OVERVIEW
background
Great Clips is a national hair salon brand with over 4,400 franchised hair salons throughout the U.S. and Canada. They aim to provide customers a fast, convenient, and comfortable haircut experience.
Great Clips asked our team to investigate the current and future payment landscape in order to provide them recommendations and help them stay on trend in the payment space
our users
Our sponsors requested that we keep the user group broad to accommodate for as many Great Clips customers as possible. In order to narrow our user group but not exclude anyone, we divided Great Clips customers into three subgroups:​
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Customers paying with cash
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Customers paying with credit card
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Customers paying with digital wallets
final deliverables
This was a research project aimed at uncovering insights about the payment landscape, along with user opinions about that landscape. Due to this, we did not create any final designs, but compiled a list of recommendations for Great Clips on how they can incorporate new and emerging trends within their salons.
MILESTONE 1
leading question
What are current salon and retail payment landscapes like?
competitive analysis
The team and our sponsors compiled a list of direct and indirect competitors in order to understand where Great Clips' stands within the payment landscape. We compiled a list of direct and indirect competitors, along with a specific set of criteria to compare. Both of these can be seen within the chart below (click to enlarge):​
Findings
service based businesses and Great Clips' competitors lag in comparison to retail businesses; they are missing:
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self-service payment experiences
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acceptance of NFC payments (tap-to-pay)
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adopting of early trends within the payment landscape
tipping research
After our competitive analysis, we realized that we had not considered the large affect tipping has on the salon payment experience. We investigated how the tipping affects the payment process and customer experience.
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Findings
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Requesting a tip too early turns customers off from tipping​
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Tip recommendations affect the customer's experience
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Customers tip to avoid feelings of embarrassment or unfairness
competitor observations
Next, the team wanted to gain a comprehensive understanding of people's preferred payment methods, as well as understand how those payment methods impact the overall customer experience. To do so, each team member conducted observations at one or two observations at a direct and/or indirect competitor. The competitors we observed included:
​Indirect Competitors
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Walmart
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Target
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McDonald’s
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Starbucks
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Local West Lafayette Boba Shop
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Uber
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DoorDash
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Direct Competitors
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Renu Hair Salon
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Local West Lafayette Salon
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Sports Clips
Findings
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Some businesses employ manipulative tipping methods, negatively affecting customers
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Venmo has begun being incorporated as a payment method (Amazon, McDonald's)
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Major retailers actively promote app/phone based payment methods
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Shift in all industries towards digital payment methods ​
MILESTONE 2
leading question
How does Great Clips utilize payment methods to support their customers?
great clips observations
The team also needed to discover the payment process and how it affected customer experience within Great Clips' specifically. So, we sent two team members to conduct observations at our local Great Clips salon. They took note of the customers payment preferences and the overall experience.
Findings
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Great Clips supports a large age range of customers, most of which are men​
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Most popular payment method observed was credit card, specifically tap to pay with card
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The older generation preferred cash over card
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Most customers used the pre-set tipping options
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The entire experience is quick, lasting ~15 min. with the payment process lasting around 2 min.
journey mapping
After our observations, the team decided to construct a visual representation of the customer journey to identify customer emotions, pain points, and areas of opportunity. Visual representation can be seen below, click to enlarge
Findings
Emotions
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tipping can be awkward for customers when stylist is across the counter during exchange
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Pain points
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little motivation to download the Great Clips app
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customer is unaware of percentage value of tips (only $ amount is shown)
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Areas of opportunity
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preset tipping amounts can be a rate dependent on total cost (they currently do not change)
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tipping suggestions can display percentage alongside dollar amount
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in-app payments, receipts, and coupons could be incorporated into the Great Clips app
MILESTONE 3
leading question
How can we validate our research?
user interviews
We had found very useful data over the course of the project. However, we wanted to ensure this research was valid. To do so, we conducted interviews using userinterviews.com. The team created a screener survey to find and narrow relevant participants. This screener focused on finding customers of chain salons, but not Great Clips specifically (due to legal reasons). After finding participants, we scheduled each one for a 45 minute zoom call.
participant demographics
we conducted 10 interviews
9 / 10 participants identified as male
ages ranged from 29 - 62
located all across the United States
60% of participants were Great Clips customers
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findings
payment preferences
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credit/debit and digital payment methods preferred
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users enjoy checkout incentives
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tipping behaviors
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prefer to tip stylists directly
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users may tip more digitally
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often feel pressured to tip
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customer experience
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users want a quick and easy checkout
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they do not want to have to think about the experience
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users do not like self-service checkout in a salon environment
FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
recommendations overview
Our final deliverables for this research project consist of recommendations for Great Clips to stay on trend within the payment landscape for salons. Listed below our the team's recommendations for Great Clips' to keep up with the quickly changing industry.
enhancing Great Clips' app
in-app payment: one click payment done within the Great Clips' app
evidence: competitive analysis, interviews
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in-app coupons: digital coupons integrated within the app for customer convenience
evidence: interviews
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viewing receipts in-app: ability for customers to review their haircut history and receipts within the Great Clips app
evidence: observations, competitive analysis
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concerns
Practically, we understand that app changes will take time and funding. However, as apps for retailers and food providers are becoming the norm, we think it's a worthwhile consideration.
utilizing digital landscapes
digital couponing: coupons that can be used within an application or digital payment (e.g. smart wallet)
evidence: interviews
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digital receipts: receipts that customers would claim through a digital transaction (e.g. email and texting)
evidence: interviews
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concerns
Although the majority of interviewees would enjoy these options, not 100% of participants said they would benefit from these additions.
supporting digital tipping methods
Our research helped our team realize that the tipping process could be updated to allow for a more comfortable customer experience. Some recommendations our team proposes Great Clips implement involve the utilization of PayPal or Venmo and an app-integrated experience.
evidence: interviews
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concerns
Many independent salons use Venmo and PayPal to tip their stylists directly, but with Great Clips being a much larger company and business this may not be as feasible.
clarification prompting
We recommend including clarifying prompts to communicate tipping transparency with Great Clips customers. We envision such prompts to be shown as pop-ups in the app before tipping decisions. A promise that 100% of the tips will go directly to the stylist:
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“100% of your tip will go directly to your stylist, (insert stylist name).”
evidence: interviews
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concerns
This recommendation is not feasible on the current payment system Great Clips uses.
other recommendations
Although not directly to the payment experience, our team had a few ideas along the way that we wanted to share with Great Clips.
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in-app stylist notes
The ability for customers to view or suggest changes to their stylist notes on their
haircuts. This would allow customers the ability to know what type of haircut they got,
and be able to convey next time what they enjoyed and what they might change.
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ability for customers to choose a stylist
During interviews, we discovered that many participants wanted consistency with
the stylist they had cutting their hair. One interviewee even said he was transitioning
away from Great Clips because he wanted a consistent stylist. Due to this, an idea
we had was the ability for customers to select a specific stylist when joining the
wait list. Stylist profiles and descriptions could also be included within this feature. An
extended wait time should be communicated to the customer (if applicable).
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coupon notifications
One of our recommendations was for coupons to be integrated into the Great Clips
app. A further idea on this suggestion would be to send push notifications to
customers with the app with:
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Ways customers can receive coupons (e.g. survey opportunities)
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Reminders to use claimed coupons
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Notifications of upcoming deals
INDIVIDUAL
personal contributions
team lead
As one of the team members with the most experience, I acted as a team lead throughout the semester. This included leading activities, discussions, and encouraging other team members.
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point of communication with sponsor
Acted as the point of communication with sponsors. Sent emails and set up bi-weekly meetings.
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competitive analysis
Researched competitors for competitive analysis.
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indirect + direct competitor observations
Conducted observations at Target and Sports Clips.
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journey mapping
Worked with team to create initial journey map. Created professional visual representation.
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conducted 3 user interviews, took notes on 3 user interviews
Conducted 3 user interviews over zoom, set up using userinterviews.com. Took notes for 3 interviews while a teammate facilitated.
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ideation
Participated and contributed to team ideation of recommendations for Great Clips.
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documentation
contributed to group's project documentation.
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project presentations
contributed to creation of all project presentations and spoke during every presentation.
what i learned
This was my second to last experience studio project within the UX program at Purdue. It was also my first research only focused project. Due to this, I really focused on my leadership and research skills. Below are the two biggest things I learned from this project:
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01 how to lead a team
Focusing on my leadership skills throughout the semester, I learned how to effectively lead and guide a team through a project. I did so by creating daily to do lists, encouraging everyone to participate in discussion, and setting clear goals for each activity. I feel confident with my leadership abilities, and learned useful skills that can be transitioned to other groups.
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02 the ins and outs of a research project
Before this, all projects I had been a part of resulted in some sort of wireframe or prototype. This was my first true research project, and I learned what that entails. I was able to hone my research skills and focus more on finding data, rather than thinking about the design of possible UI. I thought I would really dislike a research project, but I found myself really enjoying it. Now, I welcome any future research projects and any opportunity to conduct research.