Decreased the average onboarding time from 12 minutes to less than 2 minutes.
My Role & Responsibilities
As the sole designer in the company, this is all my work. I worked with Product, Engineering, and Business partners throughout the process and I iterated through team feedback, but I was the owner and sole producer of this work.
Context & Problem
We received feedback that having and requiring multiple mobile applications for home security and presence detection could have a significant impact on partner relationships and business.
The Work
Explore different solutions to enable customers with 3rd party hardware to benefit from Ubiety’s presence detection without the need to download and install an additional mobile app.
Outcome & Results
The was new flow was easier to use and removed the app download requirement. It also reduced errors and decreased the average onboarding time from 12 minutes to less than 2 minutes.
The Problem
Using HomeAware required downloading the HomeAware mobile app, which created a barrier for customers already using other home security apps. To improve adoption, we needed a solution that didn’t always rely on an additional application to be downloaded and installed on customer’s phones.
The Work
The initial discovery was working to understand what we could accomplish with the technical systems and constraints we had in place. We needed to find a balance of the right user experience without creating too much technical overhead or took other too many resources from other projects.
- We did have a QR code profile creation flow built into the mobile app to assist with device assignment. Since the panel had a screen, could we bring the right parts of that flow to the panel and have it work?
- How hard would that be and what trade-offs if any would we have to make?
- For the flow to be successful, the device and the panel needed to be on the same wireless network, we’d need ways to inform and recover in the case that the phone hadn’t joined the network yet.
The Concept
By leveraging the screen on the panel and a mobile web flow, each person can use their individual device to quickly scan a QR code and create a presence profile. I used key parts of the existing mobile app to illustrate the initial concept. By leveraging specific parts of the QR code flow from the mobile app on the panel, we would be able to reuse much of the technology we already had in place.
Wireframes and Workflows
I collaborated with the development teams to understand the resources and capabilities we had available. After understanding what we had to work with, I sketched out the first complete idea of the flow. This helped engineering understand and scope out the work that would be required.
Moving from hand drawn sketches to low fidelity screens and prototypes, I presented the solution to Ubiety’s panel manufacturer partner. These early walkthroughs and prototypes were well received by the manufacturer’s business, product, and engineering teams and helped secure the partnership moving forward.
Production Design and Screens
The solution I was designing had to fit within the panel manufacturer’s current visual design and interaction models while also maintaining the visual style of HomeAware’s mobile application. While HomeAware’s mobile app would not be required, it could be downloaded and used in conjunction with the panel if the customer wanted some of the additional benefits the mobile app provided.
The constraints of the manufacturer’s system meant side scrolling segments within main feature screens was not possible, side scrolling was reserved for switching between primary features of the panel. It also meant that the only way the achieve any hierarchy to enable profile addition screens, profile detail screens, and date selection was through the panel’s system modals.
Outcome & Results
I designed a simple and effective onboarding process with profile creation that eliminated the need for a mobile app This prevented potential business loss and addressed a critical risk.
The new flow was quick, easy, and less error prone since the technology itself was being leverage to do more of the work. It was so successful and made profile creation so much more accurate and faster, we immediately began work to think about how we could replicate in the experience in the HomeAware app when customers did want to download it.
- Created a complete flow for profile creation and presence detection without the need of an additional application.
- Profile creation errors were reduced and time to onboard dropped from 12 minute average to less than 2 minutes
- The flow was so successful, we started work to bring the learnings into the HomeAware application
Hindsight & Reflections
I loved this work. The idea of enabling customers without the need the download an app was an amazing constraint to work with. Design loves good constraints, even when those constraints make it very uncomfortable in the beginning. I love that the solution ended up being easier than using the application in many cases. The reaction people had when they experienced the flow through a panel was pretty incredible to watch, it was one of those time when technology was indistinguishable from magic.