VOLU
Volu connects volunteers with opportunities.
As a design consultant for Volu, I conducted qualitative design research, ideation, and usability testings to discover design opportunities. I used Sketch to create mockups and Principal to create interaction animation.
Intro
UX Issue
Volu advertised how easy it was for users to find volunteering events with the app. Users only needed to search for events and input essential personal information to register.
To validate this design, I tested the app with users. One reaction that stuck with me was what one user said after signing up in under one minute.
That’s it? I am not even sure if that [event registration] went through.
I began to question if Volu’s minimal onboarding process was beneficial or not. So I formulated a research plan to validate my hypothesis.
Research
Hypothesis
Volu’s minimal onboarding process is too fast and too minimal to establish trust and create an ongoing relationship with its users
Competitive Analysis
Their onboarding processes were often dull and lengthy, but they utilized users’ data to provide event recommendations.
Interview
I interviewed people with varying levels of volunteering to understand their process of looking for volunteering events and the pain points they experienced throughout the process. I also talked to volunteer managers to understand the process from their side.
People often overlooked the holistic goal of volunteering. Volunteering is about building a relationship with communities and is not just an academic requirement.
Many infrequent volunteers said they simply didn’t have time to volunteer, but when I dug deeper, they revealed that they found looking for volunteering opportunities dull and tiring.
Volunteering is all about building a relationship with the community.
Volunteering opportunities don’t actively present themselves, and it feels like ‘work’ looking for them.
Insights
Searching for Volunteer Events Feels Like “Work”
Infrequent volunteers felt the process of looking for volunteering opportunities was dull and tiring.
Infrequent Volunteers Can Be Motivated to Volunteer
Yet, Volu couldn’t understand its users with its minimal onboarding process.
Volunteering is About Building Relationships
The holistic goal of volunteering is building a continuing relationship between volunteers and their communities.
Research Recap
Volu had insufficient knowledge of the users to provide a personalized, engaging experience. Also, Volu did not create strong connections between organizations and volunteers to encourage volunteering.
Challenge
- How to build a habit-forming system?
- How to make the searching process more fun?
- How to create a more in-depth onboarding process without being daunting to the users?
Solution
Habit-Forming System
I used Nir Eyal’s model to structure the system to help users build a habit of volunteering and establish long-term relationships with organizations.
Understanding both the internal and external triggers and rewards can encourage users to achieve the goal above.
Experience Design
I created a more in-depth onboarding process; The registration process is separated into several pages to avoid being daunting. I also brainstormed different ways to introduce and integrate the habit-forming system into the flow.
Feedback
Usability Testing
I found that users strongly dislike creating an account just to see the volunteering events, so I allowed users to view the events before creating an account. Yet, they would still need to create a profile to sign up for events.
Some were confused about how the gamification system works. So I created introductory awards for creating a profile and registering an event. The notification would guide them to the award page that shows users other awards and ways to achieve them.
I don’t like that I have to create an account just to see the events
How do I get an achievement? And what can I do with it?
I am not sure if I am signing up for the event or creating a profile.
Final
Sign Up
As users invest time searching and signing up for events, the gamification system rewards their actions and encouraged users to create profiles.
With more data on the users’ skills, interests, and motivations, the app can offer more personalized recommendations and create personalized follow-up emails.
Daily Match
The daily match feature helps users find opportunities, making the process of looking for volunteering events seem less like work.
The user would select one card they prefer. After ten rounds, the system presents the events that match their preferences.
Habit-forming System
Users would receive trophies for various achievements, such as: Volunteering with the same organization on three different occasions, and Sharing event information on social media
This is to encourage users to form a relationship with organizations and form a habit of volunteering.
Retrospective
What Now?
I presented it to the Volu team and received generally positive feedback on my research and design. Still, they later pivoted to be a volunteer management SaaS product for non-profits organizations.
What I Would Do Differently?
First time building a habit-forming system.
I was not sure if it will work as I intended. It would be great to have done a more comprehensive study to understand its effectiveness.
Better ways to understand the users
Having users fill out their interests manually was probably not the most efficient way. There should be a more intelligent and subtle way to do that.
Ethics of changing a user’s behavior
Was it ethical to encourage users to change their behavior? I should’ve thought more about this before deciding to build a habit-forming system.