OVERVIEW
FarmCare is an android application dedicated to enhancing crop nutrition plan for farmers. It concentrates on offering guidance to improve yield, soil health, and sustainability. With FarmCare, farmers can strategically plan their crop nutrition needs, apply fertilisers during optimal weather conditions, and actively monitor for nutrient deficiencies. The app provides guidance throughout the entire farming cycle, from sowing to harvesting.
ROLE
Senior Product Designer
Workshop facilitation, User journey, Wireframes, Visual Design, Rapid prototyping and Validation
SECTOR
AgTech, Agronomy, Advisory
PROJECT TIME
Jan 2023 - March 2024
DESIGN SPRINT KICKOFF
During a two-day workshop (hybrid), I facilitated the collaborative development of user personas for our target audiences, drawing insights from the user research team. We expediently crafted a journey map to identify pain points and challenges, engaged in creative environment of team ideation, and efficiently generated a rapid prototype. After conducting internal stakeholder testing, we presented an extensive feature list to the product owners, playing a pivotal role in shaping the product roadmap for the upcoming year. Workshop participants encompassed user researchers, designers, and product owners. I have listed out the process and the outcomes in detail below.
The Process
We've applied the pivotal stages of the Double Diamond design process, encompassing Discovery, Definition, Ideation, and Implementation.
01 Design the right thing
Workshop #1
Activity 1 : Discovery As a first part of design sprint, we had a 2 hour discovery workshop remotely involving product owners, the Head of Agronomy, the Director of Products, and a Digital Agronomist to collaboratively establish the vision and mission for the product.
#Outcome 1
Vision for FarmCare
Striving to be the foremost and reliable farming application, our aim was to enhance farmer prosperity by providing access to crop nutrition knowledge and fostering connections within the farming community.
#Outcome 2
Challenges identified
The initial iteration of FarmCare functioned as an advisory application, yielding minimal business impact. Hence the challenge centers on formulating strategies to generate revenue and create a sustainable business model for FarmCare, all while ensuring the preservation of essential user needs—a direct outcome of the revamped FarmCare 2.0.
User Persona
Activity 2 : Persona creation To gain insights from diverse user viewpoints, we formulated proto-personas, drawing from prior user research conducted by our team. Through collaborative efforts involving researchers, designers, and product owners, we engaged in a persona creation session. This process resulted in the initial framework for considering user needs, challenges, and potential solutions throughout the development of the user journey.
Persona 1 - Traditional old farmer
Persona 2 - Progressive young farmer
User Journey
Activity 3 : User Journey creation Creating a user journey helps providing a strategic approach to understanding, improving, and aligning the user experience with business goals, ultimately fostering a more successful and user-centric product. To showcase the portfolio and highlight the prioritized and developed features, I've presented a simplified version of the user journey below. If you're interested in exploring the detailed version, you can click here.
02 Design things right
Workshop #2
Activity 4 : Ideation in a design sprint is essential for fostering creativity, generating diverse solutions, and swiftly moving from concept to actionable prototypes. It plays a pivotal role in the success of the overall design sprint process. We engaged in a rapid Crazy 8 ideation session, producing an abundance of ideas in a brief timeframe. Through a voting process within our team, we narrowed down the ideas. The selected ones were then shared with stakeholders for prioritization.
Activity 5 : Priortisation Established a prioritization matrix by involving key stakeholders from business, user, and tech perspectives. This collaborative effort aims to rank these elements in order, ultimately guiding the creation of the product roadmap for the upcoming quarter.
Feature delivery
1. Simplified Onboarding
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Goal : To simplify the onboarding flow for a better completion rate, by providing seemless integration across all other yara farmer facing apps.
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Success Metrics : Improve onboarding conversion rate from 35% to 50%
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Validation : 2 Months since the launch it was observed the completion rate of onboarding to be 51%
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Observation : High dropouts at OTP page : Solution : Provided help , OTP via call functionality
Before revamping
After Revamping
2. Home screen
About : The main objective of the Home tab is to drive in-app actions. It directs the user towards 1 primary action that we would like them to take, provides quick access to tools, multiple entry points into YaraBodega, and access to communications from Yara through in-app banners, notification inbox and newsfeed
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Goal :
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Better discoverability of all the tools present in farmcare for both first time and return users
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To communicate primary and secondary actions to users so they know what they should be doing for a first time users.
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Success Metrics :
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To minimise the drop out from home page to 24%
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To improve the discoverability of the features
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Validation : 81% of the user has explored the app from home screen.
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Observation :
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94% users who land on the homescreen has found value by entering to any of the widgets provided in the home page.
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Before revamping
After Revamping
3. My Farm
About :
The main value proposition of My Farm screen is to enable farmers to monitor their fields/crops and receive advisory specific to their fields/crops. The long-term product goal of this screen is to drive users to use more agronomic tools as well as perform in-field actions that can be validated.
The existing My Farm screen supports a limited set of crops (rice, wheat, sugarcane, maize), users of these crops will see “Weather, Weekly Crop Advisory (video or infographic), Farming Tasks, Explore Tools and Past Crop Advisory (video or infographic)
By setting a base of crop-agnostic widgets, more users can make sense of My Farm screen before we add more crop-specific features to support them.
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Goal :
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Drive users to complete their field profile
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Improve the revisit rate
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Success metrics :
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Total conversion of completing the field profile to be atleast 50%
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Fertiliser calculator discovery to be 25%
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Everyday active users on my farm to be 20%
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Validation :
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51.3% conversion rate observed
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21% of users entering fertiliser calculator tool
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27.1% users return back to my field page.
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Observation :
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To improve the engagement in my field page by introducing new tools so they return back everyday.
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To identify more gamified way of completing their field profile
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After Revamping (new)
4. Fertiliser Calculator
About :
Knowledge of Crop Nutrition is one of the key strength of Yara, therefore, enabling farmers to know the right fertilisers, right amount and right time (crop stage) to apply, must be a key value proposition of our digital farmer-facing solution.
The Fertiliser Calculator is the core feature of FarmCare. It provides fertiliser recommendations based on the user’s region and crop. Currently the discoverability of fertiliser calculator is 9.4% and 3.5% complete the flow.
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Goal :
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To improve the discoverability and usability of the Fertiliser Calculator.
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Leverage existing Crop Nutrition Plans (CNP) from country teams to provide value to users upfront, leading them into Fertiliser Calculator.
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Modify the user flow of Fertiliser Calculator such that they can view a basic recommendation with minimal additional input, at the same time, enable options to modify the inputs to view an advanced recommendation.
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To provide a direct revenue option from fertiliser calculator to in app ecommerce feature Bodega
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Success metrics :
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Increase % of users who discover Fertiliser Calculator from 9.4% to 20%
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Improve task completion rate (first screen to saved) from 3.35% to 15%
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Improve task completion rate (first screen to get recommendation) from 11.5% to 40%
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Validation :
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Discoverability has been increased to 14.2%
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34% drop outs are being observed in the form page.
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Before revamping
After Revamping
5. Map my farm
About :
The Map My Farm feature enables farmers to outline their field boundaries, playing a crucial role in FarmCare as an advisory tool. This functionality supports the calculation of field size, assisting farmers in determining the optimal fertilizer quantities for their crops. Additionally, it lays the groundwork for Yara's sustainability measurement, specifically in terms of hectares under management.
It is one of the most popular features on FarmCare, many users download the app solely to use this feature. However, the need to physically go around the perimeter of the field to measure the field size makes it difficult for users to complete the usage of this feature. Moreover, the information might be distorted when the internet connection is weak as they move around the field.
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Goal :
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Address the pain point of being present in the field in order to use the feature
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Increase completion rate
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Acquire accurate field size of farmer
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Success metrics :
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Increase the task completion rate from 23% to 40%
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60% of users going through MMF should complete the feature and save it to their profile
Note : This feature is in development stage and yet to be completed and validated.
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Before revamping
After Revamping
03 Takeaways
Following the introduction of the updated FarmCare platform, we've observed a notable surge in farmer onboarding, with a decrease in dropouts during tool utilization. The tools have received positive feedback from farmers, prompting a strategic decision to reorganize our team and merge the YaraBodega (Ecommerce) app with FarmCare to enhance overall engagement.
Some key takeaways from the project are
1. Create a strategic plan and roadmap before launching an MVP. Before launching the MVP, it is imperative to establish a comprehensive strategic plan and roadmap. This proactive approach serves multiple purposes: it aids in managing out-of-scope requests that could otherwise disrupt the project and ensures alignment with our overarching goals. By focusing on our north star, this strategic planning enables us to stay on course and commit to delivering a high-quality and sustainable product within the designated timeframe.
2. User testing is a continuous process : Design is an ongoing process of refining and enhancing the user experience. Continuously seek opportunities to gather and attentively listen to user feedback at every stage of the product cycle. This iterative approach ensures that the design is always evolving to meet the needs and preferences of the end user.
3. Involve Data analyst in the design process : Having the data metrics set up at the design process along with the analyst helps us to validate our assumptions during regular interval.