GET GREEN
Taking sustainability habit development to the next level
Overview
MY ROLE
Product designer
User research, user flows, interaction design,
rapid prototyping, visual design
TEAM
2 - Product designers
1 - IOS Developer
1 - Co-founder & PM
1 - Research director
TIMELINE & STATUS
January - August 2023
Feature currently in development
SUMMARY
Get Green is a company that helps individuals and enterprises discover and track their daily sustainability actions to measure compounding impact of their lifestyles.
In this internship, I owned and led end-to-end design strategy to support Get Green's B2C user engagement - playing a critical role in scoping and prototyping a transformative gamification feature, while streamlining the products visual design system.
Get Green Levels feature was highly praised by key stakeholders and users and in the implementation roadmap for 2024. Feature components like habit/single action tags are already implemented (September 2023).
✵
HIGHLIGHTS
A Streamlined journey for developing a sustainability oriented
lifestyle by automating habit tracking to minimize burden
and maximize exploration
Turn actions into habits
Complete habits to level up
Visualize positive impact
Context
An opportunity for R&D of new features
Users losing motivation
From the product usage statistics, 50% of Get Green users do not return after the first day of use. The numbers continue to drop and within 2 months, 100% of users stop using the product.
❂
THE CHALLENGE
Develop a system that allows users to start and continue living sustainability oriented lifestyles that is motivating, easy, and desirable.
Research
Auditing the current experience
Discovery Pillars for our research
Mixed methods aproach
From the usage statistics and challenge, we devised three pillars for our research for uncovering users’ current app experience, and expectations with sustainability, and action tracking in general:
➤ Motivation
How are people motivated to be more sustainable in their daily lives?
✿ Ease
What aspect of tracking sustainability is challenging for users to navigate?
♥ Desire
What tools or information are users lacking to help them in their journey?
Given the depth of research and products in the field targeting behavior change and motivation, we used mixed methods to narrow down our scope.
✦ Behavior change literature (8 research papers)
Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation for being doing sustainability oriented behvaviors
✦ Competative analysis (5 platforms)
Apps targeting habit formation and retention
✦ Product survey (374 responses)
Quantitative data on current product usage, motivations and desires
✦ Semi structured interviews (10 interviews)
Qualitative data from new users and existing users point of views
♛
KEY INSIGHT
Users want to see their accumulating impact but the lack of goal direction and ease of tracking to see that impact prevents them from exploring new actions and overall usage
Problem
1. Seeing impact is motivating but
tracking is too tedious
100% of users appreciated seeing the impact their actions have. Currently each action is attributed a number of leaves. This number translates to pounds of CO2 offset. Users can see their total CO2 offset of their accumulated logged actions
-- “I like that the leaf points show me how much CO2 is being offset…. it’s very rewarding to know that I’m making a difference"
However, users are unmotivated to track actions that are already part of their lifestyle but they must do so to see the accumulated impact.
-- “I’m a vegetarian so I can technically check the ‘meatless dinner’ action everyday, but I don’t feel the motivation or need to open the app just to do that.”
2. Desire for discovery and
goal direction
Users lost motivation to continue tracking because there is no end goal for the leaves earned other than seeing impact.
-- “I don’t think I would use the app because I don’t know what to do with the leaves [points].”
40% of users want to explore creative and novel habits they can infuse into their lifestyle but tracking existing actions take so much work that they end up not exploring.
-- “The actions I've already completed should be marked so I don't have to see it anymore and can more easily find other actions to complete.”
Our primary audience
From talking to users with a variety of sustainability involvement, we discovered that the target audience for the B2C Get Green product is someone who is already interested in sustainability and is practicing actions such as using reusable bags, reusable water bottle, or recycling trash, and want to learn more about how they can do more.
☀
THE VISION
Our goal is to empower users to move towards sustainability expertise in their lifestyle, aiming for self-sufficiency beyond the app
Design
Design exploration
Setting design requirements
to guide us
With our key insights, target audience, and vision in mind, we devised 3 goals to guide our exploration
⊙ Clarify the goal
Adding meaning to points earned from completing actions
≚ Minimize workload
Offload actions that users already do on a regular basis
⋇ Promote Discovery
Generate excitement about new actions, exploration, and growth
Idea #1:
Exchanging earned points for physical goods or monetary incentives
Many users suggested this during interviews. However, behavior change research indicates that this strategy will not produce long lasting results and may even harm users’ intrinsic motivation to be a eco-friendly. This idea, while incentivizes users to earn points for completing actions, does not offload actions they currently to aid in discovery of new actions
✅ Clear goal ❌ min workload ❌ Promote discovery
Idea #2:
Attributing points to different levels with cap for highest level
Users earn points by completing actions. Number of points determine level. This solution would be easy to implement since the product already uses a point system and this is common in game systems.
However, this does not help users offload actions they currently do so they can discover new ones.
✅ Clear goal ❌ min workload ❌ Promote discovery
What it boiled down to
After ideating with users and stakeholders, we developed a system flow that had:
☟
OUR IDEA
A habits based levels system that minimizes workload by automatically tracking habit actions to free users up to explore new actions
A guided Journey to a sustainable focused lifestyle
The user journey is broken down into four key tasks to test with stakeholders and users to access viability
1. Set current level
Users take a quiz to determine their current level based on sustainability oriented habits they already have
2. Track actions to start habits
They add and track new actions they find in the app by logging each time they complete the action.
3. Complete habits to activate automatic tracking
Once users complete the action 5 times, the habit will be achieved and the action will continued to be logged automatically
4. Level up by completing habits
Users level up by achieving more habits
？
Do users feel motivated by the levels system to return to the app
？
Does the automating habits system solve user pain points around logging actions to see impact
？
Where do users fail on key tasks of the user journey
Putting the idea to the test
When shown the user flow, 7/8 users mentioned that they would be motivated to keep using the app to level up From the user flow, we identified 4 pivotal tasks to test for interaction iterations
Interaction iterations
1. Set current level
Simple is key -
from 8 pages to 1
We thought a category based organization would be more thorough and comprehensive of different areas users could check off actions they currently do.
However, most participants did not know which categories their actions fell under and the categories made the quiz long and confusing.
Since this is the first interaction, new users will experience, we do not want to overload them with options and information. We simplified the quiz design to a single checklist of the most popular actions. The list would grow as users select more actions
2. Track actions to start habits
Not all actions are habits -
One time vs habit actions
We initially thought most actions could become habits if you do them multiple times so we chose different actions to test
However, users were confused by some actions because they aren’t habitual actions (ie. turning down heater by 2 degrees, or installing solar panels).
So we coded all action cards in the database to be ‘one time’ action or ‘habit action’ and included tags on the cards
3. Complete habits to level up
Information at the right time by Adding information popups
In an effort to streamline the visual experience, we only included messaging around automatically accumulating leaves for habits completed in the information callouts when clicked.
However, users could not find this information and did not realize their completed habits are being automatically accumulated leaves that contribute to their overall CO2 offset number.
We added popup windows after each habit action is completed to inform the user and separated the completed actions from the total leaves earned.
4. Edit a completed habit
Accurate representation by Removing habits
The goal is for the level to be an accurate representation of a users lifestyle in terms of sustainability. Each level is attributed to a number of habits consistently done.
However, for this level to be an accurate representation, users need a way to modify their completed habits if they no longer do them regularly.
So we added the ability for users to remove a habit from their profile, which could impact their level.
Putting the visuals to the test
After finalizing the flow and features, we tested and made visual and UI iterations to address confusion and organization
Visual iterations
Color and brand improvements needed
Color as a source of information -
coordination to guide the user journey
We initially used the visual style guide compiled by various Get Green designers to ensure a seamless fit of this feature with the product.
However, users found the variety of colors distracting and made it difficult to understand what is on each page.
I narrowed down the color system to help users differentiate between single actions, habit actions, and levels. I also implemented a set of neutral shades to keep color usage at a minimum to not overwhelm the user.
Branding each level -
Idenfity with your level
We initially designed each level to show the process of a plant growing from seed, to sapling, to tree, to fruit. As users leveled up, they would advance to the next stage of growth.
However, users did not resonate with the stages of plant growth as much and suggested level names that associated with their sustainability expertise. This is reflected in behavior change research. When people connect with an identity, they feel more involved and motivated to act.
I designed alliterated names and icons that users can feel proud about achieving and sharing with their community.
Delivery
Final Experience
level feature design flows
After many iterations, we created the final MVP of the levels feature that addressed conceptual and usability issues of previous versions. We created annotations for our prototypes and interactions along with all documents of our research and visual assets to ensure a smooth handoff to the development team.
Set current level to start exploring
Product usage data showed that most users are completing the same set of sustainable actions rather than exploring new ones, we added a simple one question quiz that would give users a starting level to work up from. This would free up users to explore more actions outside of the typical ones they already do.
Users reported after completing the onboarding frames, that they were excited to discover how they can level up
Log repeatable actions to complete habits
Actions are divided into one-time actions and habit actions. One time actions like daily challenges can only be completed once. Habit actions will need to be logged a specified number of times to be considered completed.
Users can see the progress of each habit and how close they are to completion. We also made it easy for users to log each habit quickly directly from the home tab
Users reported high satisfaction with the ease to which they can log habits in progress
Level up to the end by completing habits
Once a number of habit action are completed, users will move closer to the next level. The clear end goal is to get to level 6, actively doing 50 sustainability oriented habits.
Each level has its own icons, catchy names, color schemes, and micro interactions for users to develop joy and pride around.
Users who initially expressed a lack of motivation for tracking after the 1 month mark, shared that this would push her to keep exploring new habit actions to build in an effort to complete all levels.
See impact without the burden of tracking
Completed habits will continue to earn leaves in the background so users can continue to see their compounding impact without the burden of logging it every day or week.
Users can easily see their leaves, actions completed, and the CO2 emissions they are offsetting.
Users who initially expressed lack of motivation for using the product to complete actions they do everyday (ie. the vegetarian who can log ‘meatless meal’ every day) found this feature liberating
Edit habits to reflect accurate impact
Since the level is a representation of one’s lifestyle, users will be able to remove a habit if they no longer do it, which would impact their level.
Users can find their completed habits in the profile and remove.
While users wanted an easier way to track and see their impact, they wanted the impact to be as accurate as possible. Modifying habits All users were able to find and complete this action
Future visions
What's next?
Coming soon 2024
The team at Get Green is slowly rolling out parts of the feature that can be separated. For example, they have already added tags for one time and repeatable actions for all their action cards. They will continue to build out the feature using our prototypes.
Once the feature is live, we plan to explore opportunities for micro-interactions to introduce delight for users. For example, adding animations and smooth transitions when users complete a habit or level up. This will enhance the user satisfaction of using the feature, which will also contribute to behavior change.
Additional features grounded in behavior change research
In one of our iterations, we explored the idea of a leaderboard where users can compete with each other and see how their level compares to others in their geographical location or their personal community Users loved this concept, however, Get Greed wanted to focus o developing the levels feature first and then potentially add in the leaderboard component later on.
Reflection
A huge success!
Impact
User Engagement
The feature aims to address the motivation gap that causes users to disengage. By guiding them through a journey and creating a habit-forming process, it seeks to increase user engagement and retention over time, potentially reducing the drop-off rate within the first day or two.
User Drop off
By addressing the issue of 100% of users stopping product usage within two months, the feature aims to extend the product lifespan for users. Retaining users over a longer period can potentially lead to a more sustained impact on their environmental footprint.
Project Takeaways
Rapid prototyping saves resources
While we conducted two formal usability studies, the quick feedback and iterative process with stakeholders was important to move our designs along while still being informed by user needs.
Fidelity matters for testing
Creating the appropriate fidelity for testing at each stage was important to uncover the right user needs for that part of the process. Ie. high fidelity when still testing user flows may cause users to focus more on the visuals than the flow itself.
