Reducing drop-rate while enhancing usability and user experience
Category ~ Travel App
In May 2024, Travel Hands experienced a high drop-off rate in their volunteer sign-ups. Despite many registrations, few volunteers remained active. The CEO approached me to redesign their onboarding process, aiming to reduce the drop-off rate, improve user experience, and integrate new features to retain volunteers.
Travel Hands is a London-based charity that empowers visually impaired people (VIP) to quickly and easily travel around the city by matching them with verified volunteers.
The challenge
The volunteer side of the app was developed without extensive prior design work, resulting in a product that was hard to navigate for volunteers, leading to a frustrating user experience and a high drop-off rate.
Scope
Travel Hands commissioned a complete redesign of the app to: improve user experience, improve usability and reduce the drop-off rate. Additionally, I was tasked to add new functionalities: volunteer training, in-app chat, and a reward system to encourage volunteers to do more journeys.
Research
I partnered with their CEO, Ishan Jha, to review user interview findings and discuss business goals to define the requirements for the new features. Travel Hands' design assets were fragmented and lacked a cohesive design system. While they understood their user journey, it was not explicitly mapped, and they had no wireframes for the current app state, leading to information silos between the team.
Definition
Based on my research, I defined the following requirements: Develop cohesive style sheets, Build a foundational design system, Map the user journey as-is, Map the user journey to-be, Design a feature to train volunteers, Design an in-app chat, and Create a volunteer reward system.
Development
I collected all their design assets across all channels, including colours, typography, logos, and spacings. I created cohesive style sheets to build a foundation for their design system. I mapped the user journey as-is into a Figma file and developed the to-be journey based on user research insights. I put together an atomic design system comprehensive of the necessary components for the app redesign.
Delivery
Throughout the project, I closely collaborated with key stakeholders, including the CEO, designers, and developers, to ensure alignment with business goals and user needs. Regular feedback sessions and iterative design reviews were conducted to refine features and improve user experience. The final design included a comprehensive style guide and a cohesive design system that addressed identified issues and enhanced overall usability. The new features—training module, chat functionality, and reward system—were well received by the client and tested positively with users.
Outcome
The redesign resulted in a more user-friendly app that significantly reduced volunteer drop-off rates. The new features helped retain active volunteers, aligning with Travel Hands' mission to support visually impaired individuals.
