the challenge

The Whirlpool Home Delivery network was a reimagination and modernization of an existing site used by whirlpool internal partners, vendors, delivery drivers and customers. The site is used to track appliance delivery, instillation, onsite repair and factory replacement. The existing Home Delivery Network site lacked transparency to customers and hid meaningful information. The design challenge was to surface information that is meaningful and make needed information easy to digest in a glance. The interface needed to be easier to use and reduce pain-points that caused frustration for customers that may already be frustrated. The design needed to empower customers so they could not only know what was happening, but could correct some issues themselves.

gathering

The design process began with working with our internal team who had already begun the discovery phase. I collected materials from them including some requirements details, use cases, and user stories. Reported pain-points and issues that the current system had and its relative failures were well documented at this point and I collected that information from the team. I followed those discussions with conducting initial stakeholder interviews to gather first hand information about pain-points and desires.

research

I conducted and participated in many information gathering and design workshops with key stakeholders to gather direct feedback and pain-points and refine the wishlist and must haves. I received logos and a current style guide. I refined user journey maps and created user personas and use cases. With all of my findings completed, I contributed to approach documentation which was presented to the business.

design

Designs started with paper thumbnails and very low fidelity wireframes. These basic concept designs were then translated to high fidelity wireframes in Illustrator as well as a few high fidelity mock ups of the design. Six other wireframe designs where created over the span of the project to demonstrate additional pages, features and interactions such as modal dialogs. Several rounds of refinement and feedback workshops solidified details and fine points resulting in a numerous revisions. A basic html/css prototype was created for demonstration to the business as well as for user validation. A basic style guide with css call outs was also created. I worked with the dev team throughout the project to answer design questions and help guide design problems not specifically addressed in the initial design and other like issues.

the solution

The solution was a design that leverages common design patterns for deliveries, providing a simple and quick look at deliveries, installations, repair status information and issue notification. Users can get information about issues, delays and expectations easily without having to contact customer service. Users can change or correct information as needed putting them in the drivers seat when issues arise. The customer is empowered and in control of a good portion of the experience.

results

The resulting site was launched and has resulted in a 27% reduction in call center calls and 23% reduction in customer complaints.