Challenge Overview How can we assess the user experience of a physical space?
Through observations and questionnaires, I want to survey and evaluate the user experience of customers at a particular Blue Bottle Coffee to see if it could be improved.
Location
Located in Kendall Square, Cambridge MA, this Blue Bottle Coffee location is directly across a Starbucks Coffee, within walking distance from MIT campus.
During the informal observations, I paid attention to the customers’ journey through the shop space, which included: 1. Interest in beans and merchandise, food items 2. Dine in or takeaway 3. Traffic flow and waiting area 4. Age range and interest in products 5. Lids or condiments need 6. Tip amount in relation to order size 7. Blue Bottle Mobile App usage 8. Party size 9. Payment methods
Results
Customer aim: To have a space to socialize, or to do work in a different environment
Intentional Customer Mapping
The counter space is intentionally designed with a match with the real world. Customers enter and browse the menu, the baked goods, make an order, then are supposed to naturally travel to their right to the drink pickup window. After picking up their drink, they would circle around the bar table and pickup lids no their way out.
Using the information from the informal observations, I formulated the criteria for the formal observations.
Observation Results
Customers seemed unbothered by the layout of the space, although the bulk of people gathered around the entrance of the shop. Most customers that came alone were takeaway orders (75%).
Questionnaires
The questionnaires were administered via Qualtrics on a workday morning at 10 AM. 75% of customers were morning coffee drinkers and aged between 20-29 years. 3/7 customers ordered for takeaway, which could possibly indicate patterns for working young adults getting coffee during their work morning.
The results reflected an overall positive experience with the satisfaction rating of 7.75 / 10. Although the customer experience seemed poorly designed during both stages of my observations, the customers did not find it bothersome. This could be related to the fact that most customers ordered takeaway due to time restraint, and thus, future research should also be replicated at an off-peak time to obtain more generalizable results.
With this being said, Blue Bottle Coffee Kendal Square should label clearly the one way traffic around the center bar table, and reposition the bar stools to regulate customer flow.
Finally, as 75% of the customers surveyed are unaware of the Blue Bottle Mobile App, and 62% of the customers surveyed ordered drinks to go, an emphasis on mobile app promotion might benefit overall experience of shop as most customers order coffee for takeaway.
- Promote Blue Bottle Coffee Mobile app to incentivise mobile orders and reduce waiting time - Create clear paths of action for customers to take after ordering at the counter by labeling or verbal cues - Rearrange the stools to create more space for foot traffic as shown below
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