Food has become one of our only sources of entertainment during the pandemic. This presents a unique opportunity for Yelp to grow its business and help small businesses thrive. This case study focuses on how Yelp can be optimized to meet unique user needs that are created as a result of the pandemic.
Yelp has very little competition when it comes to restaurant and business reviews; however, it has an outdated and cluttered interface. Yelp could benefit from better information architecture and organization. There needs to be a balance between features and usability, Yelp is including too many features that the user may have no need for.
The main problem is information overload, the user is bombarded with information competing for attention within the same app. Yelp can leverage its increase demand due to the pandemic to generate more revenue by refining their user experience. The current state of the search function feels counterintuitive.
User interviews were conducted to uncover user needs, a heuristic evaluation was done to identify areas of improvement, and a closed card sort was used to determine user priorities. A persona was created to generate empathy and a task flow was created to gain a deeper understanding of search on yelp.
Original
The homepage is crowded and often lacks relevance. The search bar blends in making it harder to locate and the multi-step process for search is less than ideal.
Redesign
The redesign utilizes a minimal aesthetic to give the user a sense of calm. A single-step search process allows for greater control and the ability to save locations gives the user a chance to customize their experience.
Original
The green color used to display the map is distracting. Horizontal scroll compromises the visibility of features that might be important to the user. Individual search results occupy significant real estate, affecting visibility of additional options.
Redesign
Adding an opaque overlay on the map, allows for an easier visual transition.The full visibility of options not only provides all the choices but also eliminates the anxiety caused by hidden options. Individual search results are condensed and stacked in a convenient way, allowing more options to be displayed.
Condensed Filter/Sort Options:
The options chosen to be visible are relevant to current user needs. Closed card sorting indicated that price, curbside pickup, cuisines, outdoor seating and "open now" are important filter options -- other options can be nested for optimization.
Original
Users can currently choose one cuisine at a time limiting their options.
Redesign
The user is able to choose multiple cuisines at a time, giving the user more control.
Original
There are over 50+ filter options displayed, however a significant number of them have inaccurate or no data.
Redesign
The filter options are organized according to the results of closed card sorts and user interviews. Filters ranked lowest by the user were nested into an additional filter section at the bottom, allowing experienced users to maintain functionality.
Recently, Yelp has reduced the number of filters to about 30 and have taken out the cuisine icons from the horizontal menu. Different layouts are being presented on the app more frequently, indicating A/B testing. Positive user experiences can increase the amount of time a user spends on Yelp, thereby increasing advertisement revenue.
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