Delivering packages to different cities with the help of travellers

This problem statement was given by one of India’s best hyperlocal delivery brand which begins with “D” 😛

D’s mascot

Problem statement

Design an experience where people can send/receive lightweight delivery packages to/from different cities with the help of willing travellers.

User story

DeLo is a crowdsourced intercity delivery app through which a sender wants to send a package to his friend in Pune from Bangalore through a traveler traveling to Pune. He raises a request on the app which the traveler can access. They discuss the package details and a DeLo partner (delivery service) will pick up the package from the sender’s location. Similarly, another DeLo partner picks up the package from a traveler in Pune and delivers it to the receiver.

Challenge

One of the most challenging aspects is providing users, with an intercity delivery experience through a unknown user whom they do not know.

Btw, I only had 48 hours to complete few scope🥲, which was a significant challenge in itself.

Let’s get started,

Design Process which I followed based on the problem statement-

1. Discover- Identifying users, Analysing the happy path, & understanding workflow
2. Define- Research, Alignment of insights/findings to project objectives
3. Develop- Brainstorm & ideate solutions, Assumptions, and Business Benefits
4. Deliver- User flow & Visual design

1. Discover

1.1 Identifying users

I wanted to identify all of the users involved in this job and the most crucial ones for whom we are trying to find a solution.

User 1- Sender
User 2- DeLo partner 1
User 3- Volunteer(traveler)
User 4- DeLo partner 2
User 5- Receiver

💡 Sender & Volunteer are the main job performers as it’s a crowdsourcing delivery space that focuses on obtaining work/information from people via apps or digital media in general.

1.2 Analysing the happy path & workflow

Sender wants to send a package from Bangalore(say L1) to Pune(say L2).

1. Someone who is traveling to L2 accepts requests to commute with the package. Sender & Volunteer interact with each other through chat to discuss the details.
2. Sender pays 100% and 50% has been sent to the Volunteer as the rest 50% will be given once DeLo partner picks up the package in Pune(info provided in brief)

I arranged the given scenario into a workflow to understand the activities of both job performers. Further, this will help me in understanding the basic requirements & visualising the user flows of each.

Sender wants to send a package from Bangalore to Pune

Now that I was aware of the overall workflow for both users, I was eager to learn more about the fundamental parameters for sending and receiving packages.

2. Define

2.1 Research about users

Interacting with users is segmented into two categories- the first one will be Senders and the second will be Volunteers.

A. Sender’s perspective:
I chose 2 of my friend who has been the sender of any parcel. Since I had a time crunch, I wasn’t able to ask more people and get their perspectives. Instead, I tried to search for as much information as possible through secondary research as well.

Objective:
I was curious to learn about their experiences and concerns when choosing to have delivery services.

Questions:

1. Which kind of delivery services have you used?
2. What kind of things have you sent through the delivery service?
3. Did you book the pickup or take it to the nearby delivery location?
4. What were the concerns you had while booking and post-booking?
5. How was the overall experience you had with your parcel?

The basic requirements for Sender to deliver a package are:
Current location (self)
Contact details of the sender & receiver
Receiver’s address
Pickup date (if opted)
Package details

B. Volunteer’s perspective:

I chose one of my college friends and started up a casual conversation with him about his experience delivering my important file and 3D models from my house during the semester-end jury.

We all have experienced similar experiences when one of our friends became our saviour 🤜🤛 at that time. So I attempted to find out how he was able to deliver the stuff on time.

Similarly, the basic requirements for Volunteer to deliver a package are:
Current location (self)
Travel location
Date of Travel
Mode of commute
Contact details

2.2 Insights from the users

Sender:

• Concerned about the transit of the package due to its importance and urgency.
• They don’t worry a lot about who carries the parcel as they are opting for a brand that follows all protocols and safety regulations.
• They might be having trust issues while handing it off to any random person who will carry the package to other cities.
• The size & weight of the package was also one of important aspect of their doubts. Volunteers need to be very well aware of the details of the package.

Volunteer:

• The content of the package was the concern. In my case, 3d models were fragile and needs to be handled carefully. This might also happen in the case of the problem we are addressing.
• When & where the package is supposed to be delivered?
• He requested an extra charge(kind of treat) for his mode of commute due to my belongings.

Conclusion

• Need to cater trust factor for the sender 🙌 to provide the best delivery experience with volunteers.
• Details of the package are important for volunteers as it may change their travel modes 🛵 🚕 for which we can’t predict cost at an early phase.

Example- Volunteer is traveling to Pune by bus. He is supposed to take a bike taxi to reach the starting point of the bus. But due to the size and weight of the package, he has to take a cab which primarily costs more than a bike taxi. This commute cost can’t be predicted unless somebody knows the detail.

2.3 Exploring delivery services

I went through some key players like BlueDart, DTDC, and FedEx in playstore in the delivery space to understand & map the basic requirements for someone to create courier requests.

From left- BlueDart, DTDC & FedEx

These are the basic details they inquire about:

• Contact details of the sender, receiver along with the location
• Package details (size, weight, count)
• Payment
• Picture/Image of the package(for the purpose of assurance that they have been delivered)

(For this case study- Ignoring the details such as track id, shipment no. etc since we are not covering the tracking aspect in this case).

My insights from the user research got validated while looking at these delivery providers. Now, I have all the basic fundamentals to get started with the ideation for both sender and volunteer in order to build a trustworthy eco-system for intercity delivery service.

3. Develop

3.1 Ideation

Ideation involves addressing the fundamentals, user flows, hypothesis, edge cases, assumptions, etc. for building the solution.

My Observations:

• Since this application is a crowdsourcing intercity delivery service, I would give equal importance to the sender and volunteers because the role might get reversed for them sometimes depending on the situation.
• The solution should be built around the trust factor to leverage the no. of deliveries. By keeping promises, delivering orders accurately and on time will be good for trust building between users.
• We can also promote trust through gamification. The 4 pillars of enterprise gamification are achievement, recognition, competition & valuables.
• The listing of packages cannot be shown in the app directly to the volunteers unless he provides their travel location & other details. The reason is that they aren’t delivery partners with unfinished business. Because this is not their main job, they are doing it just for assisting/help someone.

3.2 User Flows

A. Sender of the package
Main job- Send a parcel
Micro job- Discuss the package, Make payment to the volunteer, Track package(ignoring for this case)

B. Volunteer of the package
Main job- Travel with package
Micro job- Submit travel details, Discuss the package, Accept the delivery, Hand-over the package to DeLo delivery partner in the final location.

3.3 Hypothesis & Edge cases

The request will be raised from the backend for DeLo delivery partners to pick up the package from the sender & deliver it to the volunteer one day before his traveling date. So that, Sender gets enough time to pack them up and avoid last-minute issues.

Similarly, the same case applies when the volunteer reaches Pune.

Edge cases:

1. No volunteers are available to deliver the package to the location.
2. The receiver’s location is far from the city and in-accessible.
3. No DeLo partners were available for package pickup and drop.
4. Volunteer was unable to travel due to an accident or other circumstances.
5. Volunteer stole the package and did not deliver it.

3.4 Assumptions

1. Volunteer is genuine and kind enough to accept the delivery, and commutes with the package without any issue. (for happy path)
2. Pending list of packages to be delivered is already present in the system to project them for volunteers and their destined location.

3.5 Metrics to track

In order to measure the success of the app & growth of the crowdsourcing user-base, we can use these metrics:

• On-time Delivery
• Accurate order fulfilment (Successful deliveries)
• Monthly delivery request
• Average delivery time
• Total damaged product in months & year
• No. of acquired customers
• Referral rate

4. Deliver

4.1 Visual Design

1. Home screen for DeLo

2. Packages screen for Volunteers

As a part of delivery of this case study, I was supposed to deliver 2 core screens which suffices my ideation in best possible way.

How can we build trust to leverage the growth of the app and acquire new users?

I have already mentioned in “My observation” in the Ideation section that we can promote trust through gamification and it can help us in acquiring new users. Let’s find out how that could function!

• Providing different game badges to the users on successful completion of delivery would encourage them to help others. Senders will be able to recognise them & trust the volunteer for their package.
• They can share this method of making money by side within their network which can help in acquiring new users.

What else I might’ve done when given time:

• Understand the logistics side of the user flow for DeLo delivery partners to come up with more key moments and edge cases.
• Implementation of a gamification component to demonstrate how it functions.

Thanks for staying till the end 🤜🤛