PAWS CLINIC
PROBLEM
Pet adopters need an easy way to find the right pet in the shelter that matches their family lifestyle.
WHAT I LEARNED
On adoption journey, people often lack communication and crucial information about the possible compatibility that leads to mismatches and surrenders.
SOLUTION
A mobile app that will allow adopters to browse shelter animals by desired traits, see whether a chosen pet is a good fit for the family situation and to communicate with the shelter on their journey.
TOOLS
RESPONSIBILITIES
ROLE
Sole UX/UI designer
DURATION
Jan — Mar 2022
My friend pays thousands a year in medical bills for her allergic cat that she adopted through Petfinder. Another friend had to return an aggressive dog back to the shelter. Owning a pet is a serious commitment for 10 — 15 years and the concequences of a mismatch can be catastrophic. Existing pet adoption apps don't help users make informed choices.
OBJECTIVES
To understand:
how people currently use technology in adoption process;
what pain points they have along the way;
what users need to increase chances of happy adoptions.
METHODOLOGIES
Secondary research
User interviews
Contextual inquiries
Competitive analysis
KEY LEARNINGS
Users don't realize that both adopters and pets must meet certain criteria for successful adoption.
Users who look for a perfect match can't find pet information that is crucial for decision making.
There's no way users can make sure their liked pet is still available at the shelter when they go there.
Users don't receive guidance and support that leads to mismatches and abandoned pets.
According to a recent study, 1 out of 5 adopted pets are surrendered every year, because people do not have clear expectations of pet ownership and do not have access to supportive resources at the time of adoption and after.
REASONS FOR RETURNS
Personal
Personal reasons include owner’s reasons like human health, allergies, housing issues, money issues, not enough time, moving, wrong selection etc.
Behavioral
Behavioral reasons are related to pet aggression, hyperactivity, vocalization, destruction, escaping, shyness and others.
Animal-related
Animal-related reasons include animal health, issues with kids and other pets, unexpected size when grown.
At search stage users have limited criteria and information and are not properly guided.
To avoid wasting too much time, users adopt pets that don't fully meet their criteria.
Users don't get help with their new pets.
While existing pet adoption apps allow users to browse animals online, pet profiles are limited to physical appearance and don't give users an understanding of a possible match: there's no info about behaviors, underlying health conditions, amount of attention and housing required etc. Competitors don't teach about dealing with problem pets.
Poor content
Users have to browse through hundreds of irrelevant search results
Users can’t filter out irelevant pets
A lot of crucial information is not provided
No personalization
Users’ activity not saved
Users can’t set up notifications
Users keep seeing the same pets again and again
Poor communication
Existing apps are not timely updated
No user-shelter communication
Rejections after months of search
No post-adoption support
MEET JASON
Jason is a persona representative of a big group of conscientious people who prefer to adopt rather than buy from a breeder. Like many, he doesn't know what to expect from adoption process.
User journey map
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Jason needs a quick and easy way to find the right pet in the shelter that matches his family lifestyle.
HOW MIGHT WE?
How might we help Jason understand what to expect from adoption?
How might we help Jason save time on his adoption journey?
How might we help Jason and his newly adopted pet overcome after-adoption stress?
A useful function such as Pet & Adopter Matching can save users a lot of time by predicting compatibility and adoption chances. Only one of the existing apps has a similar feature, but mostly focuses on personality matching. I decided to take it further and add a very practical component to this – adopter’s living conditions. Users will save time not opening unmatched pet profiles and not attempting to adopt, say, a big active dog into a condo.
Search & filtering
See only relevant results from the vast database applying filters
Booking visits
Book a visit to meet a pet without calling the shelter
Pet Profile
Learn about pet history, personality and limitations to decide if it's the one
Help center
Exchange messages with the shelter and read articles about pet adoption
User account
Track your browsing history, interactions with the shelter, create an Adopter profile etc.
Saved pets
Save pets you're interested in for easy access later
Matching
Compare Adopter profile with Pet profile and predict adoption success
Saved search alerts
Get notification about a certain pet type as soon as they're added
Based on similar apps where matching feature is implemented, I decided that the best way would be to create an onboarding process where users create their profiles along with app installation.
Users filled out their information (living arrangements, time for pet, etc), as well as desired pet characteristics. As a result, only relevant results would show up in search results.
TASK
Pretend you want to adopt a dog. Create an account, choose one of the dogs in the recommended section and book a visit.
GOAL
Users were expected to complete this task within 5 minutes without any issues.
With millions of apps available, users want to quickly evaluate if a product is worth their time without lengthy onboarding. They should try using the app without the matching feature first. They can create profiles later.
Easy registration
Match later
Let users decide if they want to use the feature and then to use it
Explain matching
Check activity
FINAL DESIGNS
I learned the lessons of my usability study and added an option to continue as guest or register by simply providing a phone number. I chose to use phone numbers for registration because users will later receive notifications on their phones. Those who skip will be prompted to create an account later.
SAVING TIME
I added notifications — about upcoming visits, when new specific pets are added, etc.; "new pets" and "based on last search" features.
MATCHING
Users are prompted to create accounts, where all users' information and browsing activity is saved; and to fill out Adopter profiles
I added most important filters like health, training, disability, etc.
MATCHING
Pet profiles made more informative and "matching for adoption" feature made them more useful; users equipped with functions to save pet, book visits, exchange messages with the shelter. Information added about pet profile updates.
Example of a good match
Example of a bad match
SAVING USERS' ACTIVITY
USER ACCOUNT
User account contains information about user activity like saved pets, saved searches, booked visits, previous adoptions, donations etc. Users can fill out their adopter profiles to allow the system compare their info with pet info for adoption success prediction.
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
Users can read about pre- and post-adoption nuances that can make their adoption journey more informed and thus successful.
View prototype
LEARNINGS & NEXT STEPS
FOCUS ON THE USER
Only experiencing my users' confusion during the first usability testing helped me comprehend what it realy means.
ITERANTION AND ITERATION
Iteration is key, but sometimes it is important to move forward in the process and give up on your perfectionism.
NEXT STEPS
Another usability study with the prototype that looks close to final product to understand whether users see value in features like matching, visit booking and help center; whether the flow completion time is shorter than competitors' and whether my product is enjoyable.
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