Anglicare Op Shop – Onboarding Experience
Team
Vivian Sek – UX/UI designer
James Rendall – UX/UI designer
Elisabeth Burke – UX/UI designer
Jeremy Luo – UX/UI designer
Keegan Nair – UX/UI designer
UX Techniques used
User Interview
Competitor analysis
Affinity Mapping
Persona
Customer Journey
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Project Type
iPadOS
Tools
Miro
Figma
Slack
Trello
Google Suite
Key Summary
Anglicare Sydney approached us to develop a solution to simplify their current Op Shop volunteer onboarding process and create meaningful experiences in their journey.
My role
I was part of this design project with four UX/UI designers and I was responsible for the UI design of the iPad application and ensuring that all processes were aligned to design principles, and was a key driver of the UX process throughout the project.
- Note-taking for six 1 on 1 interviews
- Synthesised data and created affinity map
- Proposed ideation workshop techniques
- Created user flow, wireframe and hi-fi prototype
- Conducted Usability testing
- Presented Prototype
Team
Vivian Sek – UX/UI designer
James Rendall – UX/UI designer
Elisabeth Burke – UX/UI designer
Jeremy Luo – UX/UI designer
Keegan Nair – UX/UI designer
UX Techniques used
User Interview
Competitor analysis
Affinity Mapping
Persona
Customer Journey
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Project Type
iPadOS
Tools
Miro
Figma
Slack
Trello
Google Suite
Project Overview
Project Timeline
3 weeks
Client
Our client, Anglicare Op Shop, has 25 locations across New South Wales. Anglicare Op Shops have been assisting local communities since 1965. They work with local churches and communities to provide high-quality recycled goods, showing love to over 700,000 consumers, and providing individuals in need with various services.
Scope
The scope of this project is to develop a solution that provides a new user experience for volunteers when they show interest in becoming volunteers with Anglicare Op shops. This also involves how they are communicated with throughout the process and the journey of that process.
The Solution
Our design team observed that volunteers need to fill out a 16-page paper and an excessive quantity of mandatory checks before they become a volunteer. Due to the onerous onboarding process, many potential volunteers never return or submit their application form after showing interest or collecting the form from the Op shop.
As a result, we developed a whole new onboarding experience for Anglicare Op Shop Volunteers utilising an iPad application specifically built for the onboarding process. This iPad application will be used by store managers to help Anglicare provide a consistent sign-up procedure, reduce applicant drop-off points, and maintain a high level of enthusiasm throughout the onboarding process.
Expression of Interest Form
When a potential volunteer walks into one of the Anglicare Op Shops, volunteer staff and managers are able to assist them to fill out the expression of interest form and watch the introduction video in a different language and subtitles. A new profile will be created in the customer relationship management (CRM) system once they have submitted the expression of interest form. Applicants will then receive a follow up from the Anglicare Volunteer department.
Manager Access
Managers and authorised staff will have access to the onboarding page, which will allows them to scan, combine, and submit paper documents to the CRM system, as well as fill out and submit the digital form with the applicants, and track the status of their applications.
Scanning Feature
The manager and authorise staff can use the iPad to scan the applicant’s paper document, consolidate all of the scans, and identify the documents. The documents can then be uploaded to the CRM system.
Digital Form
A digital form is also available for applicants to fill out and apply for mandatory checks whilst they are in-store with the manager. The manager is able to create a new application or continue and revise any uncompleted applications.
Accessibility
The setting menu allows users to modify different accessibility options such as language and font resizing.
Design Process
Discover
Problem Statement
“An individual who is indecisive about volunteering at Anglicare Op shops, loses motivation due to a lengthy and inefficient onboarding process. A fast and personal onboarding means that volunteers feel part of the community sooner, and are more likely to stay on as a volunteer.”
Research Method
Once we established the problem statement, we moved on to choosing the best research techniques to uncover any insight that could further our understanding.
4
In-store visit
11
Formal interview
12
Competitor Analysis
8
Contextual Interviews
5
Desktop & journal Research
Formal Interview
In order to further understand the current onboarding process, we conducted over 11 interviews via zoom with Anglicare internal staff and volunteers to get some valuable insights. This research method was imperative to grasp the culture and day to day workings of the not-for-profit as well as provided some useful information to us in the early stage of this project.
3 Volunteer Coordinators
2 Volunteers
1 Op Shop Marketer
1 Customer Call Centre operator
2 Volunteers
2 Shop Managers
Contextual Interviews &
In-store
Despite the fact that speaking with interviewees via Zoom could help us better understand the onboarding process, our team decided to go into the various stores to start a conversation with the volunteers and managers to get the most organic responses. In this contextual interview, we were able to learn what the manager and the volunteers are trying to do and understand what was and wasn’t working for them during their onboarding process, and we were also able to grasp their frustrations and pain points.
Volunteers
The volunteers were generally retirees or recent immigrants who live in the neighbourhood. The majority of them volunteer because they know someone in the organisation and have social links in the neighbourhood. They joined the Anglicare Op shop because they want to help others, socialise, and treat their job as part time. We also discovered that the volunteers are unfamiliar with modern-day technology like smartphones and computers.
Initial Volunteer Contact
Anglicare website & external website
Anglicare did not have any job posts regarding volunteering in the Op Shop, despite having a job posting board on their website. An interview with the Volunteer Coordinator revealed that the job recruitment platform “Seek”, has a low application rate and relies on someone to contact potential volunteers in order to progress with the application.
Customer Call Centre (CCC)
During the interview with the call centre manager from Anglicare, he stated that the number of people calling to volunteer in the Op Shop is extremely low. If anyone shows interest in volunteering, the call is usually forwarded to the volunteer coordinator and rarely progresses.
In-store
According to the interview, the majority of the current volunteers applied in-store after they have shown interest. The main frustration is they were asked to fill out and return a 16-page application booklet, along with a police check and other legal check documents before becoming an Op Shop volunteer. This is where the motivation drops due to the unfamiliar and complicated sign-up process for volunteers and the lack of check-ups from the coordinators and manager.
Op Shop Manager
Given the lack of technical hardware in-store, when potential volunteers return and submit their documents, the Op shop manager will double-check all of the documents before physically mailing them back to the Anglicare department. Volunteers are more likely to return to the store with their application booklet several times to consult with the manager before submitting it. Due to the high volume of work that the manager is responsible for in the store, the Volunteer Coordinator will assess the volunteer application once they have received the application booklet and have updated the manager. Hence, the rapid back-and-forth of emails and calls between the manager and volunteer coordinator during the volunteer onboarding process has become the main pain point for managers.
During our contextual interview in a few stores, we discovered that managers tend to hand out the booklet and told us to return it to the store once we’ve completed it. They did not provide any detailed instructions or tell us who to contact if we need assistance.
Define
Affinity Map
In order to organise the large amounts of data into groups and create an overview, I worked with one designer on our team to synthesise the research data gathered from the survey responses and user interviews. We used Affinity Mapping to open sort the data and group them into categories.
Research Insight
Through the research data, a number of key research insights were discovered:
Key pain points
- The website lacks information about what op shop volunteering entails and details, as well as op volunteer postings on the job board.
- Volunteer retention is low, due to Covid-19 it is making difficult to recruit new volunteers.
- Volunteers loved the sense of community that the in-store experience offered them, as they could personally connect with other volunteers and their store manager.
- Percussion comes from the manager when potential volunteers show interest.
- Due to the current law, potential volunteers are being held back by a lengthy application form and process.
- Managers always check on applicants’ form before physically mailing them back to the volunteer department.
- Poor communication between the manager and volunteer coordinator has slowed the onboarding process.
- Struggling to fill out the form due to the language barrier and lack of literal skills.
- Stores size are small and lacking technical hardware.
Persona & Customer Journey
Our team created a personas of a fictional users, Sarah and Jelena, based on our user interviews. Our interviews proved useful information in our check-in presentation with Anglicare as a way to paint a clear picture of the typical user and their characteristics and motivation, as well as highlighting their current pain points.
Develop
Reframing the problem
After considering our research findings, we went ahead and refined our initial problem statement and breaking into three how might we statement.
1. How might we structure the onboarding process for volunteering applicants so that we reduce the drop-off points in their journey and maintain a high motivation?
2. How might we strengthen actionable steps to incentivise people in becoming volunteers?
3. How can we design an app which encourages an older demographic to use digital technology, assisting Anglicare staff in streamlining the onboarding process?
Ideation
We facilitated a brainstorming session together as a team to put down as many as possible idea in order to solve the current problem and answer the “How Might We?” questions.
Services Blueprint
We then created a service blueprint to outline all of the volunteer and Anglicare staff’s major stages. This included notes and possible outcomes for all four major entry points for potential volunteers, as well as third-party services. This map aids us in identifying and comprehending the current volunteer onboarding journey, as well as identifying any pain points, opportunities, and areas for improvement.
Approach and Solution
Based on our research and the service blueprint, we were able to come up with a solution: an iPad application that will be installed in-store to assist the manager and give a better sign-up and onboarding process for volunteers while they are in-store.
We preferred an iPad application to a website for several reasons. According to our user research, our volunteers and managers are both over 50s, have no access to a smartphone or computer at home, and are unlikely to set up an e-mail account, and prefer applying with paper form.
Secondly, we wanted to emphasise the importance of face to face initial contact and ongoing interaction between managers and potential volunteers in-store in order to reduce onboarding drop-off points and maintain a high level of motivation.
Lastly, our iPad application solution would be simpler to set up in-store over a computer, allowing managers to assist potential volunteers in the signing up process on the iPad and submitting their information directly to the volunteer department CRM which reduces administration time and speeds up the application process.
This application was designed for senior users who are unfamiliar with technology and is experiencing physiological and cognitive changes. As a result, our application is as straightforward, clear, and is as easy to use as possible.
Key Features
- Express interest form
- Scan and combine paper forms or other checks that are required and submit it to the volunteer department
- Fill out the digital form, apply checks and submit directly through the iPad
- Educational materials about the signing process and steps to guide volunteers
- Accessibility features such as text sizing and language selection
User Flow
I collaborated with one of the designers to develop a user flow that showed our users’ interaction with our iPad app from start to finish.
Prototype Design Consideration
-
Keeping the text and button sizes large for better readability.
-
Labelling icons wherever possible.
-
Making the design and navigation as simple as possible and have less complex gestures.
-
Providing clear feedback on processes, by using components such as a progress bar.
-
Following best practices and usability guidelines
Wireframe
I created low-fidelity wireframes with one of the designers to review the basic information architecture. I also participated in a design feedback session to receive feedback from our team before we moved on to designing the high-fidelity prototype.
Hi-Fi Prototype
Usability Testing
Following the completion of our hi-fi prototype, we conducted usability testing and used the results to refine our design.
Usability testing was conducted with the Anglicare regional manager and the Anglicare Op shop managers. Six tasks were conducted to determine the usability of the UI. The feedback was then used to upgrade the prototype through several iterations.
Testing Results
Positive Feedback
Pain Points
- Simple and straightforward UI
- Easy to navigation
- Great use of contrast colours to excited senior user
- Progression Bar is very effective and give good user a good understanding of the process and step.
- “Love the minimal interaction and not too complicated”
- “Love the scanning feature”
- “Translation and accessibility feature is well considered for our user”
- Some texts are too small
- Add direct link to police forms or other checks in the digital form so manager can apply directly with them
- Confused with the wording “create new volunteer” and should change to “create new contact” when creating new profile
- Police department prefer their own format in the police check page
- Filter for the uncompleted form is suggested
Deliver
Final Design
Interactive prototype
Additional Recommendation
I and one of the designers also developed some service design components included a communications plan, a call centre script, EDMs during the application process, and a website re-design during this project in order to bridge the gap between Anglicare and its volunteers and improve the onboarding process.
Outcome
We successfully improved the application and onboarding processes with the design approach we proposed to Anglicare.
Impact:
- Helped store managers maintain the applicant’s motivation through an iPad application with human-centred design and accessibility considerations that suit the demographics of applicants.
- Improved the streamlining process for staff and key stakeholders, increasing staff satisfaction and stakeholder satisfaction.
- Improved ongoing assistance and communication with current applicants by developing a support strategy and communication solutions to improve volunteer retention and satisfaction after onboarding.
Final Thoughts
I had the most valuable time working on this project since it allowed me to further develop my UX skill. One of my favourite parts of the project is interviewing real-world clients and all of the Anglicare staff. Conducting contextual interviews in store with our target user has helped us gain a better understanding of their volunteer boarding and collect valuable insights that we could never have gotten by doing only desktop research. For future development, I would also like to use iPad as a volunteer management hub in the future, introducing features like rostering and making this app especially useful as an HR tool for managers.
Furthermore, this project also taught me the value of working with a team, especially setting up a design system and collaborating others to use the design system help me further my communication skill and make our design process more efficient.
Ian Moore
Anglicare's Head of RetailI was just really blown away by your demonstration of the app, I just love how the user interfaces just seem so intuitive.
Erin Bennett
CX Design ManagerYour prototype for the app is just beautiful, and the user interface just works so well.