“Yum Cha 'Noun' [Going for Dim Sum] (in Chinese cuisine) a meal eats in the morning or early afternoon, typically consisting of dim sum and hot tea.”
Discover
Problem Statement
During the peak lunch hours on any weekends or holidays, most of the Chinese Dim Sum Restaurants have a long wait for tables and the wait time could be up to an hour or longer. Many customers, including myself, are annoyed by the long wait and waiting is so waste of time.
Solution
Design an app that focuses on the current wait time of many Chinese Dim Sum Restaurants. Also, users can search and put their name on the wait list with their choice of Chinese Dim Sum Restaurant.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Design Process
I followed the Double Diamond process to come to my design solution.
Empathize
Competitor Analysis
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
CAKE Guest Manager
Overview: This app is simple with user friendly language, and easy to use on the business side and customer side. The pages are easy to read and navigate. The overall layout is consistent. The app has a 24/7 Live support.
TablesReady
Overview: The app is more focus on the business side. It is a waitlist and reservations app for walk-in driven full service restaurants. However, the customer can sign up to the wait list via text.
WaitWhile
Overview: This app is for any business with drop-in customers. It is more focus on the business side that doesn’t have a version for customer use. Waitwhile makes it easy to notify customers with personalized SMS and creating a customized waitlist in less than 3 minutes.
Insights
Customers cannot freely to search or pick a restaurant of their choice. The 3 apps are limited on the customer usage.
Secondary Research
Here are two articles and one video showing how busy and frustrated with a long wait.
Headline “Frustrated with the dining-out wait? Now there’s fast-casual dim sum at Westminster supermarket”
Headline “Tim Ho Wan: A Dim Sum Adventure Worth the Wait?”
Video “Don’t Be Late to Dim Sum on Weekend”
Survey and Analysis
I sent out a survey to a group of 24 people through google forms, the main aspect is to find what users think and feel about the wait time and trying to understand their needs.
Define
Primary Research
Before conducting any interview with actual people, I setup a screener survey and make sure I was getting the right fit candidates.
I interviewed a total of five people via phone, duration of each interview was about 30 minutes. The feedbacks from the interviews were jotted down on sticky notes.
Affinity Map
The wall of sticky notes show the common issues, patterns, and scope of the customer problems and needs in the same scenario.
Empathy Map
A regular customer who loves eating dim sum.
A regular customer with children who loves eating dim sum.
Persona
I used the research to create two personas, included the needs, goals, and observed behaviors of the target audience.
Ben - Dim Sum Foodie, single, and he has a good paying job. He loves to try out new restaurants but he doesn’t like long waits. He cares more about the quality of food and customer services, he doesn’t mind paying a higher price tag.
Mary - Dim Sum-er, works as a Product Manager in a private company and being a mother of two after work. She always has a busy schedule. She loves dim sum, she always goes dim sum for lunch on weekends and holidays. However, she gets frustrated when her kids are behaving impatiently due to the long wait.
How Might We… (HMW)
How might we reduce the wait times for customers?
How might we improve the customer service?
How might we help the parents to take care of their impatiently kids while waiting for a table?
How might we speed up the table turnover rate more effectively?
How might we improve the given estimated wait time?
Ideate
Ideation is where all kinds of thought come together and become substantial. These ideas are generated from persona and HMW statements and transformed into User Stories.
User Stories
As a user, I want to know the current wait of all the Chinese dim sum restaurants near me, so that I can go to one that has the least wait time.
As a user, I want to put my name on the wait list, so that I can get an estimated wait time.
As a user, I want to add my phone number to the wait list, so that I can receive a text notification when the table is ready.
As a user, I want to check in with the hostess, so that she/he knows our party is here.
As a user, I want to view the dim sum menu while waiting, so that I know what to order.
As a user, I want to view the ratings of restaurants, so that I can decide which one I should go.
As a user, I want to able to select a specific restaurant, so that I can view its details.
As a user, I want to know any promotions or features, so that I can save money.
As a user, I want to make an online reservation, so that I don’t have to wait for long.
As a user, I want to sign up and sign in, so that I can create my account and profile.
As a user, I want to sign in, so that I can rate my experience with the restaurant.
As a user, I want to view the dim sum menu, so that I can order take out.
Early Stage Sketches
Based on the user stories, I sketched out the solutions on what users are needed.
Protoype
User Flow
Low fidelity user flow of a red route
To search a restaurant which has the least wait time.
Be able to put name on a waitlist to the desired restaurant
Wireframing
High fidelity user flow, one of the red routes
To search a restaurant which has the least wait time.
Be able to put name on a waitlist to the desired restaurant
Test
Goals
Test the product concept with the target audience.
To find the difficulties faced while using the product.
Users
Next, I was ready to start testing my designs with potential users. I did research with 10 people. After conducted testing and talked to the participants, I received many valuable feedbacks and comments on how to improve the app.
Findings?
Issue:
Wait List and Reservation buttons are contradicting
Recommendation:
To distinguish the Wait List and Reservation buttons
Since the app is focusing on the wait time, the reservation button could be removed on the search page to avoid confusion by the users
If Wait list or Reservation button is not available at a certain time, the button would be gray out or marked as not available
Issue:
Participants were taking longer time to search for a restaurant with the shortest wait time
Recommendation:
Listed the restaurant with the shortest wait time on the top by default in the search page
Use color codes to make the wait time more eye catching
Issue:
The search page has no filters
Recommendation:
Add the filter to the search page
Re-organize the hierarchy in the filter button
Issue:
The search page has no filters
Recommendation:
Add the filter to the search page
Re-organize the hierarchy in the filter button
Issue:
How to gain more users with the first glance of the Sign up / Log in page?
Recommendation:
Make the Sign up button in orange, and create the Log in to a link
Move down the social media log in button to the bottom
Issue:
Participants think there is a redundant step by clicking the SMS checkbox and fill in the phone # to join the Wait List
Recommendation:
Having SMS checkbox and phone field should be one of the Sign up process, therefore, the SMS checkbox and the phone field could be removed from the Wait List page
Issue:
Missing a log out button
Recommendation:
Add a Log out button in the menu
Conclusion
Through out the process, there were some obstacles with trial and error and I learned a lot from mistakes. I am amazed and satisfied to see how every data points connected together. I hope this Yum Cha app could be develop in the reality and help the users to ease the wait time.
What can I do better?
I would like to do more research about the features and results of competitors.
I would like to select more participants from different ethical background.
I would like to conduct usability test the prototype with different ethical background users.
What’s next?
I would like to go back to make some adjustments on how to implement more features to this app. I am hoping these features would benefit to the users.