Simplifying the process of splitting an itemized bill at a restaurant
Context (TL:DR)
People love going out in groups to restaurants & bars but the payment experience can cause awkwardness and frustration. To address this challenge, I developed a MVP for an app that simplifies the process of splitting an itemized bill at a restaurant/bar.
My Role:
UX Research​er, UX Designer
Methods I used:
Interviews, Information Analysis, Sense-making, Desk Research, Synthesis, User Journey Mapping, Ideation, Rapid Prototyping, User Testing, Wireframing, Prototyping.
Tools:
Miro, Figma, Canva
Scope:
4 months
Overview
The Project
This project was executed during my 3rd semester at Parsons School Of Design. The available products and solutions in the expense-splitting landscape had limitations which highlighted the need and scope to intervene.
The End Goal
To create an MVP for an app that simplifies the process of splitting an itemized restaurant bill amongst a group.
The Impact
Designed an app that addresses the white space in the digital solutions offered to split itemized bills and expenses.
The Process:
Problem
Definition of Problem
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Individual Desk Research
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Bench marking
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Conversations
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Social Listening
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Social Observation
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Synthesis
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Interviews
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Insights
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Reframing of Problem
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Brainstorming
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Concept Prototyping
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Early Prototyping
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Crazy Eights
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Storyboarding and Speed dating
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Task flow Mapping
Discover
Define
Develop
Deliver
Solution
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Low fidelity prototyping
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Rapid Testing
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Design Feedback
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Refining
Discover
The Ask:
The Industry:
How might we improve the group paying experience at a restaurant/bar?
Finance x Hospitality
The Background:
This project is part of the elective "Design for Usability" in my third semester at Parsons School Of Design. This case study is a summary of my research and design process that was aimed at identifying key opportunity areas to develop as a design solution for this course.
Uncovering The Challenge:
At the moment, in a group, usually 1 or 2 people take on the responsibility of calculating the itemized share of the bill, due to which each person does not have control over the way a bill is split. . That could be a point of consideration moving forward.
Upon looking into existing digital solutions for splitting expenses, I discovered that there might be scope to intervene at the start of a customers journey when they are dining in at a restaurant.
Upon speaking to diners and reading articles related to the topic, I was able to gather that there was a need in the space for a streamlined solution that simplifies the current experience which is fragmented and inconvenient.
Our Approach to Inclusion:
"We are not the user, and the user is not us"
The Research:
Qualitative Research:
Quantitative Research:
I spoke to friends, people at the restaurant, and people that love going to new restaurants and bars to understand what their payment experience is like.
I scraped news articles, podcasts, youtube videos and social networks like Facebook and Reddit to get a deep understanding of the user's experience.
5 Interviews
12+ Articles Read
25+ Hours in Research
The Research in Numbers:
Qualitative User Research:
Key Question:
Can you walk me through your payment experience when you are dining out in a group?
Quotes:
"a friend did not drink so they awkwardly brought it up and then me and my vegetarian friend kind of backed it and said that we should split depending on what we ate/drank instead of splitting it evenly."
"some people are working full time, some are students so not everyone is comfortable paying the same amount"
"sometimes I don't agree with the tip they chose to give but I don't know how to bring that up"
"I am a vegetarian for a reason and I don't want to support, endorse or pay for meat that's consumed by anyone even if it is my friends.
It is about money but also about what I stand for/support"
"I am a vegetarian for a reason and I don't want to support, endorse or pay for meat that's consumed by anyone even if it is my friends.
It is about money but also about what I stand for/support"
"sometimes I don't agree with the tip they chose to give but I don't know how to bring that up"
Social Listening:
Reddit, March 2022
Twitter, July 2022
User Journey:
Scenario: User wants to order and pay separately in group settings but is unable to bring it up without feeling embarassed or awkward.
User Archetypes :
The Thrifty Student
loves meeting friends often, but doesn’t want to spend a lot every time they catch up
Motivations
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Not missing out on fun plans
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reduce additional/unnecessary expenses.
Pain Points
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Embarassed/unable to bring up “dutching’ the bill
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Feels peer pressure to pay the amount that is higher than the rightful amount.
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Throws off financial planning
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Makes going out a worrisome activity
The Health Nut
likes to meet friends over lunch or dinner but often chooses a light and healthy option like a salad over a 3 course meal
Motivations
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Make going out easy on the body and wallet.
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Choose something light+healthy.
Pain Points
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Feels annoyed having to bring up “dutching” the bill every time.
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Its not just about the $, its also about whats fair.
The Serial Dater
likes to meet friends over lunch or dinner but often chooses a light and healthy option like a salad over a 3 course meal
Motivations
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Go out on a lot of dates and make dating light on the pocket.
Pain Points
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A bad date causes them to lose hope and money
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Feels frustrated having to pay for a date that doesn't feel like a good match
Define
3 Themes & 6 Findings emerging from Research
Choice
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Diners want a flexible paying experience
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Diners from the same group have varying tipping preferences
Communication +
Channels
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People don't want to bring up financial matters at a table because they are worried about being judged.
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the current paying and splitting experience is not streamlined to complete the task smoothly.
Ideals +
Motivations
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People's dietary and drinking preferences impact their payment preferences at a restaurant
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A non drinker/non meat eater is usually averse to pay for consumed alcohol or meat even if it is their friends.
Insights:
User are seeking...
1
a product/service that allows them to take control of how and what they would like to pay for
2
A hassle free process that is free of calculations.
...But are getting
1
coerced into obliging to the majority of the group's decision.
2
a payment experience that involves calculations, and use of multiple apps + platforms to achieve a task.
Develop
How might we
improve the group paying experience at a restaurant/bar?
Storyboarding:
To identify potential core tasks, we did a Rapid Storyboarding exercise that illustrates stories/situations in which the solution would be useful and reliable. The aim was to outline different user paths that are easy for the users to identify with.
Core Tasks and Task flows:
Based on the Storyboarding exercise, I was able to identify the following Core Tasks:
​
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Group Creation - Group Sign up and Guest
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Order and Customizations
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Split and independent Bill Generation + integrating Total Bill feature
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Payment / in app or w card based on bill generated in app
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Explore restaurants page - feature to filter restaurants based on best drinks, best vegan food, etc
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In app chat prompts for the table and with server
Group Creation Task Flow
What to design? (MVP)
After identifying the core tasks, I plotted them against 2 prioritization matrices to get a better sense of Value to the User, Feasibility, Time to MVP and Market Differentiation. Based on this exercise, the following core tasks were integral to the MVP:
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Group Creation - Group Sign up and Guest
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Order and Customizations
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Split and independent Bill Generation + integrating Total Bill feature
Deliver
Wireframing:
From sketches to first Lo-Fi clickable prototype
Welcome to FAIRSPLIT:
For your next lunch with friends,
we'll worry about the math, so you don't have to!
Create a group for your table
Order, Customize and Share
Bills View
A design is never finished
Next Steps:
The next iteration of Fairsplit will focus on creating a style guide for the interface and refine the prototypes to high fidelity. In addition to that, we will also work on building an explore feature that enables the users to filter restaurants based on their food/drink and location preferences.
Feedback:
The flow is intuitive. There is scope to consider more inclusive click targets when working on next steps!
Nora Tane
Professor, Interaction Designer at Bloomberg LLP.
What did I learn?
This project enabled me to own and spearhead a product from research > ideate > design. I got the opportunity to customize a process to build this product - by conducting the exercises that I believed to be valuable to be able to move onto the next phase of the process. It allowed me to be deeply involved in each part of the process. It also highlighted important considerations for the next steps and iterations of this project.
I learnt to trust my judgement while it also emphasized the value of multiple perspectives when designing a product. It was a challenging yet enriching experience!