THE PROBLEM

Bowlero locations faced challenges with underperforming sales, frequent absenteeism, and inadequate employee training, which affected overall business performance. The mandate: redesign the app to increase food and beverage sales, improve attendance, and enhance employee training—all within six months.

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UX RESEARCH

To gather valuable insights into the app's performance and identify the most important concepts for users, I conducted a comprehensive survey involving 151 Bowlero employees and facilitated 8 in-depth user interviews. The app’s primary KPIs focused on boosting sales, increasing attendance, and enhancing employee training through daily quizzes. The survey and interviews uncovered key challenges and opportunities that significantly influenced the app's future direction.

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FINDINGS

• Expand Challenges: 13% of users feel the app doesn’t suit their role. To engage more employees, add manager challenges, kitchen staff rewards, and center vs. center competitions.
• Shift Management: 10% of users want the ability to view and manage their schedules. Add a shift management feature for more convenience.
• Fix Bugs: To improve performance, address issues like quizzes not appearing, inaccurate sales data, frequent logouts, and app crashes.
• Boost Recognition: 60% of users are motivated by rewards. Introduce shout-outs, coin rewards, and badges to increase engagement and morale.‍
• Update Training: 45% of users want more comprehensive quizzes and training. Add new quizzes, training modules, and badges for completion.

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PERSONAS

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Creating personas post-launch helps refine our understanding of real users, guiding improvements and ensuring the app stays relevant and user-focused.

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By analyzing data from Google Analytics, conducting in-person interviews, and reviewing survey responses, I identified key behavioral patterns and preferences among Bowlero staff. This multi-faceted approach allowed me to create detailed personas that accurately reflect the diverse needs and motivations of the app's users, ensuring the redesign would effectively engage and reward employees across various roles.

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JOURNEY MAP

After conducting in-depth user interviews, we documented the day-to-day activities of each role, such as sales associates, kitchen staff, and management, using journey maps to visualize workflows, pain points, and motivations. This approach highlighted differences and shared challenges, helping us design tailored solutions that aligned the app’s features with the workforce's real needs. Key insights included the need for shift planning tools for management and targeted challenges for kitchen teams, ensuring the app was both personalized and relevant across roles.

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CARD SORTING EXERCISE

To structure the Goldfish app, we conducted a card-sorting exercise, referencing UX research, personas, and journey maps. This helped us define the app's main pillars and sub-sections clearly. I integrated new features, placing them strategically within the app's framework. This exercise initiated a valuable conversation with engineering and leadership, ensuring alignment and gaining buy-in for the updated structure.

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IDEATION

The team agreed that the Goldfish app should evolve into a comprehensive employee engagement platform that motivates all staff members, regardless of their role. We focused on the following core strategies to achieve this:

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CORE STRATEGIES

• Broaden Challenge & Reward Scope: Introduce challenges and rewards tailored to different roles, such as management and kitchen staff, to ensure everyone feels included and motivated.
• Improve Sales Data Accuracy: Work closely with the engineering team to enhance the accuracy of sales data displayed in the app.
• Diversify Quiz Content: Expand the range of quiz topics and difficulty levels to cater to all job roles, making daily engagement more meaningful.
• Push Notification Campaigns: Implement personalized push notifications to remind employees of upcoming challenges, rewards, and other key app features.

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WIREFRAMES AND EARLY CONCEPTS

The initial wireframes shown here were built based on the framework established during the card-sorting exercise. By mapping out the key sections and sub-features, I created a visual flow that aligned with user insights and journey maps. These early sketches served as a foundation to test various layout options and refine the design according to the feedback from stakeholders, ultimately guiding the development of the app’s final structure.

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I explored homepage variations, focusing on the information hierarchy and layout to highlight daily goals, announcements, and stats, ensuring users could quickly access key information to boost engagement.

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