Other Work
Overview
Kruzee is one of the leading driving schools in Canada, taking a digital-first approach to the traditional driving school model. Students can enroll online, complete a series of theory learning modules, as well as schedule/manage lessons with top driving instructors in Canada all within the platform.
As a client, Kruzee approached me wanting to improve the user experience of their existing customer registration flow, as well as execute a website and brand refresh. I led research via user interviews and usability tests, designed multiple flows and screens for registration as well as the customer portal, introduced new brand typography, colours, and elements, and overhauled the corporate website.
Duration
Sep - Dec 2023
(4 months)
Type
Client Work (Product Design, Web Design, Brand)
Team
Kelly Chong (Designer)
Mika Castaldo (Co-Founder)
Osama Siddique (Co-Founder)
Aurangzeb Khan (Developer)
Toolkit
Figma
01 / PROBLEM
Suburban users book lessons at a rate 5x lower than their downtown counterparts.
Kruzee noticed that between their suburban and downtown registration flows, suburban populations were more likely to drop off before checkout. This signalled there may have either been some usability issues increasing difficulty of booking lessons in the suburban flow, or the suburban demographic composition is affecting conversion. If users are unable to book lessons, they will leave and look for lessons elsewhere.
Kruzee's target market consists of budding drivers who may or may not have their learner's license already, many of which are either in high school or university.
02 / RESEARCH
How do people currently book lessons online?
While we had some initial assumptions, we wanted to investigate further why this might be the case. I took both a primary and secondary research approach to this problem by interviewing 5 potential Kruzee customers as well as auditing the existing flow and competitors such as Ornikar, alongside companies with similar business models like HelloFresh.
2a / interview takeaways
There is too much friction in the flow.
When interviewing, I specifically wanted to clarify the frustrations people had when booking driving lessons, the obstacles that prevented people from proceeding to checkout, and the motivations people had for booking driving lessons.
In particular, we also hypothesized people wouldn't have all the information they need in order to book driving lessons online at one time. That there will be more friction on the screens where scheduling times are decided, because people need to coordinate with their own schedules which results in clicking away.
Insights
💡
There are too many steps in the flow
Felt that some screens were not necessary to make the purchase decision
“At certain points, I just wanted to go ahead and book…as soon as the intent is built up, I just want to schedule it right away and leave the page.”
💡
Lack of options available to change instructor
Not being able to select your own instructor wasn’t the issue (in fact people preferred having one pre-selected to reduce decision paralysis), however the issue was not being able to change the instructor if they wanted to see other options
Currently, the experience is set up to look like changing the time might change the instructor, when really it’s changing the pickup location that would change the instructor
💡
Scheduling
Some preference over having a calendar view
For Toronto users, the scrolling was more difficult due to the sticky feature of the pickup location
03 / gOal
We want to reduce friction in Kruzee’s lesson booking flow to encourage sign-ups.
We want to increase the rate of lesson bookings from primarily customers in suburban populations. Completed sign-ups will create opportunities to turn emerging drivers into successful new drivers. To do this, our main idea was to simplify the existing flow in a way that optimized for both conversion and user satisfaction.
04 / ideatiON
Presenting a base, extreme, and middle case
When thinking about reducing the number of steps in the flow, I presented three options to Kruzee of ways we could approach this option. 1) Revolves tweaking the existing flow to have the same number of screens but find ways to slightly optimize each screen, 2) An extreme case where any non-essential screens are removed and put in after payment has been completed, and 3) A middle ground scenario involving a blend of the two.
The approach we decided to further flesh out was 2) the extreme case, as we could fill in screens accordingly and slowly test to get to that state. The approach is very similar to that of a subscription box business model. The user inputs their information, selects their product, then proceeds to checkout before conducting further customization. In this case, ‘customization’ refers to scheduling a lesson after deciding on a lesson package.
Constraints
Pursuing this came with its challenges. In order to provide enough context to users to make a purchase decision, we needed to increase trust within the flow as well as adjust the instructor page to reflect availability since they wouldn’t be able to schedule before paying.
4A / EARLY WIREFRAMES
Addressing user comments
I began by tackling some of the pain points by users via individual screens of the flow, such as the scheduling and pickup functions. This included a suggested calendar view as well as indication of matched instructor right away since instructors are dependent on location and not necessarily time.
However, after presenting some of these early wireframes to the team, I discovered the calendar view was previously explored but discarded because of instructor availability constraints. It didn't make sense with Kruzee's business model as some instructors could get booked quickly and thus the calendar would look empty, as opposed to the current list view of available times and dates. Having the instructor fixed on the right side instead of the map too categorically seemed confusing when the page is based around location.
4B / Instructor availability
Providing context for lesson availability
If we’re going to eliminate the scheduling function, we need to accommodate by showing when instructor’s are available on a recurring basis but also how soon they are available for the first lesson.
Availability is clearly shown here to inform and assure users there are available slots to book lessons.
05 / SOLUTION
A simplified booking & checkout experience
After testing the design with 6 users through usability tests, I iterated on the design to come to the ideal state to be further tested after launch via a series of A/B tests.
📣
"We worked with Kelly on our UI/UX design and her impact was transformative. Her exceptional eye for design really elevated our landing pages, sign-up flow, and customer portal, improving user experience and engagement. Kelly takes a bold, creative approach to her work and we felt very comfortable giving her autonomy over the branding. She expertly blended in our vision into the designs, creating a stunning, user-friendly interface. She was also great at sharing progress and keeping us in the loop from end-to-end. Kelly is an invaluable asset for any design project!"
— Osama & Mika, Co-Founders of Kruzee
Increasing accessibility to driver's education in Canada
