TRIBES
TRIBES is a new feature for Google Maps that helps you choose restaurants.
TRIBES helps restaurants’ ratings be more relevant. TRIBES is a feature for Google Maps that create a community of people who share the same culinary preferences and taste. With the help of your TRIBE’s rating and advice, it’s easier to choose restaurants and dishes that you would love.
TRIBES increases users’ satisfaction and boosts engagement with the app.
ROLE
UX Designer and researcher
RESEARCH TOOLS
Interviews
Usability tests
THE PROBLEM
Taste is subjective, and sometimes when going to restaurants with high ratings, the experience is disappointing.
THE SOLUTION
TRIBES creates a rating that represents an individual's taste better and suggests which dishes to order in restaurants.
THE PROCESS
RESEARCH - INTERVIEWS
I’ve started this project with interviews because I wanted to understand how users search for restaurants and to find opportunities to improve this experience. Based on the interviews, I created a persona and a journey map.
RESEARCH GOAL
Getting a better understanding of how people choose restaurants, what are their pain points, and how I can help make this process easier and more effective.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. How do people choose restaurants?
2. Is there a correlation between restaurants' ratings and users' satisfaction levels?
3. What type of information do users want to get before choosing a restaurant?
4. What are the motivations for sharing reviews online?
METHODOLOGY
I conduct 20-30 minutes of semi-structured interviews on how people choose restaurants with five participants. Participants were 18-45 years old that eat out at least four times a month and use a digital platform to choose restaurants (such as Google Map and Yelp).
Example of a question: What was the last restaurant you went to? How did you choose this restaurant?
FINDINGS
MAIN FINDINGS
Friend's Recommendations are Better
A high rating doesn’t always correlate with a good experience, but the satisfaction level increases following friends’ recommendations.
The Key Pillars of the Experience
The most important parts of the experience are the food, the ambiance, and the service (not all three are essential every time you go out).
The Information Users Look For
The most critical information to people is the rating, pictures, location, menu, and general information (like opening hours).
Recommendation on Where & What to Eat
People want to get suggestions on where to go based on their personal preferences and get recommendations on what to order.
Motivation to Share Reviews
The main motivations to share reviews are rewards (perks and coupons), gamification, altruism, and to be heard.
Pictures Help Choosing What to Order
Pictures help with choosing what to order. The name of the dish next to the image is essential.
PERSONA
JOURNY MAP
THE SOLUTION
A group of people who are just like you and share similar taste to yours
Based on reviews
They are there for you: they share recommendations and available to answer your questions - just like friends.
SCREEN FLOW
Before designing the screens, I created the flow the user will take. I focused on two main flows - the search and the reviews.
SEARCH FLOW:
REVIEW FLOW:
Users can decide not to leave a review and only check that they visited the place. Interviews suggested that extreme experience (very good or very bad) triggers reviews. If a restaurant gets many good reviews (and not just ticking the 'I've been here' box), it will get a 'Top Rated' badge.
WIREFRAMES
I’ve been asked to perform a paper prototype test (instead of on low-fi wireframes), so I created wireframes with real content in them that users could navigate in them.
TRIBES AND REVIEWS
TRIBES is a community of people who rated restaurants similarly. As you review more restaurants, TRIBES get to know you better and match you to the perfect group for you. Your TRIBE can recommend new restaurants, specific dishes, and answer your questions in real-time to help you make decisions.
Reviews are essentials to the success of TRIBES. Therefore I needed to understand what are the motivations to share reviews to encourage users to leave reviews. Interviews suggested that interaction (such as likes and comments) and easy review flow increase motivation to leave a review, so I implemented it here.
MENU
The menu is essential when choosing a restaurant. In addition to the full menu, users want to see the most popular dishes as it helps them decide what to order.
Pictures of the dishes (with the name of the dish) help evaluate the restaurant as well as to decide what to order.
RESEARCH - USABILITY TESTINGS
Before designing the screens, I used usability testing to test the screens and the flow.
RESEARCH GOAL
I wanted to check how people interact with the flow and get their feedback on TRIBE's value. I created a prototype using the paper prototype and did usability testing.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. How do people interact with the app?
2. Do people feel they can trust their TRIBE?
3. Will TRIBE help increase users’ motivation to share ratings and reviews?
METHODOLOGY
I created a prototype on InVision using the paper screens and used it to performed paper screen usability testing. I tested TRIBES on three people. Participants were explained that TRIBES is a group of people with a similar taste based on the reviews they shared.
Participants were asked to search for a sushi restaurant as they would do at home. Following the task, users were asked to summarize their experiences.
FINDINGS
Recommending Specific Dishes
Recommendation on specific dishes on the menu is valuable, especially for restaurants with confusing menus or unfamiliar cousins.
Menu as a List
It’s easier to see the menu as a list, but pictures of the dishes are valuable.
General Rating Vs. TRIBES Rating
General’s rating is as important as TRIBE’s rating (if not more). That might change when people get to know and trust their TRIBE better.
Tell Me More
People would like to understand better what does ‘top loved’ and ‘I’ve been here’ checkbox means (under reviews).
Overload of Information
Q&A: The amount of text is overwhelming. Users thought this feature is useful, but part/ all of the questions weren’t relevant.
Easy Reviewing
Seamless review process as a way to increase the odds of leaving reviews.
FINAL UX DESIGN
TRIBE
The most important information appears above the fold - Opening hours, live updates, pictures, and reviews. The menu is one click away.
Q&A: only the questions appear to avoid an overload of information. If a user is interested in seeing the answers, he can click on 'see answers'.
Suggesting similar places to keep people in the app even if they didn't like the current option.
Although users said the general rating is as important as your TRIBE rating, I decided to present the TRIBE rating first to promote this feature. Also, I believe that once users start using this feature, they will value their TRIBE rating more.
REVIEWS
A big 'call for action' to leave reviews plus an explanation of the benefits of reviewing to establish motivation.
‘Top loved’ badge to help users with choosing one option out of the list of restaurants. Clicking on the badge opens an explanation of how restaurants get this badge.
Interactions such as likes and comments on reviews help increase the incentive to leave a review.
REVIEW PROCESS
Reviews are essential to TRIBES. Therefore the process should be quick, seamless, and rewarding:
No mandatory elements - skippable steps.
Review text - use of prewritten text boxes instead of typing.
After uploading pictures, it appears at the top to increase motivation.
Ticking 'I've been here' box instead of reviewing (Helps for the 'Top Loved' badge).
NEXT STEPS
The next step is usability testing to test the new design. I'd focus on the review process and the TRIBE tab.
Review process - making sure it's easy and fast, and check if I've established motivation.
TRIBE - Examining how people interact with the information and make sure there is no information overload.