Contributions

• User interviews

• Affinity mapping

• User persona

• Storyboard

• Competitive analysis

• Comparative analysis

• User survey insights

• Usability testing results

Background

Yelp is an American public company headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company develops, hosts, and markets the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses.

Research Methodology

I applied five main methods of UX research — survey, field study, user interviews, affinity mapping, and usability testing—to explore and uncover underlying issues and frustrations users faced while navigating the Yelp app.

Field Study

The goal was to understand how Yelp users interact within the app and how environments impact their decisions. My research strategy was to gather a wide scope of users through surveys posted on social media such as Facebook and Reddit.

Usability testing

I created task scenarios and conducted baseline usability testing on the current Yelp app. This allowed me to establish and confirm user pain points, challenges, thoughts, and behaviors.

Approach

Before I began researching, I conducted interviews with 21 Yelp users to get a deeper understanding of the end users.

“Good research begins with good questions."

Survery

A first round screening consisting of three questions was conducted before advancing interviewees to the full interview.

- Who uses the Yelp app?

- What type of phone do our users use?

- How much income do our users make?

Below is an example of some of the information I collected through the survey.

Informal interview

Before heading out to lunch, I spoke with several coworkers who had just used the Yelp app to find a out a place to eat.

They stated it took them about 10 minutes before they finally decided on a place they mutually agreed on.

“I’m starving, but I don’t really know what I’m hungry for.”

What I Discovered

Who uses the Yelp app?

- 33% were between the ages of 18-24

- 38% were between the ages of 35-54

- 29% were ages 55+

What type of phone do our users use?

- 55% of our users have iPhones. This validated that we should start our app redesign for IOS first.

How much income do our users make?

- 24% had incomes of $0-59k

- 47% had incomes of $59-99k

- 29% had incomes of 100k+

Interview Questions

To review all the interview questions conducted visit the link: Interview Questions

12 out 21 of the interviews were face-to-face and 9 were phone calls.

Affinity Mapping

I created sticky notes that included pain points collected from user interviews. I sorted them into categories to line up with our users goals. In the end, I had 3 categories that established the main issues users faced.

Pain Points

Here is a list of the pain points deduced from the affinity map.

1. “It’s frustrating to go through so many places and not find the right one.”

2. “I’m just trying to find a quick place to eat.”

3. “I need to search quickly for what I am looking for.”

4. “I have a preference when searching for food.”

5. “Getting everyone on board with the same place is troublesome.”

Primary Persona

I synthesized the characteristics of all users I interviewed and developed the persona of Derek Bissel - The Power User.

Competitive Analysis

I compared other apps who shared similar features to Yelp.

Inspiration

Websites such as Dribble, Behance, and Pinterest helped inspire different functions, graphic elements, and new features for the Yelp redesign.

Goals for design team

Through user interviews, affinity mapping, user persona, competitive and comparative analysis, the following goals will be addressed:

- Facilitate a more engaging and enjoyable experience by documenting Yelp users emotion while executing task flows.

- Reduce the time it takes a Yelp user to find a location by recording time spent on current Yelp app and compare to Yelp redesign.

Phase 1 -

Photos and Videos

Task

Users were given a restaurant name to look up on the current Yelp App design. Next they were asked the following questions: Would you eat at this establishment? Why or Why not?

All users gravitated towards pictures first. Through their “Think Aloud” process, many mentioned that pictures provided the clearest, fastest, and most accurate representation of what they expect to receive.

Pain Points

“Too many pictures to go through and it all feels unorganized”

“Switching from sections linearly frustrate me”

Solution

• Redesign layout of filtered sections (All, Food, Inside, Outside, Menu)

• Improve image viewer

• Provide quicker method for users to upload images to filtered sections

Phase 2 - Review Section

Task

Users were asked to analyze the review and comment section. Through their “Think Aloud” process, many mentioned that the more reviews a business had, the more credibility they received. 

Pain Points

“I need to scroll all the way to the bottom just to see the reviews.”

“There are too many review sections, I get confused on which review section is correct.”

Design Direction

• Create a swipe up comment section to view reviews faster.

• Improve individual review post emphasizing ratings and images.

• Promote reviews and posts that receive the most engagement

Phase 3 - In App Messaging

Task

After selecting a business, users were asked to share this location with a friend. Through their “Think Aloud” process, many mentioned that an in app messaging feature would be faster than texting through messaging apps.

Pain Points

“Pop up window is crowded with too many contacts to send to”

“I’m not sure if the other person opened the link I sent them or searched the place themselves and found a different location”

Design Direction

• Create in app messaging to share locations with others

• Highlight and emphasize image, driving distance, reviews, etc. that Yelp users engaged with to make final decision

• Store highlights to help recommend similar business with comparable highlights

Reflection

Throughout this process I learned a lot about the importance of information architecture and the its role in shaping the intuitive nature of an app or website design. The need for a deeper understanding helped me explore new applications of UX tools like affinity mapping, comparative and competitive analysis and card sorting.