Dealzzie - Web Application

Dealzzie – Web Application

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Overview

Dealzzie is an online listing platform targeting Small Businesses to create online presence with Online Store and Generating Leads. Business can post their products on Dealzzie to different categories and create deals (Coupons) on uploaded products. General users can find/post classified listings from different categories and post limited listings for selling used goods.

Challenge

Small and New businesses always struggle to mark their presence on the digital marketplace and hit the right customers in the early phase of development.
CEO of Dealzzie requested UX Research and User-Friendly Website Design for Business and User Modules.

Role

Role: UX/UI Designer

Timeline: 6 Months

Platform: Web Application

Team: CS Solutions Inc.

Process

Requirements + Kick-Off
Identify Purpose of Dealzzie
Identify Target Users
Competitor Analysis
Identify user’s needs and goals
Check Feasibility Check
Feature Prioritization
User Flow Design
Wireframes Designs
Design Iterations
Final Mockup

Assumptions

Targeted users own small businesses
Small businesses have limited to no budget for website and marketing
Small businesses have better deals for their customers as compared to big boxes stores
Buyers are always hungry for better deals
Small business owners have limited technical knowledge of websites and portals
Buyers want to support Canadian Businesses

Results

Dealzzie provides a web platform for different types of users to buy and sell new/used items online. Business users can sign-up for a digital store by paying a monthly fee to Dealzzie and post multiple products and coupons based on their subscribed plan. General users can post limited items for a limited period of time for buying/selling their products/services.

All Users can create notifications on any product/service
Business Users can upload multiple product uploads with CSV
Business Users get monthly reports on the lead generation, product performance, and coupon generation
Business Users get discounts on individual product/service marketing

Research

I started this phase with a kickoff meeting with the client and the senior developer. Once I have confirmed all the project requirements, I decided to move forward with the following two Research methodology:

Market research & Competitive Analysis

– Compare today’s successful online listing platforms: study their offers/services/trends and customer demographics/behavior through statistics provided, published online material, and annual reports.

User Interviews

– Conduct 1-1 user interviews with potential users to understand what they look for in a portal for classified listings, why they use other platforms, how frequently they update their listings, and how much they are spending on their platforms.

Market Research and Competitive Analysis

This phase includes the SWOT Methodology where I worked on finding Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats for competitors from the market.

For the precise analysis, the collected data was divided into four different categories: Classified Advertisements, Discount Marketplace, E-Commerce, and Category specific.

Further down the line, I have put these competitors in two sub-categories: Direct and Indirect. Direct competitors are the platforms that are in the same race as Dealzzie. On the other hand, Indirect competitors are not in a direct race but affect the existence of Dealzzie with other parameters.

Classified Advertisements
(Direct)

– Kijiji
– Facebook Marketplace

Discount/Offer Portals
(Direct)

– Groupon

Online Seller Platforms
(Indirect)

– Amazon
– Shopify
– eBay

Category Specific Sellers
(Indirect)

– Best Buy
– Wayfair
– Uber Eats
– Auto Trader

User Persona Building

Maria, 31

Restaurant Owner
Calgary, AB

Goals

– Increase orders
– Get new customers
– Save money
– Create Deals

Needs

– Basic technical knowledge
– Limited Budget for web presence

Sebastian, 27

Student/Photographer (Part-time)
Toronto, ON

Goals

– Offer Photography as service
– Earn extra money
– Reach to new customers
– Get deals on different items

Needs

– No budget for marketing/website
– Lack of time for maintenance

James, 45

Associate Manager
Vancouver, BC

Goals

– Get new leads for the business
– Small budget for marketing
– Find used office furniture
– Offer service to specific area

Needs

– Limited technical knowledge
– Limited area of Service

Grace, 38

Teacher / Mother
Ottawa, ON

Goals

– Get best offers/deals
– Find refurbished/used items
– Zero Investment
– Monthly Savings

Needs

– Limited technical knowledge
– Limited time to invest

User Interviews

User interviews were conducted based on the user personas. Volunteers from different industries/experiences were involved in the process. Here my aim was to understand the areas of opportunities to create a reliable solution for the users. The followings are some questions I asked them during the interview:

– What is your occupation (working/owns a business)?
– Do you have a website?
– If Yes, How much you are spending monthly on your website?
– What is ROI from the website?
– How much you are spending on Marketing?
– What is ROI from the Marketing budget?
– If No website, How much budget you are comfortable spending on the platform (like Dealzzie)?
– How are you currently offering deals to your customers?
– How often you are getting new customers?
– What is the best source of new customers?
– Have you ever use Kijiji or FB Marketplace?
– How was your overall experience?
– Do you want to use it in the future?
– What is the best thing about these platforms?
– Which part of these modules do you want to improve?
– Have you ever use Amazon, eBay, or Shopify to sell your items?

Wireframe Designs

Once user flow is approved, now it is time to do actions on the plan and it starts with the project wireframes. By including the user flow before wireframing, it makes my process easier and faster to draw the complete picture of the project. It is my job to use the best elements for user-friendly flow with the least pages/steps/clicks from the user and provide them maximum possible information.

Design Feedback & Iterations

After the first round of wireframe designs, I conducted user interviews to collect feedback and to understand what they are thinking while on classified listing backgrounds. I interviewed a total of 7 different people from different professions, education levels, and backgrounds.
Users spoke out loud while reviewing the wireframes. I collected some of the important key points from these interviews. Most of these points were on the Homepage and Product/Coupon/Store listing page:

Minimum Element Clicks for Messages, Wishlist
Maximum information on a single page
Easy Structure for Parent Categories, Child Categories, and Sub-Categories
Easy Flow Design for different listings
Search Listing by Categories

Based on the feedback from project owners and user interviews, I have made changes to the wireframe v1. I tried to fix as many as a problem we found in the last phase.

Added slider on homepage for promotions and advertisements
For minimum clicks for users, I have added a quick access button for the users on all the listings.
I have decreased the size of listing cards and increase the columns on a single page.
For the easy structure of information, I have made changes to the header to remove the menu drop-downs and add a sticky bar on the top. From this bar, users can select categories, sub-categories, brands, and other information from any listing and easily filter out the products.
The category drop-down is added to the header to find the listings from different categories.

Mockup & Prototype

Mockup is one of my best phases on any project. By the time I reached this step, I have an idea of what type of interface the client is expecting out of the wireframes. Now my job is to design a user-friendly interface by implementing the findings of the project and following the brand guidelines: