User Experience Internship: May - Aug 2018
Overview
CONTEXT
For 8 weeks over the summer I had the opportunity to intern at Juice Box Hero as a User Experience intern. I was able to accomplish the following:
Synthesized user research into personas, storyboards and affinity diagrams
Wire-framed and implemented 4 new features on their platform
PROBLEM
JuiceBox Hero strives to provide a better way for parents to find childcare for their children.
SOLUTION
In an attempt to solve this problem they came up with an easier way to customize the search process to fit the needs of the parents.
PROCESS
The first few of the internship I was tasked with familiarizing myself with JuiceBox Hero and carrying out an in depth analysis of the problem they were trying to solve.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM SPACE
Families are now transitioning more and more into dual income households, where both parents work.With this change and transition in the workspace, finding the correct/ ideal/ perfect fit day care is hard.
Defining the people Problem
When a working parent goes to work, they want to ensure that their children are well taken care of, so that they can exploit their maximum potential both as work and as a parent. But they can’t do this well because:
Most of the information is presented in analog form and requires parents to physically visit the child care provider
Most of the information present online is overwhelming and not targeted
Most of the parents don’t understand the terminology used in the child care provider websites as well as the search criteria
It’s hard to customize the search and compare the findings.
MARKET RESEARCH
Most of the resources and tools available don’t do a good job in customizing the search, comparisons and explaining the terminologies necessary to aid the search.
Main differentiator of JuiceBox Hero, is the user friendly solution that it offers to parents. It offers services that offers a hand to parents from the first step of their search to when the they find the type of care they need.
Some of the key differentiators of JuiceBox Hero as compared to its competitors include:
Focus on child care centers
Expertise with women and families
Values for families and businesses
Modern UX/ UI
QC: Vetted/ licensed only
Ability to filter, search, compare and save
Process
USER RESEARCH
Hypothesis
I had the following hypothesis:
It is hard to find ideal day care because:
Information available on different childcare options is overwhelming such that parents feel like they don’t know where to begin
Terminology used/needed to better the childcare search are new and people don’t have enough knowledge on them
It is hard to customize the search to meet the criteria that are of interest to you
It is hard for parents to compare the different options that parents find in their search
Most of the information is analog i.e. presented on paper or require the parents to call in
There are high switching costs (emotional, time-wise and financial).
SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS
When parents look for different daycare options, they look to fulfill specific expectations of their child/ children’s care. Finding an ideal child care can be a bit tiresome and overwhelming.
When asked about their current childcare provider search process, most of the parents agreed that the process was frustrating.
First, the parents don’t know where to begin the search process and this mostly ends up in them searching on Google or the parents moving from one website to another with no luck. The results presented to them by such search engines or websites are more often than not overwhelming and this stresses the parents even more. The information they end up using are mainly from Facebook posts and word of mouth
The information present as well as the search criteria options also have terminologies that are complex and foreign to the parents, making the search process even more frustrating and almost impossible. It is also hard for the parents to apply necessary filters that reduce the lists to only childcare services that they may be interested in, making the process even more inefficient.
Lastly, when the parents finally narrow their search, comparing the different results is yet again hard to accomplish. It is saddening when parents have to rely on luck to find the correct childcare provider.
With the above findings, the order/ journey map of a parent searching for childcare can be summarized into the following steps:
Parents lack of knowledge on how to go about the search for childcare providers
Parents search on different avenues
Parents compare the different results
Parents choose the childcare provider that they like
The users identified numerous pain points throughout the search process and some of the recurring responses are summarized below:
User Responses
After further analysis of the problem space based on the user research and the pain points identified, we divided the childcare provider search further into the following seven steps:
Parents know nothing about the search
Parents are educated on the different terminologies
Parents begin their search
Parents are able to filter their searches and reduce the list to only the desired childcare providers
Parents choose the childcare providers they are interested in
Parents review their choice
The main goal of JuiceBox Hero is therefore to provide a high degree of specificity in the childcare search that should allow parents’ choice and customization. JuiceBox Hero provides parents the confidence and ability to navigate the childcare search.
IDENTIFY TARGET AUDIENCE
This section identifies the target audience and includes the rationale behind the choosing of this audience.
The target audience is urban tech- savvy women ranging between the age of 25 and 50 who are digital natives and millennial parents and who are in need of finding care for their children so that they can work to provide for their families.
Chose this target audience because the workforce has transitioned into double income households and most women are now tasked with the responsibility of looking for childcare options that enable parents to work, enhance their careers and provide for their families.
PERSONAS
With the problem space defined and the main goal of JuiceBox Hero identified, we further divided the target audience and came up with five personas that fit the identified audience.
Susan (1st time pregnant)
Susan is a 42-year-old first time parent who is currently 3 months pregnant. She is a married working mother obsessed with order and organization. She is already planning for the best childcare option for her child that is suitable not only for her child but also for both her and her husband. She tends to strive for perfection and is looking for a childcare provider that can easily fit into her schedule. Susan wants to be a great mother and wants to excel at her job too.
Amy (child now mobile)
Amy is a 36-year-old first time parent of a one-year child. She is married. She is the founder of her own freelance/small business and is an overachiever. She thought that she could manage both parenting at home as well as managing her organization but now that her child is mobile, verbal realizes that she needs help so as to be able to excel at both. She is currently looking for childcare providers that are able to help in caring for her child. She is highly motivated to be a successful entrepreneur but doesn't want the motivation get in the way of her parenting.
Sally (moved)
Sally is a 28-year-old mother of two children. She works full time and just moved to Austin. She doesn't know how the childcare systems works in this new city and she is in search of a new childcare provider, close to her home or work place. She expects to easily find a childcare provider so that she can be able to settle in faster and so that her children can fit in. She started looking before she moved. She may have visited a few on a scouting trip before she moved. Now that she is on the ground, she is making final selections. She has been looking through Facebook to find recommendations and reviews but this has been extremely hard to do.
Kate (multiple children = more expensive)
Kate is a 40-year-old mother of two who works as a consultant in an advertising agency. She just had her second child and needs to change her childcare provider to a more affordable one so that she can be able to afford childcare for both her children. She is motivated to find quality childcare provider that is in her price range where both of her children can make friends but at the same time be together.
Jennifer
Jennifer is a 35-year-old mother of two who works as lawyer. She is a Christian and her an her husband are looking for a childcare provider that identifies as Christian and that can take care of her children up until 6pm as they both get off work really late. Jennifer and her husband both have rigid work schedules and are motivated to find a childcare provider that aligns with their values.
STORYBOARDS
With the personas defined, we came up with storyboards detailing how the the personas are able to solve their individual problems using JuiceBox Hero.
JOURNEY MAPS
With target audience, personas and user needs established, I came up with a journey map showing the journey that a parent takes while trying to find their appropriate child care provider.
Design
DESIGN PHASE AND PROTOTYPES
The following are the final screens and flows of the features that I worked on.
Price Calculator Feature
Review Feature
Checklist Feature
Compare Feature