Bloom Box
Google Ventures (GV) Design Sprint
Project Details
Challenge: The client would like to improve the online shopping experience in order to increase their conversion rate (ratio of people that visit the site vs. people who actually place an order).
They want the shopping experience to be as simple, fresh, and fun as their flower boxes are.
Company: Bloom Box | IronHack Bootcamp Project
Role: Sprint team member | Visual Designer | Interviewer
Duration: 5 days (August 2017)
Contribution
FLowchart
Lightning Demos
Crazy 8s
Mind Mapping
Art Museum
Heat Maps
Storyboards
Wireframes
High Fidelity Mockups
Usability Testing
Tools Used
Pen and Paper
Sticky Notes
Sketch
Invision
Overview
Bloom Box is a young company that is looking to disrupt the online flower-gifts market by offering a customizable, one-of-a-kind product that focuses on the message, rather than the medium. The company’s mission is to keep the customer at the center of the experience by creating flower-gifts as unique as the reason for gifting them.
Instead of offering a huge variety of arrangements to choose from, Bloom Box has one product that comes in 3 different sizes. The box is then customized to display a personal message and customers can put in special requests for the types of flowers and color palette that will come in the arrangement.
By shifting the focus from amount of arrangements to choose from, to customization with flower choice and personal messages, Bloom Box is able to reduce inventory costs, stay lean, create a consistent product, and simplify the flower-buying experience.
Customer Interviews
In order to obtain user data, interviews and surveys were conducted over the last couple weeks in advance of this sprint.
Through two different surveys, the company asked both current users and potential users to answer key questions about the flower-buying process and their experience with the Bloom Box website.
They also interviewed potential users to uncover current pain points and behaviors around the flower-buying process.
Getting Started
Based on the original information provided by the client, we've started a Design Sprint. 5 days, a team of 4, 1 challenge.
Monday
Based on a research data provided we've decided on Sprint Questions and made a flowchart showing how customers interact with the product.
Sprint Questions
1. Can the order be customized?
2. Can the online experience feel similar to the experience in a local floral shop?
3. Can there be a preview of the final order?
Target User
25-35 yr old, Male (Husband)
Target Event
Choosing a flower arrangement to buy for his spouse for their anniversary.
Tuesday
The second day started with the ideation session by reviewing what you learned about the business and the customer experience. After that we took some time to work individually and generate ideas through Lightning Demos, Crazy 8s, Mind Mapping and as the last step of this stage- sketching. Each sketch was a three-panel storyboard drawn on sticky notes, showing what our customers see as they interact with our product.
Wednesday
After generating numerous ideas it was a time to decide on the best - using silent community voting to determine a solution direction.
Art Museum and Heat Maps
Our team taped-up the solution sketches on the wall (like an art exhibit) so that everyone in the team could take a good look at each concept. Then it was time to vote on the ideas we've liked the most-by putting dot stickers besides the parts we liked.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
Storyboard
Selected sketches were drawn on the storyboard. We included just enough detail to help the team prototype on Thursday.
Thursday
After we've transferred the sketches to a storyboard and have decided on the user flow it was a time to build a realistic prototype - the one that we were going to use on the next day while testing it with users. We used Sketch and Invision to create a simulation of the desired experience.
Friday
Test with customer targets - test the prototypes with prescheduled customers. To each person, we've asked particular survey questions ( to understand how different users might use the website in a different way). After that, they were asked to go ahead and choose the flower arrangement and complete an order. Each test was made by two team members so that we could be sure that we don't miss any detail. After completing the task users were asked feedback questions.
Survey
-
Do you buy flowers?
-
In a local shop, online or… How do you normally do it?
-
Have you ever tried ordering flowers online?
-
How was that experience?
-
Is there a particular reason for you to buy flowers?
-
Would you mind to go ahead and go through the flower buying process on the website we are working on? And share your opinion and concerns with us?
Feedback
-
How was your experience?
-
Did you find an intuitive flow to the process?
-
What suggestions do you have? What could be done better?
-
On the scale from 1 to 5 how “Simple, Fresh and Fun” is the website on your opinion? Why did you give it that rating?
-
How does it compare with a real local flower shop?
-
Were you clear in what you were going to get at the end?
-
Do you feel you were able to create something unique?
-
What does “Simple, Fresh and Fun” mean for you?
Gathering Feedback and looking for patterns
Wrapping up conclusions
Going back to those three Design Sprint Questions we defined at the beginning, here some of the feedback we've got after user testing:
Can the order be customized?
Users value the opportunity to customize the order, however, they need a guided step by step process.
Can the online experience feel similar to a local flower shop?
Since we can’t stimulate all the senses involved in experience at a local floral shop, we must focus on the visual aspect.
Can there be a preview of the final order?
Users expect to see a preview of their customized order.
Summary
GV Design Sprint is a great tool for User Experience Designer, as it allows to concentrate on a particular problem, generate multiple ideas, choosing the best ones, create a rapid but realistic prototype and test it with users. After 5 days design team already know whether they are moving in the right direction or not- either/or valuable feedback is already obtained and the team is ready to move on designing a perfect product.