User research and strategy
bud.com
Now that recreational cannabis is legal in california, what do new and veteran cannabis consumers expect from a delivery service?
bud.com is a newly launched recreational cannabis delivery platform serving certain parts of Northern California. Through their website, users 21+ can order cannabis products and schedule a delivery within a 2-hour window.
What is bud.com?
January 1,2018 recreational cannabis is legalized
Legalized Cannabis
Challenge
Who is bud.com's target audience?
As the delivery market evolves to accommodate the sale of recreational cannabis, how might we assist bud.com by becoming conscious of their users' needs? Our role was to conduct significant user research to better understand potential customers and their journeys leading to using bud.com's services.
Project Brief Overview
bud.com is a newly launched recreational cannabis delivery platform serving certain parts of Northern California. Although they do not exactly know who their target market is. bud.com needs extensive user reseach and strategy to launch to the correct audience.
Project Synopsis
Role
Designer in a team of 3 members
- Design strategy
- Concept development
- Research
- Testing
Duration + Tools
2 Weeks
- Sketch app
- Post its
- White board
- Hand sketches
Method
- Drafted a 3-part survey to gather information on consumer patterns and demographics.
- Synthesized quantitative and qualitative data from 100+ users.
- Moderated contextual inquiry sessions and in-person interviews with 16 users.
- Conducted a heuristic evaluation of bud.com's responsive website.
- Discovered bud.com's target audience and drafted in-depth user journeys to address their pain points and motivations.
- Delivered interface recommendations to increase engagement, conversion rates, and adhere to e-commerce best practices.
- Communicated findings with the client early and often, packaged and presented deliverables to hand off.
Problem Definition
With the legalization of recreational cannabis forming a new landscape for the industry, bud.com needs insight into its user base, both experienced and novice, and the industry itself as it evolves to reflect the changing climate.
How might we assist bud.com in navigating the uncharted territory of recreational cannabis delivery by becoming conscious of their users needs?
Problem Statement
Problem + Goals + Needs
Business Problem
The goals of the business is to have a online presence so customers are able to make purchases for a seamless delivery experience.
Brand Problem
The goals of the brand is to stand out from the competitor Ease.
User Problem
The goals of the user is to have a good understanding of the newly legalization of cannabis and what products to purchase.
Extensive user research revealed 4 main consumer types.
Through research, we painted a holistic picture of each user type in order to cultivate a sense of empathy for their frustrations and desires. Our client was able to take these insights and use them to provide a more accessible and satisfactory experience on bud.com.
Solution Overview
The 4 Types Of Consumers
The Convenience
The Conscious
The New
The Delivery Driver
Hypothesis #1
During our initial research, we hypothesized that bud.com's audience was comprised of the following user segments:
- "Experienced" consumers (daily, weekly)
- "Occasional" consumers (monthly, yearly)
- "New-to-cannabis" consumers
Hypothesis #2
After conducting follow up interviews, I revised the user segments to the following:
- "Convenience" consumers
- "Conscious" consumers
- "New-to-cannabis" consumers
Company Brand Research
Current cannabis landscape.
In addition to discovering bud.com's target audience, we also evaluated their responsive website based on contextual inquiry sessions and heuristics. In total, we evaluated 15+ web pages and annotated many functionalities on bud.com's site. The majority of our notes addressed the integration of e-commerce best practices to promote easier shopping and checkout. As of now, bud.com has already implemented some of our suggested changes.
Current Website Analysis + Annotations
bud.com's only cannabis delivery competitor is Ease.
Competitive Analysis
Pros
- Quick delivery
- Feels professional
- Sales and promos
- The website softens
- the tone through color, visuals, and appealing verbs (eg. marijuana instead of weed)
Cons
- Only medical cannabis
- Can only order one
- thing at a time
- Not personal
- Not always best quality when you get it (eg. the flower)
- Limited selection
- Card transactions are problematic
What users said about Eaze
- Quick delivery
- Feels professional
- Sales and promos
- Site content makes cannabis feel normalized
- Impersonal
- Can only buy 1 of each item
- Not the best quality
We completed a competitive audit of several delivery platforms including Eaze, bud.com's main competitor. Conducting competitive research allowed us to identify both areas of improvement and opportunity for bud.com.
Competing Delivery Platforms
Competing Delivery Platforms Analysis
Patterns to emulate from common platforms:
- Real-time tracking
- Confirmation
- Advanced tipping
- No hassle payment
- Order history
- Quick delivery
- Use of iconography
Process
- Drafted a 3-part survey to gather information on consumer patterns and demographics.
- Synthesized quantitative and qualitative data from 100+ users.
- Moderated contextual inquiry sessions and in-person interviews with 16 users.
- Conducted a heuristic evaluation of bud.com's responsive website.
- Discovered bud.com's target audience and drafted in-depth user journeys to address their pain points and motivations.
- Delivered interface recommendations to increase engagement, conversion rates, and adhere to e-commerce best practices.
- Communicated findings with the client early and often, packaged and presented deliverables to hand off.
Design Process Overview
Surveys
100+ participants
- Drafted two online surveys to gather data from seasoned cannabis consumers and folks interested in trying it.
- Covered demographics and cannabis-related preferences.
Interviews
10 participants
- Followed up with 10 users to better understand their delivery preferences and cannabis habits.
- Conducted contextual inquiry sessions to note first impressions on bud.com's interface.
Guerrilla Testing
7 participants
- Taking to the streets, we chatted with tourists and people of all backgrounds in order to gauge their thoughts on the new recreational marijuana landscape.
ICBC 2018
1-day conference
- At the International Cannabis Business Conference, we talked to vendors, industry experts, and journalists to gather insights on cannabis commerce and the multitude of products now available to the public.
Over 100 users filled out our surveys, yielding 3,000+ insights to investigate. We also accumulated 5 hours of interview recordings and dozens of notes from guerrilla testing and the conference. Utilizing affinity diagramming, we mapped out significant patterns in our research data.
Synthesis
In interviews, it became clear that the way users saw cannabis fitting in with their lifestyle, not how often they consumed it was what truly defined them.
User Research
The 4 Types Of Consumers
The Convenience Consumer
Convenience consumers like Erik simply want cannabis delivery to fit into their day-to-day schedule with no fuss. Convenience consumers:
- Want the ability to track orders in real-time and see past purchases.
- Want the ability to browse deals and special offers.
- Want quick delivery with minimal effort to order.
- Enjoy brands and products that are uncomplicated, discreet, and conducive to a busy lifestyle.
- Tend to vape during the week but might enjoy an extra edible on the weekend.
- Consume cannabis to relax alone or with a small group of friends.
Conscious consumers like Nora approach cannabis with a wellness mindset. They take time to read about products and notice details like packaging and branding. Conscious consumers:
- Want to feel that shopping on bud.com is a boutique experience.
- Want to read reviews.
- Want to save address and payment details ahead of time in order to checkout quickly on subsequent orders.
- Want loyalty perks and to feel like the bud.com experience is curated to their tastes.
- Care that delivery driver is professional and not under the influence.
- Enjoy discreet and ready-to-go methods of intake such as prerolls and vapes.
- Consume cannabis for activities like yoga, or to alter their perception after a long day.
The Conscious Consumer
New-to-cannabis consumers like Chris are ready to try cannabis now that it is recreationally legal in California. New consumers:
- Want education on bud.com's website about cannabis terminology, products, and effects.
- Want reassurance that their information will be secure and private.
- Want recommendations on where to start—they do not want to feel paranoid.
- Are interested in CBD edibles, prerolls, and methods of intake that are not necessarily inhalation-based.
- Are interested in consuming cannabis to quell mild anxiety, get better sleep, and enhance mood.
The New Consumer
We also considered the delivery driver, though they are not directly managed by bud.com. Delivery drivers like Ronni:
- Enjoy working flexible hours and the fact that their wage is consistent and not dependent on the number of deliveries they complete (like Lyft or Uber).
- Want to ensure that the delivery route is as streamlined as possible.
The Delivery Driver
History Of Cannabis and User Journey
We also offered bud.com a high-level overview of some UI and add-on concepts to integrate into their experience based on suggestions from users:
Interface Recommendations
Domino's Pizza Tracker
Tracking progress interface that does not compromise the discretion and safety of the delivery driver, but still gives the user the satisfaction of knowing when they can expect their delivery.
TryChemistry
Beautiful above-the-fold hero imagery that gives users a sense of the brand before landing into the product spread.
Wellness iconography
Utilizing symbols to connote different benefits of a given cannabis product.
Instacart coupons
Incentivize users with coupons or gifts.
Lyft "how it works" iconography
Using illustrations to show how the process works.
Graze snack box
Many users expressed interest in healthy snacks as an add-on. Graze boxes are subscription based and also feature packaging that is discreet on the outside, and delightful on the inside (not to mention recyclable).
Conducting research for an industry that evolves daily was truly exciting. In addition to speaking to many consumers about their relationships with cannabis, I learned an immense amount about the marijuana business landscape and the variety of players involved. Additionally, it was both challenging and rewarding to design within the confines of compliance laws, which set forth certain guidelines for the sale of cannabis on e-commerce platforms.
- Created 3 user personas to use for future design frameworks on bud.com.
- Delivered interface recommendations to create easier navigation and checkout channels.
Results + Reflections
Next Steps Of Future Features Based On User Research.
- Mobile app
- Real-time tracking
- Interface visuals