Petco Connect

Mobile Application Design

3 Week Sprint | Group Project
Primary Roles: Research, Design Review, Usability Testing & Project Management
Tools: Figma, Asana, Google Forms, Optimal Workshop, Zoom & Pitch
Teammates: Claire Rapuano, Grady Meier, Destiny Clemmons, Kali Minerva
Challenge: Develop an innovative and user-centric feature for the Petco mobile application.
Insight: Pet enthusiasts want a way to connect with other pet owners so that they can improve their animal’s wellbeing by discovering new products and knowledge.
Discovery: Surveys, User Interviews, Competitive & Comparative Analysis, Contextual Inquiry, Card Sorting, & Usability Testing
Define: Persona, Experience Journey Maps, Affinity Maps, Site Map & Storyboarding
Design: Sketches, Wireframes, Figma Prototype
Petco Connect: An innovative new way for pet owner’s to connect, find new products, and source information during a time of social isolation. During the pandemic, Petco saw a decrease with consumer in-store shopping and networking. Petco’s new mobile app feature aims to increase both online sales and information distribution to improve the overall success and use of their mobile application.

Research

Initially, our pitch suggested that we explore the option of a telehealth feature. We conducted a survey including tele-heath and vet-related questions. We discovered that 27 out of 31 pet owners had never had a Telehealth appointment with a vet, and furthermore, they had no desire to.

So, we took a step back and questioned our direction. Sure, we could build out a telehealth feature for Petco, but would this really be the most beneficial mobile feature for them at this time? We weren’t convinced, so we dove into research to explore opportunities.

We asked…what applications do smartphone owners use?

Per a 2019 study, we discovered that 50% of smart phone users spend most of their time in social media and communications apps. It turns out, the numbers have continued to grow over the years since the emergence of Covid-19 and social isolation.

We concluded that people value communication outlets. Currently, the Petco app lacks any element of social interaction.

With this data, we were inclined to believe that incorporating social elements to the application could improve Petco’s mobile app usage among pet owners. But, what would people even want to interact about? We conducted surveys with pet owners to learn about content interests.

We discovered that pet owners wanted to learn more about their furry friends. 87% surveyed expressed confusion about their pet’s behaviors. 93% of users said that they would like to learn more about their pets and felt uneducated on their breed.

We determined that sharing and receiving information from others was a valuable concept to pet owners.

Interviews

We conducted interviews with 5 pet owners and asked over 25 questions to learn about interests in their pet’s wellness and behavior, pet owner financial considerations, and purchasing habits. After our affinity mapping was completed, we had over 130+ sticky notes and 17 categories. Below are two of our biggest takeaways from our 5 interviewees.

C&C Analysis

My team conducted analysis on 6 competitor apps to Petco and discovered “Buddies”, a social interaction app for pet-owners pioneered by Blue Buffalo, a popular dog food brand.

We pinpointed both strengths and weaknesses from the “Buddies” app in order to learn how to make improvements in our digital platform.

“Buddies” App Strengths

Ability for users to connect with a community of fellow pet owners
Capability to track and post about pet’s activities.
Integrated and incentivized rewards program.
Detailed creation capabilities for a pet profile

“Buddies” App Weaknesses

Lacked overall streamlined experience because the app has two different social platform tabs instead of one condensed experience.
Limited abilities to filter results through hashtags
Limited opportunity to redeem rewards program points due to small selection of available products.
Absence of customer reviews on products.

“Buddies” App User Journey Map

After analyzing the “Buddies” competitor app, we conducted a task analysis usability test to uncover pain points along the customer journey. We developed a journey map to show our user’s task which was to find advice from other users on how to potty train his dog. You’ll see he went through a bit of a rollercoaster ride to find this post.

Petco App Proposed User Journey Map

We then developed a proposed user journey map for the mobile experience that we hoped to create with a similar task. The proposed task would be to find a relevant post relating to hip pain in dogs and write a comment responding to the post. The journey map below showcases emotions and tasks that we expected the user to go through in our new feature.

Define

We developed a persona to summarize characteristics of users to help keep our target audience in mind…introducing, Mila!

The Thoughtful Purchaser

Mila recently noticed that her dog Luna’s skin has developed an irritation and she would like to find a solution to fix the issue. She needs a way to find new products and wishes that she could connect with other pet owners who also have dogs with this issue.
“I want to make sure that I am giving Kylo the best quality of life possible. I deeply care about the quality of products I introduce Kylo to — maybe even more than I care about the products I use.”

More About Mila & Kylo

Problem Statement

From here, we developed the problem statement for our case that needed to be solved: Pet enthusiasts want a way to connect with other pet owners so that they can improve their animal’s wellbeing by discovering new products and knowledge.

Critical Thinking

We continued to have a brainstorming session in which we developed questions to trigger innovative discovery. We came up with a series of questions related to our personas goals, but landed on one as a driving force for our future development: How might we foster a virtual community for pet owners?

The Solution

After synthesizing our research, we decided on the best direction to move forward. We created a new tab for the mobile application called "Connect” in which users communicate with other pet owners and have their content moderated by Petco’s veterinary experts.

Design

Sketching & Wireframing

We created our initial paper sketches to start to paint a picture of how the layout for our new feature within the pre-existing Petco app would look. From there, we developed a series of low, mid, and high-fidelity prototypes within Figma.

The evolution of the main content feed screen is shown here within the “Connect” feature. Starting on the left, from an initial sketch, to the right where it evolved into a high fidelity wireframe.

Feature Prioritization Map

We developed a feature prioritization map to guide our process and identify the most important features to implement into our prototype.

We decided that curated discussion forum feeds, filters and optimized browsing, interactive product tags, and pet expert engagement were among the highest value to include in initial stage development.

Card Sorting & Site Map

We conducted a hybrid card sorting exercise with 19 users to develop categorization of message boards within the mobile experience. From here, we identified 4 core categories of content, with 23 corresponding subcategories for users to post and discover information.

And finally…we moved on to user testing!

From here, we developed a high-fidelity prototype within Figma and conducted usability tests with 5 dog owners. We asked them to complete a series of 2 tasks and observed their actions.

Users were able to successfully complete our tasks, but had a few hiccups along the way that led us to our iterations. Our prototype allowed users to go through the process of discovering new knowledge and products relating to their pets, as well as create a post within the community.

Task 1

The first task for users was to find a relevant post from another member related to finding relief for hip pain in dogs. We then asked them to write a comment responding to the post. Iterations that we implemented as a result of testing for this task was to darken the category and subcategory filters so that they were more accessible to users. See video below for overview including iterations.

Task 2

Our second task was for users to create a post asking for tips from others related to improving the bad behavior of their husky with destructive chewing. The iterations that we implemented after initial testing were to reorganize the category and subcategory selection on the post creation page to be the first thing that the user sees so the option was more obvious and to add the words “categorize post” to emphasize selection options. See video below for overview including iterations.

Next Steps

Short-term

Testing

Test new placement of category selection iteration in post creation flow.
Test category filter iteration in post discovery flow.

Development

Develop post tags and test with users.
Build out and test Petco pet expert profiles and have the message icon direct to the function. Develop pet expert profiles and direct messaging layout. Usability testing of pet expert discovery and messaging
Task involving product tag function implemented and tested to identify improvement areas.

Long-term

Explore Points Based Rewards Program

C&C analysis on other apps and websites that implement a similar program to identify best practices.
User interviews with consumers related to rewards programs to identify user needs and preferences. (Does not need to be pet products specific)
Design and implement prototyped feature within connect tab, follow up with user testing.

Live Streaming Pet Experts

C&C analysis on other apps that have successfully implemented live stream features
User interviews with professionals that have live- streamed and influencers. Identify successful features to include in live streams for viewers and streamers.
Design and implement prototyped feature within connect tab, follow up with user testing.