Order Tracking System
Leverage strategy and UX methods to design an order tracking system that instills confidence.
Time
2024
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My Role
UX Strategist
UX Designer
Responsibility
Proposal
UX Flow
Information Architecture
Project Brief​
Background
​​After the global launch of our new products in 2023, the purchasing experience quickly became a key challenge.
Customer Care Team received complaints from customers about their online shopping experience on the VIVE.com :
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Difficulty locating their order status.
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Uncertainty about which stage their order is in.
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Questions about when their orders would be delivered.
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Most of issues are about order status.
To address these issues, the team has decided to optimize the e-commerce online purchasing experience.
Impact
After the project ended, the team continued to monitor customer feedback reports.
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Compared to before, the optimized order tracking system led to an approximate 29.33% reduction in weekly customer complaints after its launch.
Define
Objective and Strategy
Before designing, it is essential to understand the core value of the service.
The team has set the primary goal for this optimization:
To ensure customers feel a sense of reassurance throughout the purchasing process.
In the subsequent design process, we will base all design tasks on this goal as the starting point.
In response to the issues raised by customer complaints, the team devised a first strategy:
Optimizing the Order Tracking Experience.
Optimize
Action Plan
The team has limited manpower resource and we need to quickly validate business ideas, therefore, the team decided to implement an MVP plan.
We chose to start with "reviewing the existing forward logistics mechanism to create a more intuitive order tracking system.”
After launch, the team will verify whether this strategy and design outcome meet customer needs.
Action Plan I
First, I created the initial version of the UX Flow diagram to outline the optimization direction for the entire forward logistics mechanism.
The initial version of the UX Flow diagram
I categorized the UX Flow into “online checkout” and “offline bank transfer” to review the existing order tracking system comprehensively.
From this, the team assumed the key issues:
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Even though the forward logistics mechanism is highly complete, the order statuses are not fully displayed on the “My Order Page”, making customers feel anxious about the progress of their orders.
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On the “My Order Page”, the wording for each stage of the order status is ambiguity, making it difficult for customers to understand the true meaning of each status.
We decided to prioritize clarifying the meaning of each order status, including:
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Pending Payment
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Order Placed
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Shipment Processing
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Shipped
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Delivered
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Order Canceled
We engaged in iterative discussions with the RD team to define system trigger points for each order status, ensuring a well-defined order tracking system.
This process led to the refinement of the second version of the UX Flow diagram.
The refined second iteration of the UX Flow diagram
Action Plan II
“My Order Page” serves as the primary touchpoint for customers to check their order status after placing an order.
Regarding the optimization of the order tracking system, I propose that we also review the existing “My Order Page” to assess the completeness of the information presented to customers.
The team identified several issues with the “My Order Page”:
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Lack of organized information architecture throughout the page.
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Key information is not clearly highlighted:
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- The order status descriptions are vague and unclear.
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Customers cannot easily determine how many more stages remain before they receive their product.
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The definitions for dates and times are ambiguous.
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Customers are uncertain about what actions they can take.
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These issues may cause customers to feel anxious and uneasy during the waiting period between purchasing the product and its delivery.
Therefore, establishing a clear and structured information architecture on the page and providing detailed order information to customers has become the second step in the team's action plan.
Based on the identified issues, we outlined five key design priorities:
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Implement the defined order statuses on the page according to the refined UX flow.
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Ensure that each order status can be triggered and displayed appropriately.
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Display the trigger date and time for each order status.
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Clearly explain the meaning of each order status, enabling customers to understand the current stage and what actions, if any, they need to take.
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Focus on highlighting critical information in the interface design to ensure readability and easy comprehension.
The five key design priorities aim to achieve three main objectives to enhance customer peace of mind:
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Information Transparency: Enable customers to clearly understand the progress of their orders, reducing uncertainty and confusion.
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Progress Tracking: Displaying specific times for each order status helps customers reasonably anticipate the next step, such as delivery time.
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Strengthening Trust: Build customer trust in the platform or service.
Action Plan III​
In addition to optimizing the order tracking system, we also considered other feasible and effective customer service solutions to enhance the overall shopping experience and meet customer needs.
Of course, the team will not forget the original goal: to ensure that customers feel a sense of reassurance throughout the purchasing process.
We decided to optimize customer service and notification mechanisms.
Even outside the official website, we ensure that customers can receive order progress updates directly in their familiar email inbox.
Therefore, I collaborated with the project’s PM to enhance the UX Flow by incorporating a more comprehensive order status email notification mechanisms. We iterated the final version of the flowchart and worked with the RD team to ensure the proposal's execution and implementation.
The final iteration of the UX Flow diagram
In addition, the team further optimized the email content to ensure consistency between the copy in the emails and the order status descriptions displayed on the "My Order Page," achieving the most comprehensive synchronization of order information.
Finally, we introduced a new link section at the bottom of the emails:
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The link to “My Order Page.”
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The link to “FAQ Page.”
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The link to “Contact Us.”
With the improvements to the "My Order Page," this section in the emails not only adds an additional “entry point” but also encourages customers to achieve self-service independently.
Deliver
Performance Tracking
The team firstly implemented the optimized order tracking system in the European Union.
To validate the effectiveness of our optimization strategy, the Customer Care Team provided us with customer feedback reports every month.
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Before implementation (Week 1 to 9): total 51 inquiries (Average 5.66 per week)
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After implementation (Week 11 to 31): total 84 inquiries (Average 4 per week)
A decrease of 29.33% compared to the weekly volume before the implementation of the order tracking system.
What is Next
According to the customer feedback reports provided by the Customer Care Team, the team's strategies and design outcomes for the order tracking system, as well as the customer service and notification mechanisms, have proven effective, validating the success of our MVP plan.
Next, the team will gradually implement the optimized design across all global regions, including NAM, APAC, and others. Additionally, the strategies and designs will be extended to the reverse logistics mechanism.
This is a cross-departmental collaborative project with a global scope, requiring frequent communication and coordination. After identifying the issues, we started by defining the objectives, leveraging strategies and UX skills to implement each action plan solidly, addressing customer needs in a comprehensive manner.
Throughout the process, I came to deeply appreciate the value of cross-departmental collaboration, effective communication, and agile execution. These elements were crucial in successfully implementing the optimizations within just three months, driving the service toward continuous improvement.