PetSmart App
Redesign
THE PROJECT
Company History
Founded in 1987, PetSmart started as a Pet Food Warehouse where people could bring their pets and buy food for discounted prices. Today PetSmart offers services such as grooming, boarding, as well as partnering with Banfield Hospital and other local Vet clinicians to provide all in one care for pet owner's needs.
Objective
Our objective was to analyze the existing mobile app, design a medical service section, and integrate the improvements to simplify appointment scheduling, access to pet's medical records, and streamline the appointment process for both pet owners and vet staff.​
TIMELINE
August 2023
(2 weeks)
THE TEAM
Project Manager: Jessalyn Westfall
UI Design:
Shiara Ivens
UX Researcher:
Shannon Austin
Project Type
Speculative
THE PROBLEM
Design a comprehensive medical service app that solves both pet owners' and veterinary staff's frustrations while integrating seamlessly with PetSmart's pre-existing app.
The Primary needs we discovered from pet owners and vet staff were:
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Pet owners need access to medical records for emergencies
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Pet owners need clear categories to choose from when scheduling appointments
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Vet Staff need to access vital patient information for pre appointment prep
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Vet staff need clients to be able to write their questions/concerns before appointments to help prep
THE SOLUTION
Clear and constant communication between pet owners and vet staff
As a pet owner and former Veterinary Technician, I can relate to how frustrating it is not to have access to my pets' medical records in case of emergencies, or the amount of unplanned appointment delays and frustration that comes from Vet Staff not being properly informed of changes to appointments or questions an owner may have. To eliminate these frustrations, we designed:
Pet ID Tags
Pet owners will have access to and be able to download medical records and treatment notes for each pet in case of emergencies.
Communication
Pet owners and employees will be able to communicate via messaging, chat, and telehealth without having to visit the clinic freeing up appointment times and clinic space.
Intergration
Clients and employees will still have access to PetSmart's current features through seamless integration, maintaining the brand and user experiance.
Scheduling
Pet owners are able to schedule online and choose the appropriate appointment type, receive reminders, and write in concerns and questions prior to appointments.
BREAKING DOWN THE PROCESS
Getting to the root of pet owner's and vet staff's concerns
As the lead Researcher on this project, I focused on getting interviews from three vet techs with at least 5 years of experience. Some of the questions I asked to determine insights into the Technicians process were:
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What are the key features you use when charting for your patients?
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Walk me through your information gathering process before you see a patient?
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How can we streamline the sign in process for appointments?
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What steps do you take as a technician to keep appts running on time?
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While I worked on gathering qualitative data from the employee side, my teammates took on the tasks of interviewing six pet owners about their experiences with the current PetSmart app as well as their veterinary care experiences.
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MAJOR LEARNINGS and CALL OUT POINTS
Theme: Clarity
"I want to be able to easily schedule my pet’s appointments online so I know exactly what services my pet will be receiving before the appt."
Theme: Easy Access
"I want easy access to my pets records so that I'm ready for any possible situation.
Theme: Preparation
I want to be able to access my patients previous history and important alerts quickly so that I can be better prepared for my next appointment.
Theme: Clarity/Preperation
"I wish clients had a way of sending us questions directly before appointments. Sometimes they forget till the last minute, and then that can add twenty minutes to an appointment."
Pet Owner's usage of the current app was less than 50%
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5/12 interviewees use services like Chewy instead of PetSmart because of having difficulty with using the app.
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40% surveyed would not use PetSmart vet services (no direct connection to Banfield app)
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35% of Vet Techs leave the field within 10 years
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39% Compassion Burnout
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25% Corporate Practices
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22% Management
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7% Technology Advancements
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Average price to train a new employee: $10,000
Average time for new employee to be trained: 3-6 months
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ANALYZING THE COMPETITION
What we do right, and what can we develop to be better?
Analysis of some of our main competitors showed us areas where we could leverage iterations to retain our vet staff and reduce the costly effects of turnovers, as well as increase our pet owner traffic to PetSmart clinics and retain them as clients.​
Takeaways
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Most clinics used third party hosting for patient charts, making it difficult for users to find.
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While other companies allowed for online scheduling, PetSmart clients had to switch to Banfield's separate app to make appointments. This is where we saw major drop offs and frustrations from our users.
UNDERSTANDING THE USERS
Getting to the root of our pet owner's and vet staff's concerns
After gathering our research, my and developed two User Personas to better narrow down our most essential needs for both pet owners and vet staff.
I then drew up two storyboards for both to identify the most optimal paths for both to succeed in our designs.
Pet Owner
Vet Tech
DESIGN
Creating a Functional CRM (customer relationship management) system that allows vet staff to anticipate and prepare as well as reduce time constraints
As a former technician, I volunteered to develop the employee facing side of the app. I analyzed some of the other online charting software's used by vet clinics as well as MyChart, a human based medical charting system.
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Utilizing these designs, as well as my users' frustrations from my interviews, I immersed myself in our Technician Persona, Indhira, to develop layouts and workflows that would best serve Indhira and make the most of her workday.
As most technicians will tell you, a stressed out pet can cause so many delays during the treatment process. For this purpose, I designed a workflow that would allow vet staff to add alerts for cautionary behavior, allergies and any positive items that may help relieve the pets, and by proxy, owners and technicians, stress.(ex: peanut butter)
Testing
and Iterations
Based on two rounds of testing and feedback from 5 veterinary technicians, I made iterations over the a span of three days and focused on three major areas to improve the design:
Step 1: Alert Pop up When Entering Chart
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Based on usability feedback, Techs felt it was beneficial for prep to alert vet staff of important allergies, cautions, or ways to reduce stress of the visit.
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Quick prep and better anticipation for vet staff reduces stress on burnt out techs, and unnecessary delays during appointments.
Step 2: Color Code by Appointment Type​
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Techs felt it was beneficial for prep; knowing the color associated with the type of appointment allows staff to know what items may be needed in advance.
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Using colors associated with PetSmart's' current site helps make the new features easier to integrate for a cohesive user experience.
Step 3: Clarity and Communication​
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Techs expressed the vital importance of clarity and dialog between owners and the vet staff. They wanted a way to directly message patients and have access to their replies without having to sign into their email.
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By giving the staff and clients more ways to communicate, we can build pet owners confidence in the treatment being given and reduce frustrations of our technicians.
Style Guide
Colors
Typography
Icons
Logo
Components
LESSONS LEARNED
Valuable takeaways from my Teammates and future Opportunities
As this was my first team project, I gained a lot of insight to others information gathering process and I feel some of these tools will be very helpful in my future to implement.
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Takeaways
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Using a more conversational approach when interviewing allowed for better insight to technicians true frustrations and highlighted unexpected areas of opportunity.
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Iterate Iterate Iterate Don't' be afraid to start over from scratch if your designs are not serving their purpose. The goal is a functioning prototype that fits the user's needs, not your comfort levels.
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Open Communication Working in a new team can be stressful, especially if your methods don't align with one another. Daily stand ups and initial planning for the project go a long way to clearing up misunderstandings. be patient, empathize with your team as well as your user.
Opportunities
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Improve Accessibility We live in a world populated with people from all walks of life. Someone's differences should not mean that their access to quality healthcare for their pets should suffer.
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Improve Employee Retention As we discussed in the research, burnout, lack of technology improvements, and archaic management practices made up 71% of the reasons Vet Techs left their practices. By Implementing this system and new management practices we have the potential to eliminate a large margin if not all of these frustrations. When talking to our Vet Staff after testing, all shared positive outlooks as to how this new system could ease their stress and workload.
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Additional Support We can go further. By partnering with a mental telehealth cooperation, we can add links directly to the employee portal to give our employees better care and prevent compassion fatigue.
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Exploring the Future We helped reduce traffic and open communication through our telehealth appointments and better access to messaging and submitting concerns. But what about AI? By adding a chat system that helps organize questions and concerns from pet owners, we can help clients receive answers more timely and free up Vet Staff for more urgent needs.
Thank you for reading!
For more inquiries or questions,
Email me at: shannon@austinintuitivedesign.com or call me at 254-319-4794
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