Elder Racing Equipment
Web App Solution for a niche motorized bicycle market
Executive Summary
I designed Elder Racing Equipment as a web app. It is a solution for a small company that needs a way to solve their organizational pain points so they can solve motorized bicycle hobbyists' pain points.
I committed to completing this within a two-week sprint. I wanted to challenge myself to create an organizational solution for a great new company that provides solutions specifically for motorized bicycle hobbyists' needs. This was super challenging since I was dealing with a very small niche market. By solving for the Elder Racing Equipment pain points, we were able to solve for two completely different hobbyist pain point sets.
The Problem.
Elder Racing Equipment (ERE) needs a way to expand beyond receiving messages in Facebook messenger and by text, into a digital space and be able to provide customers with a more organized way to contact and purchase products, in order to have more control over their product sales and information requests.
The owner of Elder Racing Equipment expressed that this is a problem for customers who are interested in the product since they can’t visually see the specifications of the product to make purchases. Along with the unorganized information requests and lack of ability to purchase without contacting him directly. This amount of information needed by customers for Elder Racing Equipment at present forces the owner to spend more time on replying to requests and less time on production of products.
Understanding the User
I relied heavily on the owner and any contacts the owner could throw my way for research purposes. I also joined every motorized bicycle group and forum I could find across social platforms. Joining these bicycle groups was the only way I was going to get a glimpse into this niche market. I had a hard time getting research participants, because of the type of users I needed to find. Luckily some of the contacts the owner gave me followed through, and a nice young man from Sweden, I found in a bicycle group on reddit, came through.
I identified specific people who are hobbyist in this market to learn more about their love of the hobby and pain points. I also identified a business owner, to get a birds eye view from the business side to the hobbyist side. I felt like I needed every angle I could possibly take to understand the solution I was attempting to find.
My Role
I initiated this project to challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone into a small world way out of my natural reach. I performed user research, designed a responsive web app, and tested my designs with users.
Breaking Down The Process
Research
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Who are they?
To understand this small business I started with the customers
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Why they would need this product?
What is behind the need for the solution I was brought in to discover?
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Can I align the needs of the business and the user?
We’ve established the need for organizational help, but what is it that the users need help with?
Discovering the Why
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Objectives
-Type of customers Elder Racing Equipment has now (big businesses and individuals).
-Discover a better way to make contact (will it be for mainly businesses who want to commission a certain amount of products per year or individuals? Or both?
-Understand if customizations will be required during purchasing
- Discover what payment types are best for this type of purchase
-How this website can organize all the many different elements of the business in to one easy process
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Global questions
-Who are the customers?
-Why do they need these specialty products?
-How does contacting differ depending on the customer- big business vs. just an individual?
-How does purchasing differ depending on customer?
-How do customizations work, are they for all products?
-What payment options will be best for this type of business?
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Participants
Participants for this research will need to be very focused:
-Customers of ERE who are individuals (hobbyist)
-Customers of ERE who are businesses
-Customers of ERE who are businesses commissioning for a certain amount of products per year
Assumptions/Risks
Elder Racing Equipment (ERE) currently is just word of mouth and their method of contact is very unorganized as well as the purchasing method. We assume that the contact form, product display, and purchasing all from the website will be a more efficient and organized way for ERE to function as a business.
Justins Story
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As a busy mechanic who wants to build projects in my spare time, I want to have access to quality parts on secure websites. People who build motorized bicycles, do it in their spare time while working 40 hours a week. It would be nice to find a trustworthy company that has the products I need, especially if the products and/or the site save me time
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COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
Finding competitors was challenging. ERE wasn't aware of anyone else making these products. I discovered through questions and research another business that makes an engine stand similar to what is offered by ERE.
Because of the lack of competition, I questioned if ERE is in a failing market or if they are ahead of the curve?
Pain points for users with this hobby:
-wrestling with a motor while building
-having to mount and remove the motor to make adjustments
-the bike falling over during these mounts and dismounts
-extra motors lying around that could definitely use a stand
How might we help?
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Hobbyists who struggle with:
-wrestling with a motor while building
-having to mount and remove the motor to make adjustments
-the bike falling over during mounts and dismounts
-extra motors lying around that need a stand
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Align that with ERE who struggles with:
-unorganized product information requests
-unorganized product order requests
-lack of payment method
-platform for all these features to live on
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Create a solution for all
Remembering the users product pain points:
-Lack of products that aren't cheap knockoffs
-lack of quality sites to get products from
-lack of knowing the right place to go to get these products
-time wasted just trying to find something, anything they can trust
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Combining it all
How might we align User goals to business goals in order to help ERE with their organizational pain points, in order to make this product available to solve user pain points with their builds
While giving them a place they can trust with resources to find other products they need?
Proposed Solution
Based on everything I had learned, the logical solution was to build an e-commerce web app that made the contact and payment process easy. I wanted to go a step further and include some of the gold I had gathered along the way! While writing the mission statement and the story about the company it was clear that the owner of ERE is determined to make the hobbyist life easier and more connected, and the hobbyist was screaming for help with getting the inside scoop!
Design Evolution
Feature Prioritization
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Ease Of Navigation
Solving for: time
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Contact Form
Solving for: difficulty asking questions
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Testimonials
Solving for: confidence product quality
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Our mission and Story
Solving for: confidence in the company
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Ease of Purchase
Solving for: need.
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Bulk Order Quote Form
Solving for: businesses who need to order products in bulk
MVP
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Home & About Screens
Home screen with hero message, multiple CTAs, and testimonials.
About screen with Mission, Story, Resources
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Product/ Details Pages
Simple product List with clear “See More” option that leads to the details page that includes:
Price, quantity, customization options, add ons, description and spec details
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Multiple Forms for Contact
FAQ with Form dropdown, an information request form, and a Bulk quote request form .
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Authentication Page
This page will evolve into the user being able to login for faster payment options and account info or just checking out as a guest.
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Payment Screen & Confirmation screen
Multiple payment options-for a faster, more secure checkout
Confirmation order number for tracking
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Cart
Standard cart with edit, add and remove options
User Flows
Lo-Fi Wireframes
Mid-Fi Wireframes
Hi-Fi Mockups
Usability Testing
4 participants
All participants were given 7 scenarios and 7 tasks to complete. The tasks test for:
navigation
product details
contact flow
purchase flow
Participants reported
ease of navigation
complete understanding and appreciation of product details
ease of use in the contact flow
appreciation for the simplicity of the purchase flow
To my suprise and delight all participants reported that the structure of the site fit in with their existing mental modal and expectations.
Lessons Learned
-Agile design is the only way to go!
I will stress this consistently. I work best with consistant feedback. I am not a fan of wasting time. I am aware that at any point in a project without consistently getting feedback, the project could go down the wrong path.
-Niche markets are difficult
If I were to go back to the start of this project, I would have given myself more time to submerge myself in this community and learn more about this market. Even though the project continued its evolution, I am not sure that I was able to uncover as much as I would have liked to.
-Test throughout
This is another one of my golden rules! If I wouldn't have tested this design throughout the design evolution, I would have been met with a ton of iterations looming over a deadline.
Next Steps
-Consult with ERE for approval and discuss the timeline for development
-Get project ready for development.
-Meet with the developer, respecting EREs timeline, and determine how we will proceed.
-I will continue do more research and get more of a reach within this community in order to gather more information and insights.