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Problem:

Uber Eats is a popular food delivery app [1, 2] that users can use to choose the food they want and have it delivered to their door timely [3]. However, even with an user interface that provides information about the restaurant’s food, ratings, delivery time, delivery fee, and pictures showing the food, some critical information is still missing. Users are not able to learn about the restaurant’s story (its background and origin, as well as its position) [4], nor about other users’ experience ordering from the restaurant (whether the food was nice, or whether there were problems with the service) [5, 6, 7], which are both important elements for a user’s decision making.

For this small-scale project, I have conducted user research from academic research, and followed the Prototype and Testing phases of the Design Thinking cycle to test whether or not adding 2 additional functions – an “Our Story” section and a “Comments” section – to the Uber Eats app can lead to better user satisfaction.

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Solution:

After identifying user needs through academic research, I have added 2 new functions in order to provide users with additional restaurant information to assist in their food-buying decisions, including:

• “Our Story” to show users information about the restaurant’s background, its specialties and unique services.

• “Comments” section to let users leave comments about the food delivery in written format. Users can also leave a star rating with their comment.

A paper prototype is created and usability testing is conducted with Task Scenarios [8] designed for Thinking Aloud testing, while an observer takes notes on an Observation Report. User data is then analyzed with the Open Coding method.

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Sampling Strategy:

Previous academic studies focused on students as a sample population to perform usability testing. Researchers have suggested investigating office workers in future studies. Therefore, white-collar office workers are the target users in this study due to their fast-paced work environment with a fixed schedule where they have no spare time to go out for lunch [9]. Additionally, research has shown that ordering food with colleagues using food delivery apps can save time and promote better communication between co-workers while they are eating together [9]. The sample recruitment will include 6 office works from 3 companies located in Downtown Vancouver (2 from each company), for according to Jakob Nielsen, 6 people would be enough to find the major issues of a product [10]. A pilot test was conducted with 2 pilot testing participants for this small-scale study.

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Paper Prototype Design: 

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Usability Testing with Task Scenarios and Observation Report:

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Open Coding (from Pilot Testing):

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Results: 

After a pilot testing with two pilot testing participants, significant findings have been gathered, including:

• Participants understand the function of “Our Story” icon and section; they find that it provides necessary information when for choosing a restaurant.

• Participants find “Comments” section on Ratings Page to be an effective component for them to understand the conditions of a restaurant’s service, food and atmosphere.

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Reflections: 

Participants have provided suggestions for improvement for our paper prototype during the usability testing session, including adding a filter button on “Ratings Page” for users to filter through positive and negative comments, or the time the comment was written. “Tap for more information” is also suggested to be printed as text beside the “Our Story” icon to clearly show users where to locate the restaurant’s information. Observations during the usability testing can also be recorded with a camera for future reference.

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References: 

1. Curry, D. (2021, August 30). Uber eats revenue and Usage Statistics (2021). Business of Apps. Retrieved September 20, 2021, from https://www.businessofapps.com/data/uber- eats- statistics/

2. Rendaje, M. (2021, September 13). 18 Canadian Food Delivery Statistics [the 2021 takeout]. Reviewlution. Retrieved September 20, 2021, from https://reviewlution.ca/resources/food-delivery-statistics/

3. Monty, Renata Cristina da Silva. (2018). Creative economy: How the interface of uber eats and iFood could change your menu. Brazilian Journal of Operations & Production Management, 15(3), 413-419. https://doi.org/10.14488/BJOPM.2018.v15.n3.a8

4. Zohry, M.A., Saleh, A.S., Fawzy, S.A., Ibrahim, M.A. (2021). The impact of storytelling on the intentions of Egyptian restaurant customers. The Arab Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Archeology Sciences. 2(3). 159-194.

5. Gunden, N., Morosan, C., & DeFranco, A. (2020). Consumers’ intentions to use online food delivery systems in the USA. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(3), 1325–1345. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2019-0595

6. Suhartanto, D., Helmi Ali, M., Tan, K.H., Sjahroeddin, F. and Kusdibyo, L. (2019). “Loyalty toward online food delivery service: the role of e-service quality and food quality”. Journal of Foodservice Business Research. 22 (1). 81-97.

7. Xu, X., & Huang, Y. (2019). Restaurant information cues, diners’ expectations, and need for cognition: Experimental studies of online-to-offline mobile food ordering. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 51, 231–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.06.010

8. McCloskey, M. (2014, January 12). Task scenarios for usability testing. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/task-scenarios-usability-testing/

9. Li, C., Mirosa, M., & Bremer, P. (2020). Review of Online Food Delivery Platforms and their Impacts on Sustainability. Sustainability, 12(14), 5528. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145528

10. Nielsen, J. (2012, January 15). Thinking aloud: The #1 usability tool. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from    https://www.nngroup.com/articles/thinking-aloud-the-1-usability-tool/

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