Country Delight

UI/UX Redesign Case Study

By Yugal Mahajan

Mobile app teardown – COUNTRY DELIGHT

A visit to the nearby dairy early morning to procure fresh milk is a common practice in India. Doing this on a daily basis, however, can be monotonous and difficult especially on cold winter mornings. One of our product designers faced a similar problem and subscribed to the Country Delight for his daily milk supply. However, he found design issues that hampered the usability of the app. He decided to analyze the app’s UX, UI and design, functionality and performance, messaging, with the help of user reviews. And this is what he did.

1. What is Country Delight  

An app that promises delivery of natural, fresh, unadulterated milk at the doorstep of the consumer. Placement of orders and servicing happens through a mobile app which makes it easy to manage one’s milk requirements. 
 
The milk brand startup, which facilitates hyperlocal delivery, is currently servicing 200,000 families across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru. 

2. Why Redesign Country Delight 

Country Delight fits the requirement for daily milk supply. Except that the app needed changes in architecture and visual identification. The UI was unsatisfactory – be it the illogical splash screen or starting the milk subscription. There were several other problems blatantly visible in the app. 

3. UNDERSTANDING THE USERS 

1. User Interviews 

Six users were interviewed to understand their feelings and frustrations about the application. Here are some of the questions asked during the interview – 

• How did you get to know about Country Delight? 
• What makes you trust Country Delight products in comparison to other big names like Amul, Mother Dairy? 
• How does Country Delight app fulfil your daily milk requirement? 
• How seamlessly can you start a subscription through the app? 
• How does the app communicate regarding delay in delivery or the COVID protocols? 
• Have you encountered any problem in using the app or the service they are providing? If yes, then what were the steps you took to resolve it?

Some key insights derived from the interview: 

• Most of the participants did not like the home screen of the app which does not highlight the milk products.
• Almost all the participants complained about the difficulty in searching for products. 
• None of the participants had information about separate delivery of milk and grocery items. The common assumption was that all the products (be it of any category) would be delivered at one go. 
• Most of the participants found it difficult to trust the quality of the products, apart from milk. 
• Most of them said they were unable to scroll the calendar to the previous date. 
• The application doesn’t offer the flexibility to order multiple products at the same time. 

• Most of the participants were looking at review screen before placing the order. 

2. Going through the existing user reviews

Confusing user interface

No product info

No cart and search option

3. Usability Testing 

After the interviews, all the six participants tested the app. The idea was to check how they would interact with the app’s features. 

Some of the tasks given to them were – 

• Install the application and create your account 
• Schedule the delivery of any one of the products for the next day 
• Schedule the delivery of multiple products for the next day. 
• Subscribe the delivery of milk for a month 
• Search for a specific product 
• Edit the subscription of the subscribed product 
• Recharge the wallet  

4. DEFINING THE PROBLEM 
   
   a. Confusing home screen 
   Users complained of a confusing home screen UI. They were looking to order milk products but struggled to figure the product categories and listings.
   
   b. Unable to order multiple products 
   Purchasing multiple products was a struggle for all. Single product purchase was easy but people were frustrated when they had to add multiple products in the cart.
   
   c. No cart option
   The experience became worse when users found no option to add the product to the cart. Not finding a cart feature in an e-commerce site can be strange indeed!
   
   d. Unable to update the primary phone number
   The app doesn’t allow updating contact details, and limits users to edit personal details.
   
   e. Access to the calendar
   Viewing the calendar of upcoming deliveries is a tedious task. Users have to scroll the calendar on the home screen horizontally since only seven days are visible in a single view. This means one has to rotate the phone to view the calendar.
   
   f. Difficulty in trusting the product
   The quality of products was questionable since the app does not detail the benefit of the product, explain why the products is good, or nutritional facts.
   
   g. Difficulty in product search
   The search bar was not clearly visible and users found it difficult to search for specific products.
   
   h. Grocery delivery
   Some people who bought grocery with the help of the app complained that they were not informed regarding the separate delivery of milk and grocery items. They were expecting the groceries to get delivered in the morning along with the milk. But the groceries were delivered by a different delivery executive. This became inconvenient and confusing for users.

5. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS 

Analysing the competitor applications helped me understand what competition is doing right, their strength, lapses, weakness, and most importantly, a way to improve the product to achieve a competitive advantage for both the business and customers. The analysis carefully compared different delivery applications operating in the market which are similar to Country App. 

6. IDEATION 
   
   a. Paper Sketches 
   
   After carefully going through the research outcomes, and doing a comparative study of the competitor  apps and the current Country Delight app, here are the sketches of the screen layouts that needed serious redesign.
   This process helped select the best layout before jumping into the high fidelity designs.
   
   b. Wireframes
   
   After sketching a couple of layouts to figure out what could work and what wouldn’t, here are the sketches converted to high-fidelity wireframes. This would make the visual design process faster and easier. The usability testing was re-conducted with two users and their feedback incorporated in the actual UI designs. 

7. THE REDESIGN 

1. Home Screen 

Current Issues 

• The current home page UI looks cluttered and unpleasant at the first glance, with not enough breathing space. 
• The Bottom Nav has not been efficiently used. Apart from ‘Refer & Earn’, options such as Search can also be included.  
• The app doesn’t highlight its USP i.e. Milk. The option to explore products is also confusing. 
• No option to edit or cancel items that are to be delivered the next day. 
• Too many promotional banners are showcased to users, which ruins the consumer experience. 

Proposed Design  

• Informing users about the next day deliveries. A collapsed section to let users view the upcoming deliveries, edit, cancel or add more items. 
• Update of the Bottom Nav Bar by replacing the “Refer & Earn” option with two additional options – “Calendar” and “Search”. Calendar will enable users take a quick full glance over the upcoming deliveries and schedule. 
  Search will allow users a quicker access to products of their choice. 

• Showcase the product categories upfront, making it easier for users to navigate categories. Milk, being the USP, is placed at the top of the app page. 
• Banner emphasising the benefit of scheduling milk delivery with an “Explore Now” button. By clicking on the button, users will get details on how to schedule, FAQs etc. 
• A list of trending/popular products will build trust among the users. 
• More space between components for a neater and more organised UI, within the defined brand colors. 

2. Dairy Products Listing 

Current Issues 

• Not enough information provided for products, increasing skepticism among first time buyers 
• Confusing UI for scheduling the delivery of product. 

No option to search for products within the list.

Proposed Design 

• Search Option will allow users to look for any specific product. 

• Enlarged “Add” button for users to notice and add products to cart.

By tapping on the “Add” button, users will be prompted with two options for product delivery –  
1. Buy the product once. By clicking it, he will be able to add the product to the cart. 
2. Schedule the delivery. Tapping on it will redirect him to schedule delivery steps. 
This will clearly provide two possible options for product delivery. 

• Basic description about the product along with its benefits and nutritional information will help users understand the product better.  

• Schedule Delivery section will educate users about the process of subscribing a product delivery. 
• Educating users about the quality of the product will help in increasing their confidence and build trust among them. 

• A section for consumer reviews to add credibility to the brand. 

3. Grocery Products Listing 

Current Issues

No prior information regarding separate delivery of milk and grocery products.

Proposed Design 

Display of the delivery schedule to inform users about the separate delivery.

4. Scheduling of Delivery 

Current Issues 

• Lots of empty, unused space. UI is not pleasant. 
• No instructions given about how to start the subscription/scheduling of delivery, making it confusing for first- time users. 

• No information provided regarding the total price the user would have to pay or recharge their wallet. 
• After selecting the delivery schedule and start date, users are not asked about the delivery time slot and delivery instructions. At present, the selection of the delivery time slot and setting up of delivery instructions are under profile settings, which is not very user-friendly. These features should ideally be placed under ‘My subscriptions’.

Proposed Design 

Divided the subscription steps by introducing a stepper that will help users navigate easily and scan information.

• Added an informative section that briefly explains the key features of the subscription. 
• Users can still proceed with the one- time purchase of the product if he wants to try it first before subscribing.

After completing the subscription steps, the same will be added to the cart. User can add other products to the cart before final payment.

5. Cart 

Current Issues 

• No feature of Cart in the current application. 
• Difficult for users to review order before purchase. 
• Users were unable to order multiple items at on go. 

Proposed Design 

• Section informing users about the address where the items will be delivered.

• Section mentioning the items that will be delivered at one go.
• Users are also given the flexibility to ‘Edit Date and Time’, ‘Update Cart quantity’ in the same screen.

• Section to feature subscription offers. With the option of ‘Edit Schedule’, users can make any modification within the schedule.
  
  
  
  
  
• Payment Summary to show price breakdown of the items within the cart. 
• Action button informing users about the next step and the final amount required to recharge the wallet. 
• Option to apply any applicable offers. By tapping on the button, a bottom sheet will appear with all the offers along with the option to add any custom coupon code. 
• Clear UI with the prefilled amount that is required to place the order. User can also edit the same. 
• Action button with the final amount that user has to pay.

6. Calendar View 

Current Issues 

• The app doesn’t allow users to change the month and see the status of past deliveries. 
• With the current calendar view, only 7 days were visible for the user in a single view. They would have to scroll horizontally to access the rest of the days. 

Proposed Design 

The users have the option to switch to any particular month. 

Given the user the flexibility to do the following for any upcoming delivery – 
      Add items 
      Update items 
      Cancel delivery
Separate option in the Bottom Nav to easily access the Calendar View of upcoming/past deliveries.

Option to switch calendar in two separate views – 
List View: Allows users to scroll through the dates easily. 
Calendar View: Allows users to easily view the status of each day within a month. 
Option to reach out to Customer Care in case of any issue with any past deliveries. 

7. My Account 

Current Issues 

• Too many options for the user, making it difficult to scan and access the relevant options.  

• No option to edit the primary number. 

Proposed Design 

• Divided the screen into multiple sections to improve the visual hierarchy of options. 
• Basic account details were displayed upfront with the option to Edit. 
• Kept the secondary options in a separate section without the icons to reduce prominence. 

8. Search 

Current Issues 

The search bar/icon should be the most prominent and accessible feature. Whereas, the only search within the application is at the grocery products listing screen. Global search can also be made available to users basis the product’s availability in various cities. 

Proposed Design 

• Added another option in the bottom nav for easy product search.

Sections for ‘Search history’ and ‘Trending searches’ to enhance the experience. 

Search result will display all the relevant product with options to quickly add the product to the cart. By tapping on the product, user will be redirected to ‘Product Detail’ screen.

8. USABILITY TESTING 

To validate the design changes, five people were requested to perform certain operations on the current Country Delight app and the redesigned version. 
 
Below are the results –

9. RETROSPECTIVE 

Redesigning the application was fun and challenging at the same time. Deep diving into the current architecture and reimagining a possible solution that would improve user experience was a creative and fulfilling experience. 

Usability testing after the wireframing and UI stage played a crucial role in the redesign process and offering a possible solution. 

Hope you found this redesigning journey interesting and insightful. 

Thank you for reading!

#VaccinePledge for our entire workforce

Every time we hear yet another case of Covid – in our friends, families, or team, let’s just tell ourselves – this too shall pass. None of us would have anticipated the second surge of the Covid-19 pandemic when we started 2021. However, it has happened, and we’re now in the middle of a severe crisis in India.

It is said that extraordinary times, bring out the extraordinary in us. And the single most extraordinary trait in this time is Empathy. At Nickelfox, our goal is to create value through every activity we conduct – business or otherwise. And we are amazed to see how our teammates are living this value in their everyday life and supporting each other in these tough times. Also a big thanks to our clients and partners, for understanding and supporting our teams.

Covid Vaccine for our team at Nickelfox

When the news first came, that age groups of 18 and above are eligible to get vaccinated from 1st May. We knew we have to make sure that everyone in our team is vaccinated. And we are happy that we are taking this small step to ensure our teams’ safety, by sponsoring the Covid-19 vaccine for our entire workforce.

This tough time is calling for even greater unity among us, irrespective of the place, city, country we live in. And I hope these challenging times will act as a global unifier, where countries, corporates, and citizens will come together with a ‘humanity first approach. We will not only defeat the virus but will win together as humans.

#VaccinePledge #TogetherInThis

How poor UI/UX can be a Traumatizing Experience for Businesses and Users

Poor UI/UX issues are common issues that probably have affected many people while accessing apps for shopping or banking. This is the reason why many of us have been jumping from one website/app to another. There may not be big usability issues, but even small things add up to make bigger problems. What is annoying, is that it’s constantly encountering the same things that never seems to get fixed.
Users can get irritated, anxious, and sometimes furious with a bad user experience, and they tend to remember the poor user experience for a longer period of time. Imagine the last time you had to wait too long for your dinner to be delivered because your order was misplaced and you never felt like ordering food from the same restaurant?
User experience matters and matters enough to move you from one service provider to another.

Poor UI/UX costs $500 million to Citibank

Citibank, which was acting as Revlon’s loan agent, was supposed to send about $8 million as an interest payment to the Revlon’s lenders. Instead, Citibank accidentally transferred almost 90 times that amount, including $175 million to a hedge fund. In total, Citibank accidentally sent $900 million to Revlon’s lenders. Some lenders did return the money, but others did not. The US banking giant had to file a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, seeking the return of funds that it said were transferred in an operational mistake due to confusing UI of the software and a poorly designed user interface contributed to the massive screw up. As per NDTV Profit report:

“After Revlon repurchased part of the debt, a Citigroup employee was supposed to manually adjust the share of the loan the remaining lenders still owned ahead of interest payments scheduled to be sent out this month. But the employee didn’t select the correct system options — instead allowing the loan to be repaid in full with interest. Colleagues who are supposed to catch such errors didn’t. Unfortunately, the manual checks of that selection also failed to detect the mistake, Citigroup wrote in its court filing.”

The first thing that differentiates a good web/app product from a bad one is it’s user interface and user experience that it provides to its users.

What constitutes a great User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX)?

User Interface in a simple word, is how a website/app/product interacts with its users, including the interaction between a human and a computer, interface logic as well as appearance.

User Experience is a meaningful and relevant experience that a user interface of a web/app design provides to its users. Basically, creating product flow with a high level of usability. The usefulness of delivering the ideas and product to the user will be more important than how beautiful a Website/App is.

A good UI is when a User is satisfied by achieving the desired goals:

User: For whom the end product or service is designed by keeping in mind his needs.

Satisfaction: It is the feeling that the user gets when the product/service is at par or beyond his expectation. Although functionality and ease of use are the key components, the product should also be pleasing to the eye, delivering an enjoyable experience.

Goals: Any product/service is designed keeping in mind a purpose. When the design does complete justice in achieving the purpose, it automatically becomes popular amongst it’s users.

A good UI is measured on the following parameters:

• Error-free
• Easy to use
• Eye pleasing
• Easy to understand
• Effective for the end goal

A good UX should stand strong on the following parameters:

• Useful
• Desirable
• Findable
• Accessible
• Credible
• Longer Retention Rate
• Better Conversion Rate
• Lesser Error Rate
• Improved Task Completion Time
• Higher Task Success Rate
• Higher Usability
• Ergonomic Design
• Rich Functionality
• Effective Content Strategy

This is where an expert designing company comes into picture, because they know the importance of user experience and how to make sure the user is happy and convinced. After all, the happier the users are, the more successful the businesses will become, be it a Website, App or a Software product.

We at Nickelfox take UI and UX design very seriously. Being one of the most trusted partners for clients, we always make sure that every aspect of design stems from delightful user experience. Our designs cover all of the above mentioned good practices and much more:

• Responsive Designs: Responsive designs help in offering greater user experience. What looks good on a website might not look good or fit well on a mobile or tab device. Therefore, we design keeping in mind the usability criteria.
• Light on Page: Run time or speed of an app/web is the key component of any UX friendly design. Slow speed of the web/app can easily motivate users to switch to different web/app.
• Apt Call to Action(CTA): Along with a great content and look and feel of a design, it is very necessary to have a call to action button at the right places for better user experience and quick purchases for which a user has come on your site/app. Clear and simple CTAs are essential in avoiding human error as in the Citibank case.
• Error Free: Error free web/app design leaves a good impression on the user and keeps web/app away from unnecessary issues that can ruin the hard work of the user. Our designs and codes are clean and bugs free. And even in an event of error or breakdown, the Error handling mechanism is the most crucial part of the UX strategy, in ensuring the resolution for the User.
• Secured: At the design stage we make sure that our end product is secured. Our secured apps not only save users sensitive data in the present but can also act smarter and foresee future threats coming from attackers and safeguard intellectual property.

The most important thing in our way of working at Nickelfox, is to understand the complete requirement of the client and create the best user experience. Our dedicated team utilizes the latest technologies and provides complete services for delivering customer-centric experiences.

Work From Home-A New Drift In IT Industry, Amidst Covid19 Pandemic

Work from home, Telework, Flexible working or working Remotely from Anywhere is not a new concept in the IT industry. It is there for a very long time where people have been working from their respective countries. However, earlier companies encouraged remote working only for foreign clients. This pandemic has forcefully made companies to experience work from home aspect for themselves.

In response to COVID19 pandemic and in general, Governments across the world are supporting/encouraging work from home in various ways: (USA, India, UK, Australia, Denmark).

We at Nickelfox welcome-Government’s support on work from home and work from anywhere policy. Governments are formulating new guidelines that aim at removing ‘unnecessary bureaucratic restrictions’ for the IT-BPM sector. The new rules aim at providing a strong impetus to the IT industry.

Work from home for some is a blessing while for others it’s been difficult to maintain work life balance. Some prefer it better than commuting while others feel due to untimely calls and lack of trust from managers they are not able to spare time for themselves.

Therefore, there is a need for laws & policies to spread out ground rules in favour of both the parties.

However, we at Nickelfox believe that work from home is an interesting approach which brings Work to Worker instead of bringing Worker to Work. The idea is to create a space that can balance both comfort and productivity. Anticipating a lock-down due to rising COVID cases, 2 weeks prior, we pivoted our strategy and started the practice of working from home. It was difficult in the beginning but with right equipment, space and discipline we could easily figure out the right way. Teams were equipped with necessary devices. We made sure teams had good internet speed, power backups to avoid any hick-ups in the work. Necessary, secured software was bought for glitch free communication. In-person meetings were replaced with video and audio calls meetings.

As the saying goes “Change is the only constant” Believing this we could easily mould our efforts as per the situation. Be it business or our daily life, one has to go through change, so why not prepare better? A little flexibility in thoughts and efforts makes it possible to accept change. Our flexible approach helped us through this pandemic. While companies were laying off staff, we were able to hire. We could not meet new joiners in-person but we made the best use of the technology and met them online through video calls.

Working from home during this pandemic has made us all more adaptable, more aware about our strengths and more resourceful. Initially, everybody was juggling between work, household and family duties, but eventually everything was sorted out. People have figured out the right schedule for household work, office work and family time. Families of our staff also provide great support to create a working environment at homes. We are deeply grateful for these behind the scene efforts. Things that seemed impossible and senseless earlier, now makes more sense.

For our team, with working from the comfort of our homes, there is a sense of mental peace and work life balance. We at Nickelfox try our best to aid for a better work-life-balance for our employees. We believe that people perform their best and are most motivated when they are freed from the unnecessary boundaries. Therefore, we measure performance and outcomes instead of keeping time checks and boundaries.

Service is all about providing experience. If you are successful in making this experience more worthwhile and delightful, then things like “how you work”, “from where do you work” does not matter. Our teams were working on remote earlier as well for our offshore clients, with all the remote delivery processes already in place, we just adapted these to our internal communications and coordination, without impacting any of our commitments to our clients.

Though our team longs to see each other and interact face to face, with hope for a near end of the pandemic, we will readily make the best of this new norm of “Work From Home” and keep delivering the best to our clients.

Efficiently adapting work culture with changing dynamics

Due to the recent corona outbreak, the way we work has drastically changed in the last few months. Social distancing has become our main weapon to tackle this pandemic.

As social distancing led to the closure of next to every physical establishment, the digital world has proven to be a boon. Most of us are essentially surviving this pandemic because of all the marvels made in technology till date, and the digital channels are flourishing.

Nickelfox Recognized by Fifteenth Clutch Reviewer!

Inevitably, there are numerous considerations for outsourcing mobile app development. When businesses have to wade through a sea of agencies—that all promise the same thing—finding an app development partner can be more stressful than originally anticipated.

When it comes to navigating the outsourcing process, Clutch.co may be considered an invaluable resource. Clutch—a B2B ratings and reviews platform—legitimizes businesses through real reviews left by verified clients. And we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve just received our 15th review!

We leverage top-notch technologies and trends

Here at Nickelfox, we leverage top-notch technologies and trends to deliver personalized experiences, ultimately boosting your business rep. And don’t worry, we have all the client testimonials that highlight our credibility, expertise, and aptitude for innovation.

In a recent project, we developed a website and a mobile app for a secret boutique hotel. Our Team also built a platform that manages room inventory, bookings, restaurant reservations, check-ins, and restaurant POS. The CEO of the company praised us for our dedication and technical skills:

“I appreciated the team’s dedication and commitment to improving the end users’ experience and building a solution that is scalable. The technical knowledge of the team is commendable.”

– Rameet Chawla, Founder, The Dutchess

Most Trusted UI UX Design Company that focuses on delivering Customer Delight

Have you ever wondered the significance of an exceptional visual design? The truth is that the users form an opinion about a business within a fraction of a few seconds and this comes from constructive research of experts. So, here you are looking for a UI UX design company that helps you take the right steps to ensure the success of the project. 

You need to hire a team of experts who can determine the culture of the company and the requirements of the project steadily and increase the chance of developing a superior design that complements your business. Nickelfox Technologies is the company you can trust for UI UX designing work that boosts the conversion rate, minimizes maintenance cost, and creates a consistent user experience.

How we roll to provide most suitable Service you deserve:

The aim of the top UI/UX design company is focused on the creation of interfaces that makes the digital experience exceptional for customers. Whether it is for established companies or startups, we gain an understanding of the core issues of the business and the technical and design aspects to build digital products that make the user experience align with the business goals. 

• We gain insights about the client’s concepts from the major stakeholders in the market and develop it with confidence and conviction.
• Our aim is to explore the concepts thoroughly before pushing them ahead in the market through rigorous testing, suitable forecasting, and preparing excellent roadmaps.
• When preparing visual designs, the team of experts steps into the shoes of customers to make the user experience genuine and meaningful.
• The processes we implement streamline the complexities of ideas and products, eventually resulting in easy-to-use solutions that match the preferences of customers. 
• The team of experts taking care of explorers, thinkers, designers, and developers create intuitive visual designs to grab the attention of customers.

Consistency of designs:

As a UI UX design services company, we know how to scale up and still stay hooked to the revenue projections. It is only a time-tested process that can battle through every sort of challenge and a similar approach needs to be in place for UI/UX designs. The creative and crafty endeavor of Nickelfox Technologies provides guaranteed success. 

Reliable services:

With exceptional UI/UX designs, we strive to boost the experience of customers. Our company designs easy-to-use user interfaces. The user-friendly product designs allow companies to reach quantifiable goals and make them unique among the rest.

Nickelfox Technologies ensures that the final product is of high quality standards and the user experience is always delightful.