Flexible Parking Solution
Context
SpotHero is an online parking reservation marketplace that offers hourly, monthly, airport, and event parking. This project explores SpotHero's parking problem post-pandemic and a possible solution to it.
Business Model of SpotHero
Gives markups on sold spots
My role
As a lead designer for Monthly, Event, and Airport Parking (verticals) I carried out the following:
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Collaborated with the product manager and came up with opportunities to focus on for each vertical
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Determined the problem and the process to follow
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Came up with a quick experiment to gauge interest in a possible solution approach
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Conducted research (survey, usability test) where needed
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Facilitated a collaborative workshop
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Designed solution
Timeline
6 months (March 2023 - September 2023)
Steps
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Identify the problem
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Run an experiment
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Brainstorm ideas to solve the problem
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Get feedback
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Evolve the solution
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UI Design
1.
Identify the problem
The trend
According to research conducted on "Hybrid work statistics" in June 2023, 74% of U.S. companies are using or plan to implement a permanent hybrid work model.
According to another study run by Gallup, we see hybrid being the most preferred method of working.
The problem
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This trend of hybrid work created a problem for SpotHero post-pandemic where we saw a decline in hourly commuter parking as well as monthly commuter parking since our existing solutions failed to capture the hybrid commuter use case.
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Post pandemic the average hourly parking conversion dropped from approx 30% to 15% and the average monthly conversion dropped from approx 6% to 2%.
Target users
Hybrid commuters that go into the office 8+ times a month.
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Always parks in the commuter segment
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Often books on the SpotHero app
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Often works at one location, Sometimes parks at 2+ (avg 1.7)
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Rarely price compares to monthly parking
Out of scope
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A solution that would require a heavy operator buy-in.
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Anything that doesn’t focus on the primary use case.
The user
Commuter
2.
Run an experiment
Survey
We conducted a survey that targeted high-frequency SpotHero users. We got ~300 responses.
According to the survey results,
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80% of participants commute to work on a hybrid basis.
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Neither the SpotHero hourly nor the monthly solution efficiently accounts for the hybrid commuter use case.
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The current solution to booking frequent commuter parking: "power booking", only exists on the mobile app.
Idea for experimentation
Based on the survey results and the existing solution that partly existed in the mobile app, we decided to run an experiment to gauge interest from SpotHero customers in a flexible parking solution.
The idea:
Present an option to look for flexible parking for users who search for monthly parking, and direct them to use the solution in the mobile app.
User flow
UI design (mobile web) for the intervention
Users searches for monthly parking
User lands on monthly spot listing page and clicks on "find flexible parking"
Lands on a full page modal that prompts them to download mobile app
If the user already has the app downloaded, the app will open, otherwise the app store will open
What to measure:
Clicks on "Find Flexible Parking"
Clicks on "Download the App"
Results
After running the experiment for 2 weeks, 5% of users who searched monthly clicked the experiment details, and 28% of those clicked to download the app. This is significantly higher than the existing monthly conversion of 2%.
3.
Brainstorm Solutions
Solution 1 - tabs addition
Design a way for hybrid users to find parking from both daily as well as monthly tabs
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Addition of tabs on the monthly page to capture full month vs multiple days reservation
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For multiple days, modal that opens up to allow users to select monthly days
Pros
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Relatively easy to implement
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Doesn't significantly change the experience for the existing users
Cons
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Band-aid solution that doesn't solve the root problem
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Can be confusing for users to access the same functionality under both hourly and monthly tabs
Solution 2 - Personalized flow to parking options
A personalized search experience that captures user needs and guides them into an appropriate flow
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Park now vs park in future
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Customize option expanded
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Calendar experience to select multiple days
Pros
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Can guide the users into a flow rather than forcing them to select a flow.
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​Would compartmentalize the flows on the basis of urgency of parking rather than the vertical.
Cons
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Would involve a complete search overhaul.
4.
Get feedback
Preference test
In order to determine which solutions the users prefer and to test the usability of each solution, I conducted a preferece test.
Testing sample
New users who have never used SpotHero
Test results
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5 out of 5 participants preferred the search redesign over the tabs addition.
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All 5 participants thought that the search redesign was more efficient than the tabs addition.
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4 out of 5 users thought that the search redesign was easier than the tabs addition.
Quotes​
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"I like it more than the 1st one because it’s clear. I’d like to see how the days and times work. I like this better than the other one".
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"I liked the customize option. I’d call these amenities instead of customize".
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"Can I Repeat this same booking each month? I wish there was a way to repeat the same booking each month".
Conclusion
Users found the search redesign to be an easier, more intuitive, and efficient way to search for parking that best fits their needs.
5.
Evolve the solution
Proposed user flow
6.
UI Design
As a part of SpotHero's brand refresh, designed the UI to match the updated visual language, colour palette as well as the voice and tone
Park now
Park in the future
The goal was to increase conversion of either the hourly or the monthly segments by guiding the user into the appropriate flow
Estimated Result
Increased the overall conversion by 4%.
Monthly conversion remains at the same level, at around 2.4%.