DNA - Design
With Instant Pricing, customers can get quotes instantly. An improvement Light-years faster than our previous 48-hour process.
Accompanying the tool is a complete re-design to address efficiencies and User experience on a whole.
Role / Background / Problem / Solution
Role
Creative Director, UX Design, UI Design, Research, Interview Conduction
Project length
4 weeks to luanch - ongoing
Tools used
Figma, Figjam, Squarespace Miro, Typeform
Deliverables: Information architecture, prototype, MVP
DNA Design Agency is a home stager and interior design company, with a reputation for great customer service. As a company that was dependent on face-to-face customer service, and in-person quotes and assessments, the pandemic brought how we do business to a complete halt. We needed a way to provide quotes for our services without seeing physical properties in person, all while providing great customer service. Problems would need to be unearthed. New tools would need to be made. Processes would need to be developed, and our website would need to be overhauled.
We overhauled the website and developed a new tool that provided instant pricing for customers called - Instant Pricing. This took time and man-hours out of the equation, and allowed users to take control, and give them instant answers to their most asked questions. It would also eliminate countless staffing hours.
From an overly detailed pricing form, filled out manually, on-site by a designer, and could take up to 48 hours to receive to an instant pricing tool that a customer can fill out, cater, and customize within 2 minutes.
Instead of calling in during business hours and speaking to the front desk for scheduling options, you can now book a consultation, site visit, installation, or de-installation from an automatic appointment scheduler right on our website with a few clicks
In order to accommodate these tools, the website would need to be overhauled and brought into contemporary aesthetics and accessibility standards. This was an opportunity to simplify further and, re-consider our systems, and general branding.
Secondary Research / Inspiration
- How can we provide pricing quotes without seeing properties in person?
- How can we provide good customer service without meeting people in person?
- How can we simplify our process for us and our customers alike?
No other interior designer or home stager (that we could find) had a way to do quick, unverified quoting remotely. So we had to look to other products for inspiration. Instant pricing tools such as Carmax came front and center for inspiration.
Our design managers had ample feedback of users' frustrations over the years. To validate these concerns, we observed and interviewed potential users as they navigated our website, pricing, and booking options as they currently existed.
I want my property staged, and I visited your website, but I am unclear on what the next step is and how much it will cost
To get a quote I have to make an appointment two weeks out, and then wait for a quote after the appointment? How long will that all take?
This process is slow and confusing.
Same but better
Our first attempts at building the tool in Typeform focused entirely on layout, structure , and order
Testing the prototype revealed many flaws and frustrations. Primarily in language use, explanation, and verbiage.
Users found the language to be too direct, informal, and lacked a conversational tone
6 out 10 users used a statement akin to “Why do you need to know this.” at some point during the use of the tool.
3 test participants commented on the upper case font. One user went as far as to say the form was “yelling” at them.
We changed to a high-contrast color pallet for legibility and accessibility.
Adjusted language to be conversational and friendly in tone.
Added explanations, images, and videos addressing why questions were being asked, and gave significance to the tool's accuracy.
We re-structured the website to follow simple succinct steps
During a sink-or-swim moment, DNA Design had more than a few strokes to learn. The downfall of our systems became an opportunity to look at our user experience as a whole, and how we could improve upon them. This had never been addressed as a stand-alone idea in our company until the development of our Instant Pricing tool, and the re-design of our website and practices. For the first time, we considered our customer's experience of our website and process as valuable as the product we were selling.
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