Project start: August 2019 Timeline: 3 months Client: DogHero Services: UX, UI, User Research, IA & Data Analytics Platform: Mobile Apps and Responsive Website
DogHero is Latin America’s largest pet services marketplace. Founded in 2014, it now has 18k+ sitters and walkers in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. It is headquartered in São Paulo, with a team of 70+ people, and was backed by some of the most important VC firms.
The challenge.
DogHero has trust and safety concerns that can be addressed by product initiatives. It was our priority to work with safety issues in mind, to ensure the best experience for customers and sitters.
My role.
I was the lead Product Designer, working closely with a Product Manager, Developers, Data, Trust & Safety and CX team. I worked on the discovery process, data analysis, research, sketches, prototypes, usability testing, final screens and copywriting.
Design tools.
Design process.
First, we did an internal data analysis to identify the company’s numbers regarding safety issues. Then, we evaluated security devices of other platforms. We ran a brainstorm session with the CX and Trust & Safety teams to identify the main problems and opportunities that we could address. We decided to test one of these ideas: an emergency button in the app to be triggered in any type of crisis, having quick access to DogHero’s support. We tested the prototype with customers and sitters, and it was highly praised for bringing a highly expected feature in the app.
Specific issues.
The sentimental value of a pet is priceless. We are dealing with a very important part of our users’ lives and can cause huge trauma if any accident occurs. We had to think of how to deal with that in two perspectives: Prevention and Crisis. Besides that, safety crises can also have a high potential to damage a company’s reputation, and can lead to lack of credibility and distrust. To overcome this, we have been thinking a lot about communication and transparency initiatives. We also invested time and effort to ensure our users’ data security as well, in compliance with the data protection laws of Brazil.
The results.
The emergency button has been implemented for the entire user base, and the response time for emergencies has dropped to 1/3. Users became more confident about the security service provided by DogHero, not only those who needed to use the feature, but also those who saw the functionality as a faster and more transparent way of reporting a problem. We were also able to list some other important initiatives to be done: Trust & Safety Security Playbook, Pre-Service Checklist, Background Check + Pet Education Profile Badges, Document Auto Validation on Supply Intake, Safety Dog Walking Leash and Identification Tags.
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