Project Length
1 Month
Team Size
4 UX Designers
My Roles
UX Designer

Background

The Rover app connects pet owners with freelance pet sitters, addressing the challenge of pet care when schedules are tight or support is limited. This project aims to enhance Rover's rating system, offering a more accurate platform for evaluating pet sitters and enabling pet owners to find reliable sitters more efficiently.

Problem Statement

The current review system relies solely on 1 to 5-star ratings and full-text comments from pet owners on pet sitters' pages. This setup fails to fully reflect pet sitters' performance and discourages owners from leaving reviews, complicating the process of identifying suitable sitters.

Outcome

Introduced various metrics into Rover's original rating system to better evaluate pet sitters. Extracted these metrics as keywords for search page classification, aiding in quickly finding suitable sitters. Additionally, implemented instant feedback on split tasks, enabling real-time pet monitoring and clear guidance. For those opting to skip the rating system, provided a brief yet interactive questionnaire.

Design Solution

What is Rover

Rover is a popular online platform that connects pet owners with pet care services, including dog walking, pet sitting, and boarding. The platform allows pet owners to find and book trusted pet care services in their area. Pet owners can search for local caregivers, read reviews, and schedule services through Rover's website or mobile app.



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Research Process

Secondary research & Primary research helped me learn about the background knowledge about Rover and other pet sitting services.
Interview both pet sitter and pet owners to identify the specific challenges that users encounter when using Rover.Affinity diagram & Mental model analysis gave me a clearer understanding of the collected data, enabling me to draw well-informed conclusions.

Problem Statement

Rover allows pet owners to leave reviews and ratings after a service has been completed. However, the existing Rover rating system lacks clarity and specificity, leaving pet sitters and owners unable to grasp their performance nuances.

As shown in the image, the current review system only provides a rating score from 1 to 5 stars, along with the full-text content of comments left by various owners on each pet sitter's page. The blank field for the full-text comments not only fails to comprehensively display the performance of pet sitters but also makes pet owners reluctant to leave reviews after the service ends.

Whether due to lacking reviews or lengthy comments, this rating system makes it difficult for pet owners to identify acceptable pet sitters during the subsequent matching process.

Design Opportunities

Rating System

A single blank field leads users to skip it as they are hesitant about open-ended questions or feel the provided content may not fully convey the situation.

Review Page

The current interface only displays a 5-star rating and a large amount of text-based comments. However, users prefer to have organized information.

Communication

Pet owners prefer instant feedback for their pets' well-being. Pet sitters also wish to have a way to prove they have fulfilled their responsibilities.

Through interviews, the key qualities that hold the most importance for pet owners and pet sitters are identified.

User Flow

Design Sketches

After conducting research and mapping out the user flow, my team and I held multiple sketch sessions to brainstorm ideas and eventually synthesized three key features for improvement.
Keyword-Driven
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The rating page provides different criteria for pet owners to rate pet sitters based on various aspects. The idea was to display these criteria on the pet sitter search page according to word frequency, allowing users to clearly see each pet sitter's strengths at a glance.
Simplified Feedback System
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For users who had a positive experience but may not feel compelled to leave a full review, or for those short on time, it offers a simplified feedback flow with brief questions to keep the rating process quick yet interactive.
Simplified Feedback System
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For users who had a positive experience but may not feel compelled to leave a full review, or for those short on time, it offers a simplified feedback flow with brief questions to keep the rating process quick yet interactive.
Instant Communication
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Provides a real-time feedback function throughout each task to benefit both pet owners and sitters. This allows owners to monitor their pet's status in real time, while sitters receive clear directions as situations develop.
After pinpointing three key areas for improvement, I created various design elements tailored to these directions, including two distinct rating icons, two different page-turning modes, and other charts to help showcase the pet sitter's characteristics.

Usability Testing

As multiple strategies were developed for a single feature, including different interfaces, interactions, and solutions, I conducted usability testing to identify the option preferred by users. The goal was to have users assess and compare different designs or solutions to determine which one worked better for them and aligned more with their needs.
Based on the feedback I made the following main improvements:

‍Remain 5-star Rating System
‍I offered multiple evaluation forms, yet users still chose the five-star rating system because it was the most intuitive and widely recognized for them.
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‍Quick Reply in Instant Feedback
‍Users prefer Quick Reply options, such as emojis or predefined messages like 'Oops!' and 'Thank you!,' which can save them time. These options were later included in the instant feedback section.
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‍Combine the Card-Swiping with Rating
‍I compared the traditional page-turning mode with the interactive card-swiping interaction and opted for the latter because users find it more engaging and interactive.

‍Using Pop-Ups
‍In the quick review section, users are satisfied about the  pop-up format which indicate to them that this is a brief process. They also mentioned that displaying the number of questions (1/3 to 3/3) effectively helped reduce their impatience.

‍Remove Redundant Part
‍I eliminated some elements from the previous design, such as the trend chart and the history of improvements for pet sitters, as users did not pay much attention to them.

My Next Step...

Looking ahead, my focus will be on developing a two-way rating system. This new feature will enable both pet owners and pet sitters to assess each other, which is essential for ensuring a safe and respectful environment.

It's crucial that sitters are informed about the owner's and the pet's condition to ensure they work under safe conditions. Transparency in this process is equally important to foster trust and balance in the rating system, further enhancing the overall user experience on Rover.
©SYLVIA TSAI 2024.
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