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Design an e-commerce app for completely blind people.

Clarifying question :1. User is completely blind.

2. No constraints on the solution in terms of budget, use your creativity to fullest.

3.Is it a improvement or existing product : Take it as product from scratch

  • Related to Product Design
  • For Generalist PM
  Walmart
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Answers (2)

Clarify:

  1. Does the app already exist for non-blind users and this is an extension of the app for blind people accessibility? IVR: No, the blind people app with a completely new app. The business has another app for non-blind users but wants to have a separate app for blind people
  2. Is it fair to assume that blind users do not have a hearing impairment? IVR: Yes
  3. Is it fair to assume that the goal is to acquire blind users to shop and enable engagement and revenue? IVR: Yes
  4. What geography are we targeting? IVR: US
  5. Any specific product categories that I should focus upon? IVR: You decide
Thank you. So the goal is to design an app exclusively for blind people enabling them to shop and thus acquire, engage and generate revenue thru this of user group. As the product needs of a blind person are same as a non-blind person, I am going to focus on all the e-commerce products that the non-blind app entails.
Blind User App Journey:
  1. Goes to app store via siri/google/voice assistant and downloads the app. MVP, I-H,C-M
  2. Opens the app and creates profile thru two way conversation with in-app voice assistant. MVP. I-H, C-H
  3. Discovery: Searched the product thru voice. The assistant reads out the details, specs, price, shipping time, stock availability, optional reminder when in stock. MVP. I-H,C-H
  4. Enable payment options via voice. MVP. I-H, C-H
  5. Confirm order via voice MVP I-H, C-M
  6. push voice notifications for tracking order Later iteration I-L, C-L
  7. Delivery update MVP I-M, C-L
  8. recommended items Later iteration I-M, C-H
  9. contact strategy for uplifting engagement Later iteration I-L, C-H
  10. Bundles/offers/loyalty program Later iteration I-M, C-H
I will focus on the MVP items in the journey for this discussion identified on the basis of impact and cost. Does that sound ok. IVR: Yes
Solutions:
  1. Integration with siri/google assistant to allow the app to download on instruction. MVP. I-H, C-M
  2. Profile creation or continue as guest: in-app voice asks the user if they want to create a profile or if they want to continue as guest. MVP. I-H, C-H
    1. Asks for email/phone-number/name/address to ship (if not audio book) MVP. I-H, C-L
  3. In-app voice enabled search – assistant asks if you want to put any filters such as price, best reviews, brand, color. Assistant reads out the product title, price, description and specs (optional asking the user) MVP. I – H, C-H
    1. Option to save it to their cart and move to next list of products. I – M, C – H
    2. After listening to number of products, user can go listen thru the saved items to choose final product. I – M, C – M
  4. In-app sharing capability as a link with their phone contacts to discuss about the product with friend/family. Later interation. I – L, C – L
  5. Take payment through credit card – user touches their credit card and speaks out the numbers. MVP. I-H, C-L
    1. Add other payment channels enabled thru voice such as Paypal, financing via installment, cash on delivery etc. Later interation. I-M, C-H
    2. Add photo capability of scanning credit card. MVP I – H, C-L
  6. Feedback –
    1. After order, ask user how was their ordering experience MVP I-M, C-L
    2. After delivery, ask user how was their product satisfaction. Later iteration I-M, C-H
  7. Option for more languages: English, Spanish MVP: English only as complex to train voice assistant in order languages
So as part of MVP i will focus on 1,2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 5.0, 5.2, 6.1 selected on the basis on impact and complexity to implement.
Metrics:
  1. Awareness/Activation: This would be mainly through radio/audio/audio blogs ads for blind users and via tv/youtube ads for bind user friends/family who may recommend the app to the blind users
    1. No. of users who downloaded the app – age, sex, location, mobile OS (voice assistant)
    2. #/% of Users who opened the app post download
    3. #/% of Users who created a profile
  2. Engagement
    1. DAU/WAU/MAU
    2. #/% who made at least one order
    3. Discovery
      1. Drop rate during discovery
      2. No of products browsed before dropping/selecting a product
      3. Average time spent in discovery before selecting a product
  3. Revenue
    1. Average # of orders / user
    2. Average cart $ value / user
    3. Total #/$ sales D/W/M
    4. ARPU
    5. LTV/CAC – As the budget would be high on advertising, we need to closely measure it
  4. Retention
    1. % of Repeat purchases by users
    2. Customer satisfaction score – CES
I would focus on No. of downloaded, Total orders as primary metrics and Customer Effective score, average time spent on app as secondary metrics.
Risks:
  1. Voice assistant may not understand accent of different English speakers. Cannot mitigate and will have to improve the assistant
  2. Product not searched or described properly by assistant leading to wrong product order. Same issue can occur with shipping address and customer details.
  3. Payment information sharing by voice may lead other unknown people nearly to hear it and misuse. MFA can be implemented without showing message details on the app screen and it directly reads from messages.
We started with the goal of creating an e-commerce app for blind people focusing on activation, engagement and revenue. I focus on key elements in the user journey and then selected solutions based on impact and complexity for the MVP. I focused on # of downloads and total orders as primary metrics for the app.
Before jumping into the question, I would like to describe my flow and would then proceed with solving it. Initially, I’ll clarify the doubts I have and then will go about thinking about different users and the needs they have and brainstorm for solutions. Post this; I’ll try to prioritize one solution and list out the success metrics I’ll look for.
Clarifying question :

1. The user is entirely blind.

2. No constraints on the solution in terms of budget, use your creativity to fullest.

3. Is it an improvement to an existing product or a new one: Take it as a product from scratch.

4. does the user has any other difficulty/ disability? No.
User Segments:
As it is already mentioned in the question, the user segment to be focussed on is people who are blind. Though our main segment is blind, we must think about the person who’ll be with our primary personas like their caretaker, parents, friends, or spouse. These might not have any disability.
Thus, the app so designed should be user friendly to both the leading segment and as well as their companions who are not blind.
User Journey:
1. As a user of an e-commerce app, I use it to buy things that are necessary for me or to gift something to my friend. Basically I use the app when I want to order something.
2. I’ll open the app, search for what I would like to buy.
3. Of all those listed options, I’ll choose one depending on its price, reviews, and ratings.
4. Then, I would like to have an easy way to pay for what I have ordered.
5. Finally, I will like to use the app to get to know what is the status of my order- Confirmation, Delivery time approx., etc.
Since the whole usage of the phone depends on one’s visibility sense, The blind will have a big difficult time going through every one of the steps.
Prioritizing:
Every smartphone of the present generation has an assistant to open apps using the voice command of the user. Thus, I don’t see any difficulty that our customers will face in opening our app.
Then considering the Searching pain point – the impact is low and the complexity involved is normal.
While, for the 3rd point though the complexity is pretty high, the impact is as well High. This is where all the blind people face their difficulty.
For both 4 and 5, the impact is low, while the complexity involved is high considering how secure the gateway should be for a payment channel.
Due to the time constraint and considering the impact it has and the complexity involved, of the above 5 points, I would like to prioritize 3 over the rest.
Solution:
1. With this sharing economy all over, Like pooling a cab, renting vehicles, How about a person to look after what you need and help you throughout the journey.
   Basically, the app along with a search option will have a chatbox, which will be attended by a representative from the company who will attend to the user’s request and then will confirm their order.
Pros and Cons: Due to the involvement of a human on the other side, the customer will have a wonderful journey with whom they can talk and listen to get to know about the options. The usage of a bot instead of a human will be prone to errors as it might not recommend the user properly. However, as the app grows the need to grow the representatives will be exponential and it’ll be a huge burden for the company.
2. An internal Voice assistant that shares through the phone speakers.
 The voice assistant can be started with a keyword like “Hey [App’s Name]”. Which then prompts the user to speak what they want to do. With the received input, the app shows up the result and then will prompt the user to enter any selection criteria that they want to include. With this result then the user will be asked whether he wants to listen to the reviews or wants to confirm the order.
Pros and Cons: The user will be guided through his whole journey with the help of the voice assistant will make their journey comfortable. However, the output from the device being through the speaker will make the person using the device and the person accompanying the blind person uncomfortable. There might be even a few users who don’t like others to know about their disability. This feature will disturb both the categories as they can’t use the app wherever they want due to the audio.
3. Producing a smart glass that blind people can use along with the app.
   Since blind people always have a glass with them, we can build a smart glass that has a small speaker right next to the user’s ears and also connects with the app. So basically this idea works the same way as the before one with just a small change- the output is heard through the speaker in the glass.
Pros and Cons: Since the product eliminates every bit of uncomfortable that a user might face as well as the person accompanying them, it’ll be easy for the user to use it anywhere and everywhere. Cons is that building a smart glass will be a bit difficult initially as this space might not be well known to the company.
I would like to prioritize the solution with the above-listed pros and cons and as well as the impact that it’ll have. Solution 3 seems to have a huge impact amidst the difficulty it has. So, I would like to go with the Solution 3.
Success Metrics:
Acquisition
  • # of Downloads of the app
  • # of Glasses sold
Retention
  • Daily active users
  • # Searches per day
  • # of new carts made per user
  • # of closing of carts without buying
Revenue
  • # of Sales per user.