A hyper-personalized subscription-based concept for sustainable cleaning products shipped and packed for your home.
The Good Pack is a project that was born through a global challenge within Accenture. I formed a 4 person team where I was responsible for user research, UX design, UI design, prototyping and storytelling. We created a solution that uses a subscription based model to tailor consumer goods products for purpose-driven consumers through augmented reality and AI. ↓ Check out the nerdy details below ↓
The Nerdy Details
Role: Product Designer Date: February 2020 Responsibilities: User Research, UX Design, UI Design, Prototyping, Storytelling Team: UX Researcher, XR Architect, Cloud & AI Developer
Project Context: TAKING A SWING AT SOCIAL INNOVATION Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Consumers are shifting from buying products to buying brands. 80% of them indicate sustainability is important for them. Accenture’s Social Innovation Team and a Consumer Goods giant set up a worldwide open competition for this challenge: How might we enable *Consumer Goods Giant* to reach their sustainability goals through improved customer engagement and product information? I formed a team with three of my co-workers whose diverse set of skills and strengths would, I thought, pair well and together we came up with an idea that ended up in the top three finalists.
Users: PURPOSE-DRIVEN CONSUMERS As I researched into the Consumer Goods market, I found that 8 out of 10 millennial consumers indicated sustainability is important when making a buying decision. It’s also a demographic that this Consumer Goods company had trouble tapping into.
I also learned that according to Nielsen, millennials are more likely than other generations to consider e-tailers that offer subscription services. And that 3 out of 5 of the top, fast-moving consumer goods are subscription-based. So, we decided to focus on busy, purpose-driven consumers. We defined them as people who try their best to live sustainably but in their rushed lives, sometimes convenience can’t be passed up.
Scope & Contraints: IT'S GONNA BE A TIGHT DELIVERY We had 30 days to refine our original submission idea. It seems like a lot of time, however as this was a side project, I also had to juggle my daily work and responsibilities, other projects and clients. It’s important to make sure any technology-driven solution helped the user experience, not got in the way. It sounds pretty logical, but I’ve found that sometimes people can get very excited about using a certain technology and unconsciously force it in without stopping to think if it’ll actually improve the journey. The Client Account Lead, Chicago’s Innovation Lead, and the Midwest Corporate Sustainability Lead would be our audience. They would decide who would have the opportunity to have their idea heard by this Consumer Goods company.
Process: WE TOOK ON A HUMAN-CENTERED & DATA DRIVEN APPROACH As a User Experience designer, I knew we had to have solid research to build on, an intuitive UX/UI design, an Invision prototype and a beautiful pitch.
We started out by mapping out the team’s and the audience’s communication styles so we could make sure we understood each other and that our words spoke to the judges’ needs. Then we crafted our communication strategy.
As a team, we spent the first two weeks building up our research wall with articles, quotes, notes, facts, etc.
Our key findings:
There is a misuse of cleaning products and a lack of product education
Angry consumers for promoting a false transparency of ingredients
Purpose-driven consumers feel guilt over excessive plastic consumption
Subscription models are appealing to the millennial market
EVIDENCE 1: 8/10 consumers indicate sustainability is important for them and over 70% of consumers say that they are looking for specific attributes that are important to them when choosing a brand (IBM, 2020)
EVIDENCE 2: Consumers so more than just check the list of ingredients on a label, they want details about sourcing, how products are made or processed and how they are delivered.
(IBM, 2020)
EVIDENCE 3: Always-on consumers, 7/10 consumers shop in micromoments
(IBM, 2020)
As we moved forward, we used a mix of various tools from different design methodologies like Design Thinking, Jobs to be done, The art of persuasion, etc. We identified the three main pain points we were going to focus on.
We know people like us want to do something about excessive plastic consumption and feel like hypocrites for not doing more
We know people like us don't want to be a burden on the planet and those that depend on us. We want to do more
We know people like us can make an impact, however small from our home.
Knowing made us wonder...
How might *Consumer Goods Giant* help people like us, that live in a rushed world and experience constant guilty convenience, become eco-proud and loud about our everyday choices?
With these previous statements, we crafted our promise to our end-users:
LET'S START KNEADING THE INFORMATION INTO A PROTOTYPE We decided on proposing a subscription service concept that uses augmented reality, artificial intelligence and a friendly chatbot to provide busy, purpose-driven consumers tailored products to their door. With a strong research-based foundation and our idea on more solid ground, I pulled out requirements to create our user journey.
We used the MoSCoW method to prioritize and off I went. I started by laying out a quick and simple set of wireframes to make sure I covered all three features. These wireframes were discussed with the rest of the team and after some talking and tweaking, I moved forward.
Then I got started on the visual design. I wanted the UI to feel friendly, simple and fun. We were basically asking users to invite us into their home and tell us about themselves, I had to make sure they felt safe and comfortable while answering the assessment.
With simple questions regarding our users’ lifestyle, like who lives with them and what kinds of things they like to do, we could gain insight into the right amounts of cleaning product they need using AI
AR and object recognition help calculate the home’s cleaning area and types of materials the user has. This way we can recommend the right amount and type of cleaning product for the different surfaces in the home.
Tailored products settings help fit our users’ cleaning goals and preferences regarding ingredients like dyes, fragrances and allergens. Understanding how our users live and their goals, we can reduce product waste. The company can also have access to first-party data at no extra cost to improve their offering as well as cross-selling.
Sammy the chatbot, asks about the first-time use of products and portions to adjust the subscription to specific needs. Sammy can also answer questions ranging from what if my pet ate a product and how to deal with tough stains A QR sticker made exclusively for our user’s personalized products, will let them know what ingredients are inside the product, the amount to use and how to use it.
We decided on a D2C Approach.
Direct to Consumer sales gives the company control over the customer experience. Forming a feedback loop and therefore a relationship gives consumers a chance to participate in the sustainability space and share the weight with the company. As me and my teammates moved forward, we decided on a deck to pitch our idea with. We wanted to create a dialogue that would provoke and attract the judges to our solution. The wording had to be easy to read and simple to understand.
THEN WHAT HAPPENED? We ended up winning the People’s Choice Award and the overall competition. We received great feedback from the judges and the Consumer Goods company loved our proposal; the project is still ongoing. It reached a lot of people including Accenture’s CFO, the global community of Social Innovators, Innovation Leads across other US cities and The Good Pack was turned into a case study for future Client Account Leaders.
WHAT I LEARNED... This project combined two of my passions, problem-solving and sustainability. I feel we reached our goals: We won the competition, our idea was heard by the client, we made an impression on US Accenture Leaders, we used technology wisely so that it would improve the experience not get in the way. I learned that knowing your teammates communication style can help the team understand each other and work better and faster. And that editing is even harder creating. The tight delivery included long nights and working on weekends. But it was worth it, because I feel it has made me a better designer and researcher.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted and blurred confidential information. All of this case study's material is copyrighted and property of Accenture.
