Scenario:
You're a product designer at a startup creating a new bill splitting app (competitors are Splitwise and Splid).
You're in the beginning stages of designing the app. You want to get to know your future users and their current workflows better so you can create a better experience for them. You need to understand things like: In what scenarios do they split bills? What is their current bill splitting process like? Where are the pain points in that process? How do they feel about their current note-taking options?
Task:
Make a plan for, and carry out, three real user interviews on the subject of splitting the bill as part of a group. Aim to pull out specific insights that would inform the features and design of a new bill splitting app like the one in this challenge. Analyze your findings and put together some recommendations based on what you've learned.
Interview Prep:
As a starting point I begun drafting up a list of questions, designed to pull out specific insights into user's splitting the bill as a group in an environment such as a restaurant. My main goal was to identify the main pain points during the experience to better identify how the new app could help with this process and even gain some insight into what the user feels during this experience.
Due to the pandemic, all interviews were undertaken remotely using zoom ensuring the participants felt at ease and not over stressed. Each interview started with a short introduction and polite chat, explaining the purpose of the interview and how there were no wrong answers, that this was to gain their insights into the specific problem. Taking notes on the interviewee's answers but also playing close attention to their own gestures and body language to gain greater insights.
Insights & Recommendations:
Interestingly, the process of splitting a bill as part of a group is one that all interviewee's found frustrating, with one stating a feeling of dread when it came to the bill. Many had expressed feelings of being overcharged due to the habit of splitting the bill evenly to avoid the hard ship of working out each diners cost, citing a difference in spending between drinkers and non-drinkers in particular. I have outlines the main pain points and my recommendations for features of the app below:
