Service Connect
60% of The Home Depot's home services leads are generated at the stores. It was evident that providing a great experience for the store associates was a very crucial part of the business so they can capture those store leads.
I led UX design on the Service Connect from strategy to final outcome, the enterprise web application that empowers the store associates to connect customers with quality local home services providers.
Design Process
The design process varies depending on factors like resources and timeline, but it consistently helps achieve milestones the right way with minimal risk. I use D & F as a standard process at to develop design solutions based on user insights and creative exploration.
User Empathy
It all starts from understanding user empathy. I created these storymap, and persona in collaborative effort with the Product and OPs team. These fun design exercises allowed us to identify our targeted user group and see the pattern of their experiences in each stage of journey.
This is from the role play exercise I led in the discovery kick-off. It helped the team empathize on store associates and consumers when they interact with each other for home service request at the store.
I created theses persona based on user study and feedback from the OPs team including support center agents who interact with store associates on daily basis. Click the image to view in full screen mode.
Research
Utilizing research and data was an important part of UX strategy to discover pain points thoroughly. It also helped me communicate with stakeholders convincingly so that everyone was clearly aligned on the problems to solve.
According to the survey, the biggest pain point when store associates use Service Connect was difficulty of finding the right service. Our design goal was to help users find the right service fast and easy.
I used Mixpanel as a data analytic tool to track bounce rate of the associate's lead form and identify problems which were documented on both journeymap and design roadmap with a plan of action.
Scope
It was crucial to scale the job scope so that everything that I design would be realistically achievable by our engineering team. Although it was not always working the way we expected, having the plan helped us prioritize and move forward incrementally toward the goal.
Above, this is a shot of journeymap I created to indicate the end to end experience of what our users are going through. Click the image to see it in full screen mode.
Here’s a snapshot of my design roadmap, structured in a phased approach and aligned with project milestones. I mapped the timeline horizontally and categorized three key aspects of UX tasks vertically.
Ideate
Once we targeted our user group and defined design goal, I led a brainstorming session with the product team to explore how we can reach the goal. This was a good way to share abstractive ideas and build a momentum going into design framing in detail.
I facilitated a full-day design sprint with the team of product manger, engineers, researcher, stakeholders to explore various ideas that led to a few versions of potential design concept.
This is a shot of design critique with my sketches and wireframes of early concept. It took series of design iteration based on feedback from the team until we felt confident with what we wanted to achieve.
Framework
Follow by ideation and sketch review, I started creating multiple versions of wireframe and exploring options for users to navigate easily from top level until they complete the task of submitting a lead.
This is a screenshot of navigation flow by comparing our current design with some of the best in-class examples from research so we can visually tell the difference and learn from their design.
After series of concept exploration and stakeholder review, I narrowed down to 3 design themes in these wireframes and built prototypes for usability testing. At the point, we felt good with our tactics in terms of content and feature. I needed to explore the best possible way for users to navigate and browse until they complete the end goal.
Prototype and Usability Testing
With a few versions of design concept, I've gone through series of usability testing at 20 different locations using various methods such as 1:1 interview, mystery shopper, and the massive warehouse survey with hundreds of respondents nation wide throughout the design process.
These are screenshots of research and usability findings that took 4 rounds of user testing / 10 prototypes / 60 store associates for interview / 16 different locations / and 400 respondents for survey. We managed to validate number of new feature design then iterated again based on the feedback. We also picked up some of great ideas for future release during the process and documented in the icebox for next phase as well.
Solution
We reached the goal of 'findability' incrementally at a fast pace. We built and released each design solution that was proven to be successful while continued to improve based on data analytics and user insight.
These are screenshots of high fidelity prototype in the early stage. Scroll down to see the latest design solution.
Solution - Search (MVP)
These are screenshots of new Search design which was our MVP. When users launch the product for the first time after the update release, they will see the tooltip overlay (left) indicating the new and improved Search. Clicking on that search field dismisses the overlay and users land on the old home page (right) in seamless transition with the new prominent Search being active by default. Redesigning the search increased the usual search engagement rate from 8% to 28% within 24 hours after release.
Solution - Recently Requested
An in-store user study revealed that pro users often submit recurring service leads related to their department. For example, kitchen consultants frequently submit leads for Kitchen Remodel or Cabinet Refacing. To streamline this, I designed Recently Requested, enabling associates to find and submit recurring leads faster. Data showed it cut task completion time in half, achieved the highest success rate compared to other methods, and scored 4.7/5 in a survey of 374 users on likelihood to use.
Solution - Popular Services
The Popular Services concept was tested and validated with positive user feedback. Before further commitment, I conducted a deeper discovery process to ensure a high-value, low-risk approach.
Using Mixpanel, out of five randomly selected stores, I found that 12 popular services accounted for 75% of total leads at each location. Additionally, unique service leads emerged based on location, season, and special events.
Solution - Browse
After improving findability, I shifted focus to enhancing the browse experience. I collaborated with the content and research teams to refine the service taxonomy, reorganizing categories for better navigation. With this new structure, I designed a tile layout and expandable drawer, allowing users to browse efficiently and easily recover if they get lost among the 300+ services in Service Connect.
With the success of the new tile design, we expanded its use across other Home Services platforms, including the Pro Referral Pro and the Home Depot's consumer website. This demonstrated how well-designed innovations can be leveraged cross-platform to benefit both consumers and enterprise users.
Meanwhile, Service Connect has achieved its highest-ever lead completion and submission rate, thanks to the combined impact of each design solution. The team continues to refine the experience, ensuring ongoing improvements throughout the user journey.
Also, check out Home Services Ecosystem for Pros and Consumers experience.
