flexibility and Efficiency of use.
- The item carousels have uneven heights which doesn’t look consistent.
👓 Secondary Research:
I began to search about various facts and graphs about the pain points of users related to e-grocery apps on google and also took some help from chat gpt.
🎩 Primary Research:
- Primary research is conducted to observe and collect information directly from the users of your problem statement’s industry or organization.
- The purpose of primary research is that it allows us to validate from users our ideas, design ideas and concepts that will have a more meaningful solution for the users early on in the design process.
- Having a comprehensive understanding of the user’s behavior and mindset is crucial in addressing their issues effectively and delivering a seamless experience with the relevant products. To gather insights and test my hypotheses, I conducted 5 user interviews.👨👩👨👩
- Most importantly, I can’t solve the problem for everybody in the world therefore it’s important to target your users.
My Target Users:
☠️ ROADBLOCKS DURING PRIMARY RESEARCH:
It was definitely not easy for me to analyze the insights and difficulties after interviewing the users . As my topic (the search flow) is easy to understand , so the tasks and questions related to it are also easy for users.
They were completing the tasks very quickly as those were literally day to day life tasks. So it took me a good amount of time to note down some insights.
Once I have analyzed the data, now I have a lot of insights about what are the problems users are really facing and are significant.
Through my research, I am getting one step closer to the problem that really exists and the insights from various sources reduces the risk of gamble of any changes or new features I introduce.
✍🏻 Validating Problems:
Now at this stage, I have much insights that have some solutions for these important questions like : What are the problems that user faces while searching for items , what is the user behaviour and mindset while searching an item, how different companies utilize their search flow etc.
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
– Albert Einstein
here are some insights i identified from the both research and interview:
- Proper Visibility of the search bar is necessary and this can be achieved by making it more prominent on the page.
- the app needs to provide a more intuitive navigation system and layout to help users quickly access the home page and navigate the app.
- the app needs to provide users with more interesting sections at a single fold that provide users with more options to explore and discover new items.
- the app needs to provide users with the ability to customize and personalize the app to their specific needs.
🤓 Brainstorming Solutions:
I already have a gist of some features, buttons or icons that we want to improve but I am still not clear about my objectives that exactly where , what and why I am going to improve that particular flow.
To solve this confusion, I have decided to frame ‘How Might We’ Questions that will help me to set a goal and help me focus on my problem statement.
Here are some How might we questions
- HMW make the search bar more visible as users cannot see the search bar clearly.
- HMW utilize or improve the white screen under the trending section?
- HMW make the screen organised and more evenly designed?
- HMW streamline the search process for users?
🥳 IDEATING:
Finally Ideating is done! I have gone through each screen of the search flow and now able to find out some solutions to the existing problems.
Now Let’s start making wireframes.
📖 Wireframes:
Now that I have my wireframes ready, I know how my solution would look like on your screen, and how the information would be laid out.
Now, it is also important for me to understand the existing design style of the app and implement my solutions coherent to it. Therefore I have made the existing screens and added new components or screens to implement my solutions.
Components Used :
⭐️ Existing Screens vs Improved Screens :
Adding a “Recently Bought” section in an e-grocery app can have several benefits that can lead to increased business metrics.
- It can improve the user experience by making it easier for users to quickly find and re-order items they have recently purchased. This can save time and effort for users, making them more likely to return to the app for future purchases.
- It can increase the average order value by suggesting related or complementary items that the user may be interested in based on their recent purchases. This can lead to increased sales and revenue for the app.
- It can increase customer loyalty and retention by providing a personalized and convenient experience for users. By making it easy for users to reorder items they have recently purchased, the app can build trust and loyalty with its customers, increasing the likelihood of repeat purchases.
Overall, adding a “Recently Bought” section can improve the user experience, increase the average order value, and increase customer loyalty and retention, all of which can lead to improved business metrics of the app.
Adding price sort and filter features can have several impacts on business metrics. Here are a few possible ways in which it could affect the business:
- Conversion rates:
- Customers can easily find the products they want and filter them by price range, making it easier for them to make a purchase decision.
- This can lead to more sales and increased revenue for the business.
2. Customer satisfaction:
- Providing customers with price sorting and filtering options can improve their satisfaction with the app.
- Customers may appreciate the ability to easily find products that fit their budget, and this can lead to increased loyalty and repeat purchases.
3. Average order value:
- customers may be encouraged to add additional items to their cart once they find a product they like at a good price, leading to an increase in average order value.
Additional Screens added to the solution:
When the user will click on the ‘Sort’ feature it will open a carousel mentioning the options to choose according to the user’s preference.
This simple and intuitive interface element makes it easy for users to quickly narrow down their search results and find the products or services that fit their needs and budget.
By clicking on a radio button, users can indicate their desired price range and see only those items that fall within that range.
This helps to streamline the shopping process and make it more efficient for users who are looking for specific products or services at a certain price point.
🫡 Interactive Prototype :
Here is the prototype link — Figma Prototype:
Click on it → Then Click on the 3 dots and click on “Open in Browser”.
🫂 Usability Testing :
After all these steps now it’s time to test my prototype whether it is working or not.
☠️ Roadblocks during Usability Testing:
During this stage, I have had numerous uncertainties and have relied heavily on seeking assistance to solve them. Chatgpt has been a valuable resource in resolving both minor and major uncertainties, and I am grateful to my peers for their support in this regard.
Some of the major doubts are as follows:
Method I Follow :
This time I wanted to test my screens with a large number of users , so I got to know about a website named “ Maze” (https://maze.co/) which allows you to create a free account, and you can conduct usability tests on your website or mobile application.
It was a new experience for me and it turns out to be amazing!
Results:
By the help of these graphs and stats, I was able to make notes which are as follows:
Insights from Usability Testing:
By analyzing the data from these notes , I was able to improve the revamped UI screens.
🤓 Final Iteration:
By now I understood what the issues are and to solve these issues I analyzed how competitors are solving. And I made changes in the design.
🏆 The Final Prototype:
Click on it → Then Click on the 3 dots and click on “Open in Browser”.
☝️☝️Click here to go back to Index.☝️☝️
NOTE: I am happy to share, that while I was iterating on my design after usability testing, Blinkit came up with some similar features that I have solved for and this gave me the confidence that I’m on the right track.
🔭 Future Scope:
While I have made significant improvements to the app’s search flow, there may still be room for further optimization. I would like to target potential areas for improvement, such as adding more advanced search filters or improving the app’s ability to recognize different types of queries.
🥳 My Learnings:
- I always learn a lot while making these projects , this not only improves my UI skills but also plays a crucial role in enhancing my Communication Skills (by Usability Testing), Writing skills (by Writing Case study).
- You uncover your strengths and weaknesses. Also beat them at multiple stages in-turn helping you grow.
- I also learn to discover and search on the topics optimally during secondary research.
- It made me realize that the problems I face can be really different from the problems that users face.
- Collaborating with the group members will open up our mind to n number of perspectives and it had a good impact on my project and personally I have leveled up in communicating.
Thank you for reading, Hope you enjoyed it.
Please comment with your valuable feedback.
If you like my case study, don’t forget to clap 👏.
You can reach out to me at shourya.bhatnagar131@gmail.com or LinkedIn.
