CASE STUDY

Nationwide Redemption Programme
Service Enhancement

BACKGROUND

Singapore rolled out a nationwide digital redemption programme aimed at promoting domestic tourism during the COVID19 pandemic. However, the redemption rate amongst seniors were particularly low.

The organisation wanted to find out the reasons behind the low redemption rates, particularly in terms of the usability of the redemption experience amongst seniors.

MY ROLE

UX Designer

RESEARCH TYPE

Iterative UXR

RESEARCH METHOD

Remote Usability Testing

Stakeholders

Product Owners
Central Authority
5 Travel Portals

Understanding seniors

Identifying the failure points that seniors encounter, understanding the tech and digital literacy of seniors are helpful in informing our next steps.

Under the shroud
of the pandemic

Circumstances surrounding the pandemic did not allow in-person observational studies. We went with Moderated Remote Usability Testings to understand the seniors.

Overcoming challenges

Seniors recruited had varying levels of digital / tech competency and getting them to operate in a video call setting proved to be challenging. Patience and clear visual instructions were required.

UNDERSTANDING

A complex redemption process that involved several instances of context–switching, which the seniors are unfamiliar with, proved to be a daunting experience.

Misleading semantics 

The mental model of "vouchers" amongst seniors referenced heavily from the physical ones, and deviates from how the "voucher codes" functioned, and are time-limited.

Context–switching
between different UX

There were 2 points of context-switching during the entire redemption journey. Compounded with the inconsistent UXUI, and digital competency of seniors, made the entire experience unfavourable for them.

FINDINGS

Seniors sought help
from their children

Participants revealed that they prefer physical transactions and would seek help from their children, their friends or community volunteers.

Some felt negatively
about themselves

The lower competency in operating tech / digital services can have a demoralising effect on seniors. One even mentioned "Am I an idiot for not being able to use this?"

Complex process involving multiple hurdles

The "rings of fire" that seniors have to overcome — context-switching, time limited voucher codes and badly designed UI on partner platforms.

SOLUTION

Seniors favour
in–person assistance

Still a digital process,
but with in-person help

As the existing infrastructure have already been digitalised, in-person help will be introduced to complement the experience.

Digital tool for staff to assist seniors in accessing their citizen details securely

How might we eliminate the input of sensitive details to authenticate the seniors safely and easily?

2 sprints, 2 rounds of user testing
1 functioning app

And a case of the "butter fingers"

The need to "wait" if vouchers
are generated by mistake

Voucher codes last for 10 minutes, and users would be required to wait for it to expire if they want to alter the voucher amount.

During testing, staff mentioned that the original "Submit" button was a hazard for their "butter fingers".

A slide bar to confirm was implemented.

IMPACT

More seniors got to use their vouchers

Redemption rates improved 200%

With the help of the redemption app for use by staff, redemption rates improved by 200% by the end of December 2021.

Heuristics review of
3rd party portals

The usability testing revealed low-effort UI changes that can easily enhance the experience. Better hierarchy and tooltips were recommended to these portals.