Established in 2021, SOJO specializes in clothing tailoring and repairs. Embracing a thoughtful approach to our relationship with fashion, SOJO is dedicated to ensuring that the clothes we buy remain in our wardrobes and lives.

The SOJO website uses a wizard for their booking process. Overall, wizards increase the likelihood of successful bookings by providing clear guidance, reducing complexity, and minimizing errors. However, their effectiveness depend on adhering to UX best practices. In this unsolicited redesign project, I tackle some design pain points to enhance user satisfaction.

With no direct access to users at the beginning of this project, I conducted a literature review based on available documentation and guidelines on best practices for designing wizard patterns. I read:

- Wizards: Definition and Design Recommendations (NN/g, 2017)
- The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond (Garrett, 2011)
- Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services (Goodwin, 2009)

To provide insights into current market trends and user expectations, I also carried out a competitive analysis where I included the wizards found on the AirBnB and Upwork websites.

Through the research process, I identified six key steps crucial for designing an effective booking wizard, as seen below.

I discovered the significance of creating a clear and intuitive flow, utilizing language and visuals that resonate with the target audience, and incorporating progress indicators to enhance user guidance. The literature also emphasized the importance of enabling easy editing of booking details and providing clear confirmation and next steps to enhance the overall user experience. Finally, iterative testing emerged as an important aspect, reinforcing the need for continuous improvement based on real user feedback.

This process gave me valuable insights and taught me dos and don'ts that informed the following steps in card sorting, creation of user flows, wireframing and prototyping of a user-centric booking wizard for the SOJO website.

Using the card sorting method, I mapped out the flow of user inputs in the current wizard to get an overview of user needs and requirements, and shuffled them around to create a shorter, more intuitive path as seen below.

I chose to create a user flow diagram to visually map out the journey users take when interacting with the booking wizard. This decision stemmed from the need to understand the sequential steps and decision points users encounter throughout their experience. By visualizing the user flow, I gained clarity on the overall structure of the user journey by being able to see that there were no obvious potential pain points or bottlenecks.

In my first iteration of the redesigned booking wizard, I implemented new information architecture as previously defined through card sorting and creation of the user flow. SOJO's current wizard has multiple steps nested into one, which are not represented in the progress bar. Not providing a visual indication of the user's progress can be quite confusing for them, and I solved this problem by merging steps and providing clear labels.

I created an FAQ-panel to provide useful information without making users leave the booking wizard, which is likely to increase conversion rates. I also added backing links for increased freedom of navigation, as well as new labels on the next step links to provide users with information on upcoming steps.

By offering a summary at the end of the wizard, users can conveniently review and adjust their choices before checkout. If they decide to change a response from a previous step, they can do so seamlessly through quick navigation options provided here, eliminating the need to backtrack. This enhancement significantly boosts the wizard's intuitiveness and usability.

So, is this version actually better than before? To find out, I conducted a user obversation test with four diverse participants. During the user test, participants engaged in the Think Aloud method, verbalizing their thoughts and actions as they interacted with the booking wizard, providing valuable insights for iterative improvement.

Through the user test, I found that the users validated many of my design choices such as the new structure of the steps, they appreciated the simplicity of the process and the ability to specify their requirements easily, but also indicated that they wanted:

The participants also suggested an option for urgent requests. Users may have urgent alterations or repairs, so adding an option to indicate urgency during the booking process would enhance the user experience, this could be a checkbox or dropdown menu where users can select their urgency level. I chose not to include an express service option in my second iteration because it is not something that SOJO currently offers.

The second iteration has the same four steps as the first and the same inputs included in each step, but with the additional changes prompted by the user test as stated above.