TableXpress
Designing a mobile payment solution for restaurants and bars
Background
TableXpress is a mobile app that allows guests to close out and split their bar and restaurant tabs through their mobile devices while leveraging deals and rewards programs to incentivize user adoption. The product was designed for the Buffalo Restaurant Group in Buffalo, New York. Users can check in to one of the restaurant groups several establishments, find general information, current and ongoing deals, as well as start and close a tab directly through the application.
I worked on this project throughout the entire life span of the product, from initial research to final design. The product is currently being developed for iOS. You can read the case study here.
My Role
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User Research
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UX/UI Design
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Usability Testing
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Prototyping
Platform
iOS mobile
Tools
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Sketch
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Invision
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Flinto
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Zeplin
Duration
2018 | 6 Weeks | 3 Sprints
Opening a tab
From the home screen, the user is able to tap on one of the establishments' cards to view the selected establishment's detail page. From the detail page, the user can choose to open a tab by tapping on the "open tab" CTA. A modal will appear confirming that a tab has been started under the user's profile name. As the user orders items from the restaurant, the tab will update in real-time. The user can also invite others to join the tab by tapping on the "invite" icon.
Closing out a tab
When the user is ready to pay for the bill, they can choose to either pay the bill in full, split evenly with other members on the tab, or pay by item by selecting the items they wish to pay for. Once they have submitted their payment using their stored payment method, a digital receipt appear on the screen.
Profile, Rewards System, and Payment Information
We wanted to create a reward system within the application because our research indicated that users were often incentivized to use a mobile app if there were some kind of rewards program offered. We decided to use a point system, where every dollar spent through the app would translate to one point in rewards. Once the user has attained 100 reward points, they would have $5 to spend at any of the participating establishments.
In-app messaging and user reviews
The client also wanted to allow the company to use the mobile app as an in-app marketing tool. Establishments can send out a message to users, updating them on any events, specials, or deals occurring at that time. In addition, users can leave real-time reviews for the establishments they visit.
If you are curious to learn more about this project, you can read the full case story here.
Final Thoughts
This project was particularly challenging for me, being so close to the industry. I thought that my years of experience in the service industry would actually benefit the project, but I learned that I needed to let go of my personal biases and opinions in order to build something that satisfied both the business and user goals.
I also learned a lot about the saturation of the “mobile payment” market and that we needed to create a product that was broad enough to reach a large enough audience willing to download a new mobile application, while specialized enough to encourage continued use. There are many reasons why a solution such as this has yet to be widely adopted. One being that dining out has been an American past time for generations and disrupting the industry from an operational standpoint can prove quite challenging. People are not only accustomed to but also comfortable with, the way things currently work. Another reason is that there is already a great amount of decision fatigue when it comes to mobile payment solutions and “check-splitting” options. Ultimately, heavy hitters like Venmo and Cash app remain king.
A great challenge was advocating for our users through research when the research did not align with the stakeholders believed proof of concept. We needed to optimize for our users and provide a product that served as more than just a mobile payment solution. This is why we chose to place emphasis on promotions, discovery and the social motivations of our users.