Improving pet sitter experiences by structuring expectations
Client: Trusted Housesitters
UX Research Process Shown - Designs Coming Soon!
Overview
Trusted Housesitters (THS) facilitates an exchange between pet owners looking for free pet care and pet sitters looking for free accommodation. Pet owners post a 'listing' for their travel dates that pet sitters can apply for. These experiences are called 'sits'.
Role
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Individual Project
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UX Researcher
Duration
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8 weeks
Tools
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Figma
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Figjam
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Zoom
Skills
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Competitor research
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Surveys
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User Interviews
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Personas
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User Journeys
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Analysis
The Problem
Sitters using Trusted Housesitters have had bad experiences
leading to membership cancellations
How might we...
improve pet sitter experiences to increase satisfaction and customer loyalty?
Bad sits can be mitigated before they start through ...
Consistency
Centralization
Structure
1. Enable pet owners to easily create more detailed and accurate listings with templates
2. Build video calls and group messaging into into the THS app and display communication preferences
3. Create cleaning checklists to help sitters and owners meet each other's expectations
Business Impact
Increased Revenue
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Sitters are more likely to renew their memberships
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Sitters are more likely to recommend THS to others
Decreased Cost
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Less need for customer service later in sits
Research Summary
Research Process
Project Milestones
Competitive Analysis
I looked at three direct and three indirect competitors to identify strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities.
I found that Trusted Housesitters is the market leader but that all the direct competitors have similar pain points around bad sit experiences that can be improved. I also looked into customer service after background research revealed many complaints around Trusted Housesitters' poor customer service, but THS actually has the most extensive customer service of the direct competitors.
Direct Competitors
Other companies that facilitate an exchange of free pet sitting for free accommodation.
Indirect Competitors
Companies that facilitate paid pet sitting, paid accommodation or free accommodation in exchange for other types of work.
User Interviews
Screener Survey
I designed a screener survey to post on the subreddit r/trustedhousesitters aiming to find pet sitters who had completed more than three sits, had some or many negative sit experiences, and had contacted THS customer service and had negative experiences.
Surprising Result: Almost no sitters had negative experiences with THS customer service, and not many actually contacted customer service to begin with.
I decided to change my research goal from improving customer service to improving the sit experience itself.
Interviews
I conducted interviews with eight THS pet sitters over zoom for 30-45 minutes each to ...
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Learn what sitters look for in a listing
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Learn what bad experiences sitters have had
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Understand why the experiences were bad and how they felt
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Learn what is most important to sitters about a sit
Key Insights
1. Listings need to be detailed and consistent
To have a good sit, sitters need to find the right fit. Sitters feel like they don’t have enough or accurate information about the pets when looking at listings. This makes it challenging for them to figure out which sits best match their lifestyle and capability in terms of factors like how long a pet can be left alone, walks needed per day, medical requirements, and more.
2. Communication should be clear and centralized
Good communication makes a good sit, but everyone communicates in different ways and preferences can be unclear. Sitters and owners may have differing preferred messaging apps, levels of desire for video calls vs. in person meeting before confirmation or during hand off, and frequency of updates during a sit.
3. Structure can help expectations get met
Bad sits can happen when a sitter’s expectations about the pet or home are unmet. Sitters most common unmet expectations are around pet responsibilities and home cleanliness. If whatever information sitters have learned about the pet and home from the listing and prior communications doesn’t match their experience on arrival they may be unhappy.
AI Thought Partner
What are some ways to categorize my participants?
Lifestyle ~ Experience Level ~ Destination ~ Attitude or Behavior
Behavioral Proto-Personas
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The Local Relaxer 😌 🚙 🏡
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The Budget Traveler ✈️ 🤑 🧳
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The Remote Worker 🤓 💻 📍
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The Family Connector 💞 👵 🐈
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The Academic Adventurer 👩🎓 📚 ✈️
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The Full Time Sitter 🌎 🏠 🙋♀️
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The Outdoorsman 🏔️ 🚴♂️ 🍁
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The Urban Explorer 🤩 🏙️🚦
Persona
Based on my interview findings and the characteristics of my proto-personas I developed one persona to best represent my users.
Eric
The Local Relaxer 😌 🚙 🏡 / The Outdoorsman 🏔️ 🚴♂️ 🍁
Eric is a 26 year old university student in Colorado who uses Trusted Housesitters to explore nearby towns on weekends and school breaks. He's very detail oriented and wants to know everything about the pets. His goal is to find sits with manageable responsibilities and a clean and comfortable home.
Eric's Sit Journey
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I feel confident when there’s clear communication and I know the pet’s routine and needs. It helps me step into the owners shoes and gives us both piece of mind.
"
Area of Opportunity
Bad sits can be mitigated before they start through improved design of the THS app.
Re-examining Eric’s sit journey, we can see that a lot of his pain points stem from lack of information, unclear communication, and unmet expectations. These pain points are present throughout his entire sit experience, and while they are the worst during the sit, they can actually be addressed in the THS app during the searching and confirming phases.
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Opportunity
AI Thought Partner
Help me summarize the positives of THS from my interviews
Sense of Community ~ Trustworthy Reviews ~ Meaningful Travel
Despite the challenges, the sitters I interviewed have had mostly good sit experiences. My goal is to strengthen those positives while fixing the weak spots.
Recommendations
Consistency:
How might we help pet owners easily create more detailed and consistent listings?
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Competitor research: learn how competitors display listing info
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Sitter Surveys: learn what details sitters find most important
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Template feature: create an easy selection template for owners
Centralization:
How might we provide clear and centralized communication early in the sit process?
Owner Research: learn how owners like to communicate and where their preferences overlap with sitters
Display Preferences: Show preferences for meeting/messaging on listings
In-App Communication: Build in video calls and group messaging
Structure:
How might we add structure the THS app to help sitters and owners set and meet expectations?
Owner research: learn what expectations owners have for sitters
Build trust: explore ways to foster trust and honesty
Cleaning Checklists: add checklist features to facilitate proper cleaning
Next Steps
Further Competitive Research
Focusing on the insight features of listing information, communication preferences, ways to meet expectations, and building trust.
Further User Research
Conduct more interviews with owners to get their perspectives, and also users with combined memberships (who are both owners and sitters) who may offer unique and useful insights.
Design Solutions
Design new app features based on the research, insights and recommendations, focusing on consistency, centralization, and structure. Conduct usability testing.
Reflections and Takeaways
Screener Surveys are Fun Puzzles
I really enjoyed the process of creating screener surveys. It’s like a fun multilayered puzzle to design questions that capture desired users without giving away who you’re looking for.
Pivoting is OK
Pivoting is OK and bound to happen. From changing my user type to my problem statement and more, this project is totally different than what I originally thought, and that’s what makes it cool.
AI as a Thought Partner
AI can be an effective UX research tool if used in the right way. Starting with my own ideas is important, but it can help catch things I missed and do the grunt work.
Final Research Presentation
AI Thought Partner
Here's my script, help me tighten it for a 10 minute presentation
Watch Presentation
Designs Coming Soon...
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Sprint Map
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Sketches
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User Flows
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Low Fidelity Wireframes
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High Fidelity Designs
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Usability Testing
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Final Designs