How do I order coffee?
How can a simple question cause so
much trouble?
The Problem
As a working mom and full-time student, this project was exciting because it brought together two of my passions, UX and COFFEE! Our task was to evaluate the current website and find ways to improve its usability.
Dutch Bros is a chain coffee shop growing rapidly and puts its customers at the center of the business. As stated by the company, “We may sell coffee, but we’re in the relationship business. Whether we’re slinging drinks or serving smiles, Dutch Bros is all about you!” With a statement like that, having a user-centered website is crucial.
Research Goals
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Define primary user personas for Dutch Bros website.
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Identify current pain points for customers in the online process.
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Guage user interest in and prioritize potential features for the Dutch Bros website.
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Define the primary reason users visit the Dutch Bros website.
Survey
Before diving into the project, it was essential to understand the user. I created a user survey containing questions about customers’ demographics and coffee-purchasing habits. This survey focused on understanding the customer segmentation, usage, and attitudes regarding the Dutch Bros website.
User Personas
I analyzed the surveyed participants’ results, mining commonalities to make data-driven user personas. The personas played a crucial role in the design process for this project and were often referenced during team meetings to make validated design decisions.
The Heuristic Evaluation
Based on the goal of improving the usability of the current site, I chose to conduct a heuristic evaluation using the UserFocus246 spreadsheet. The heuristic evaluation allowed our team to identify deficiencies in the current design and areas to improve the user interface. We leveraged the information and found several opportunities to improve the ordering experience and reduce “time-to-purchase” on the Dutch Bros website.
User Testing
There’s an old saying, “don’t fix something thats not broken.”
we wanted to conduct usability tests driven by the findings in our heuristic evaluation and align the findings before making design decisions.
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The primary problems found during the heuristic evaluations were: shopping, using gift cards, menu, and finding locations. Based on these findings, I wanted to test three different user scenarios.
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​I conducted 6 usability tests, each with 3 scenarios and 2 tasks. The findings indicated that users struggled with finding menu items, store locations, and gift cards. Post-interview conversations also indicated that users would benefit from an option to order online, which was not currently available. With these insights, our team strategized an action plan to guide the redesign.
Prototype
Using the data insights from the usability research, I created high-fidelity mock-ups to test for the redesign and added annotations for the team to review. Something that explicitly stood out to me was how the heuristic evaluation played a part in improving the home page. When a logged-in user lands on the home page, I provided a button that allows them to purchase their previous order quickly. I found during testing that most coffee drinkers don’t stray from the usual and are likely to re-order the exact same coffee each time, saving them valuable time. This felt like an “aha” moment.
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Playing designer for the first time, I found it exciting to think through the users’ interactions to make the navigation more intuitive and create a user-friendly menu.
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While Dutch Bros hasn’t implemented the opportunities I found to improve their website, I believe the findings my team and I found are valuable and have the potential to increase sales and provide a superior customer experience.
