An Overview
In the summer of 2018, I worked on a team consulting for Pet Supplies Plus, a national retail chain headquartered in Livonia, Michigan. We were tasked by corporate with investigating the implementation of an internal eLearning initiative and offering recommendations to increase user participation.
I was able to conduct in-person user interviews, map current user journeys, and gain valuable UX Research Skills
The Challenge
- Increase participation, retain members, and track progress nationwide
- Incorporate Pet Degree achievement into existing in-store cultural practices and raise awareness amongst team members
- Democratize the Pet Degree Program by making it intuitive and accessible for all store members
The Solution
- Incentivize employees to participate in the Pet Degree Program in job postings
- Build stronger team member-manager relationships by visually recognizing pet degree achievements in stores
- Design a platform for team members to take responsibility for their own respective Pet Degrees
Background
Our team met with executives at the corporate HQ of Pet Supplies Plus, learning about an internal Pet Degree Program:
- For every 5 Pet Degrees (short 10 min lessons + multiple choice assessment) a store employee completed, their hourly wage would increase by $0.25.
For a minimum wage employee, spending an extra hour or two each week taking short lessons can really make a significant impact on their earnings, however, this program had less than 15% adoption since its inception.
Our goal was to investigate the implementation of the Pet Degree at the store level, document our research, and design solutions to increase participation.
Stakeholder Analysis
Our team went into stores, and interviewed team members face-to-face, gaining valuable insights into how learning strategies were currently implemented
On-Site Research
We documented various franchise-internal practices and how different stores implemented the Pet Degree Program, interviewing store employees
Research Takeaways
- "Does not know much about pet degree program"
- "training program would be most beneficial during onboarding with enforcement from management"
- "learn from other employees and Google with neighbors"
- "more training would make [her] more confident helping neighbors"
- "Manager prints out lessons by hand for each employee"
- View full (store member) interview notes ↗️
- View full (CEO) interview notes ↗️
Experience Redesign
Our team offered 3 recommendations to redesign cultural experience of the Pet Degree Program at the store level:
Prototyping a Learning Platform
Using our UX Research, I prototyped a hi-fidelity mockup of a learning platform that store members could easily access outside of work hours.
This would replace the printed-out assessments with a more accessible digital solution.
Explore the Figma File Below ⤵️
Interactive Prototype
Step into the shoes of our primary user while you test out the interactive prototype below
Product Features
The learning portal was designed within the brand scheme and design system already in use on their user dashboard, in order to create a more seamless experience
I included their 'degree completion status' on each screen, to further motivate the team members as they completed Pet Degrees
MAIN DASHBOARD
Browse various available Pet Degrees
LESSON
View upcoming lessons and current Pet Degree status at a glance on
ASSESSMENT
View total Pet Degree compensation status along the top of the screen.
LESSON COMPLETION
Upon Completion, employees learn how much they've contributed to their salary, motivating further Pet-education
Reflection
Pet Supplies Plus allowed me to understand the impact of digital products at an enterprise-level. Although we were just testing locally at 2 stores, close the Corporate Headquarters, our impact had the potential to reach 500+ stores across America, saving thousands of employees, managers, and franchise owners time and money, and helping spread the Knowledgable Pet-Centric ethos that Pet Supplies Plus aimed to promote.
We just scratched the surface over a few short months, but with more time, I would have come to prototype Role-Based Access Control for Managers, Franchise Owners, and Corporate, turning lesson completion data into analytics dashboards portraying the success rate of the program across different regions of the country.
