Blog 2
Exploring Users Research: Understanding People, Needs & Assumptions.
Disclaimer: PlugnZoom is a conceptual project created for academic purposes as part of a HCI class.
Project introduction:
As (EVs) are becoming more common, I’ve heard a lot of people (especially those with non tesla EVs) facing problem with the current charging experience. One of the biggest problem is the fragmentation of payment systems. Different charging stations or networks require a separate app or account creating an unnecessary friction, especially in situations where drivers urgently need to access a charger. To address this problem, our team came up with a unified payment system called PlugnZoom. We conducted user research based on the idea, and this blog will cover the research process and our learnings.
Research Process:
The idea of our app being with a unified payment system for Ev chargers, However, our team realized the app would feel heavily specialized if that was the only feature. To make the app more valuable, we did some additional research on other problems EV drivers were facing and decided to expand our scope. We decided to add more features like route planning which not only finds you the cheapest route to travel but would also avoid broken or over crowded charging stations.
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Our UX research method consisted of online research, surveys and interviews. We were assuming users would find the unified payment system to be the best feature of our app. While participants did find unified payment system to be useful, many considered other features of our map to be more useful.
The surveys were done online using google forms. The questions were designed around the usability of our app and also took feed back from the sample. Although the app is targeted for EV owners, we also surveyed non EV owners to gain outside perspective.
The interview was conduced for a smaller population as we had limited time and resources. The question for the app was designed with EV drivers on mind. While picking people for the survey we stumbled upon an unexpected problem, most of the candidates we picked owned a tesla, since tesla’s ecosystem already provided a seamless experience, many users were less aware about this fragmentation as they either used a home charger or a tesla charging station, so we had to find someone who owns an EV other than a tesla. To make the participants feel comfortable, we avoided any type recording and opted to take handwritten notes instead.
The data collected was then summarized using ai tools and analyzed ina a FigJam board by our team. Firstly, we organized findings by the problems users mentioned then categorized them into themes. Once we were done with the we created a couple of high level personas keeping the target population in mind and created an empathy chart based on thing they hear, see, say/do, feel, pain point and gain from EV ownership. Finally, we created an experience map which would discuss how we want our users to experience the application and guide our apps design.
Learnings:
Our research shows while the unified payment system is helpful, it is not enough to make our app successful. Ev drivers especially non Tesla drives have complains about trip planning and live charger information like real time price comparison and availability. Many participants talked about having to download apps with weak signals, this shows how much users value simplicity and would appreciate an intuitive ui during a stressful situation. Trust and security was also a critical factor, users were worried about storing their payment and personal information. Even though most of the participants use tesla chargers they were willing to switch to a cheaper charger if they were nearby. Finally, our research and interviews shows that tesla owners face fewer issues due to tesla’s ecosystem, there is still a huge amount of EV population that faces these problems in a daily basis making them the strongest target audience for our solutions.
Applying these learnings to Life & Career:
The first thing i learned while conduction this research is that user feedback is really important when designing an application. There might be situations where a developer creates a solution for a problem that doesn’t actually exist, and user research helps us avoid that mistake. At the end of the day, we are creating apps for users rather than ourselves, so conduction user research can give us valuable insights and feedback from out target population. Helping us refine our ideas into something that people would actually find useful.
