Wag Walk Woof
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Wag Walk Woof is a Dog walking business in Harrogate, North Yorkshire – they needed a usable website that would look great on all devices.
Role
User Research, Visual Design, UX Engineer
Time Line
Dec 2019
Tasks & Deliverables
- Testing
- Iteration
- Competitor Analysis
- Journey Map
- Task Flows
- Interaction Map
- Interactive Prototype
- Wire Map
- Build
- Deploy
Project Overview
I used Lean UX on this – it is a build for my wife, Kathryn. Kathryn runs Wag Walk Woof and I realised she needed a website or an online presence. I was a team of one-man and the major stakeholder was sat in the next room watching TV on a night or walking doggos in the daytime. I needed to convey Kathryn’s personality and adoration of furry creatures.
Researching Dog Walking
This was done through participant interviews and Analytics. I then went about and put pen to paper to flesh out a few ideas.
Client interviews and ‘would-be’ user interviews helped provide some interesting insights into the goals, the context of use and pain points users often face when trying to book a dog walker in Harrogate. I learned that the majority of visits to these sites were just to see the pricing and then a quick bounce off site to check the rest.
Defining The Problem
After gathering the research, I found that I needed to lay out Kathryn’s stall as soon as a visitor hit the site. There should always be a CONTACT option or CTA always within sight and there should be clear labelling. Not all of the users of the site would have perfect eyesight or have the inclination and time to read a blog post.
I needed to present the information in a fashion that conveyed Kathryn’s passion as well as actually get the information across.
I saw that other dog walkers efforts to help clients were well received, but that all their users had very similar annoyances with trustworthiness and reliability – there are a wealth of Dog walkers in Harrogate and I needed to ensure Kathryn stood out from the crowd
Design Problems
My next step was to move into the design phase and to begin thinking about possible solutions. Research had shown that users had a strong idea of what they think a dog walker’s site would look like – my attempt was to drag that in to relevance and future proof it.
I built this site all in browser – relying on User research and feedback from the owner. Because we live together I could just call her through when she was not working and approve or disregard a touch.
We decided on large text and with a focus on mobile usability. A lot of the users of the site could have impoverished vision. Kathryn caters for shy dogs, dogs that might be with elderly clientele. She only walks one ‘family’ of dogs at a time so we needed to install trust and put the owner at ease.
Designing Solutions
My aim was to provide an intuitive, frictionless viewing process. I needed to make it obvious where the prices Kathryn charged were and I needed plain points of contact. I needed a functioning, clear menu.
Home Page & Menu
Kathryn’s stall was laid out on the home page – there is an easy navigation to the prices pages and there is a way to contact Kathryn on every page. The header has a link to WhatsApp and the email address.
Prices Page
Clean, clear prices – for what Kathryn does, there is a lot of competition. I needed to inform the visitor of the trade so they could make a decision before bouncing off to another website.
Contact Page
The Contact Page is pretty much the reason for the site – the site is there to drum up business for Wag Walk Woof and this needed to be as accessible as possible.
Next Steps
Having written this summary I have ideas of how to improve the site – CTA Buttons more legible and a better contact form experience. A THANK YOU Page for getting in contact and improved SEO.
But, I was pushed for time and this is very much a Lean UX Build – I am constantly updating and improving the site, so by the time this post has been read it will have changed.
Conclusion
I enjoyed this build – I was pretty much left to my own devices for it, with in put from Kathryn and the User Research I conducted.
Would I do anything different? Well, there is plenty of time to change things but I am happy with its present incarnation.