Case Study Soufflé.ai
For the final project I teamed up with Yudy to create a feature for the Soufflé.ai web app. Soufflé.ai is an online application for restaurateurs to manage their utilization of multiple delivery apps for one or more of their restaurants. The web app aims to optimize the restaurateurs’ use of delivery apps by allowing them to synchronize multiple services at the same time and offers price adjustments in real time through the use of artificial intelligence. The stakeholders gave us the task to create a feature with which restaurateurs could manage promotions in said delivery apps over time, for multiple restaurants and with different options. The promotion management would also employ artificial intelligence to automatically set up promotions for different restaurants at different times based on statistical analysis of order patterns.
We started out with a briefing and a stakeholder interview. Our stakeholders Saachi and Fabien laid out the plan to create a feature to manage promotions inspired by a time table/calendar layout. They want to reach independent restaurateurs with different business models and assist them with their delivery offering to ultimately increase revenue. The stakeholders want to keep the set up and usage of the web app and promotion feature as easy as possible so restaurant owners can effortlessly get going but the promotion management should also allow for manual set up and customization of individual promos.
Yudy and me conducted a competitive analysis and concluded which and how to integrate which features. There are some competitors who offer more or less similar products to soufflé.ai. Soufflé.ai wants to stand out by their use of AI to automatise pricing changes and promotion management.
Ghost Kitchen Concept
During the research we encountered the concept of the ghost kitchen, a delivery only service that doesn’t accommodate dining in. A ghost kitchen is usually a franchisee that offers multiple cuisines from a single location. We realized that this business concept could benefit greatly from the services that Soufflé.ai offers as they are solely focused on delivery.
User Persona and User Journey Map
For the User Persona we created Daniela, a young entrepeneur who manages five ghost kitchens. She wants a solution to easily manage various delivery services, franchises and locations simultaneously in one app. The AI aspect of Soufflé.ai allows Daniela to automatise pricing and promotions. She wants to increase sales by reaching more customers and further her online presence while spending less time dealing with the delivery apps.
In the User Journey Map we detailed Daniela’s thought process while implementing Soufflé.ai into her business model.
We formulated the problem statement as “Restaurateurs want to automate their delivery business. We have observed that delivery apps complicate the process which causes them to lose out on revenue and waste time.”
Ideation
With the problem statement we thought up features. For the promotion section we concluded that an overview (calendar), editing promotions and a toggle for automatic promotions are must haves. Furthermore a statistical overview should be available to the customer. Also a map that shows customer locations would be nice to have.
User Flow
We devised user flows for the automatic and manual setup of promotions.
Low Fidelity
In the first low fidelity iteration we created a calendar with days on the x axis and time on the y axis. The manual user flow where the customer selects goals, restaurants, platforms, type of promotion and editing of the promotion were also put in place.
Mid Fidelity
For mid fidelity we transformed the statistics page to a sidebar next to the calendar on the main page. We also changed the y axis to not show time but icons for each delivery app. The time was moved into the promotion buttons. We also added a dialogue to choose automatic or manual promotions. We added a button to filter by restaurant.
Throughout the iterative process we incorporated the feedback of stakeholders, restaurateurs and other students. The display of the promotions in the calendar was changed multiple times and a few smaller statistical visualisations were added. The stakeholders also recommended options to show three days and a single day overview in addition to the weekly overview.
Visual Competitive Analysis
We looked at two competitors for the visual competitive analysis. They opted for similar clean and modern designs with friendly colours for visualisation purposes.
Moodboard
For the moodboard we tried to show the AI aspect and aimed to convey statistics, effortlessness, organized, centralisation, tech, friendly, secure, supportive. The feedback we got was mostly in line with what we aimed for.
Style Tile
In the stylistic process we applied the same colours and typeface from the already existing Soufflé interface. We created a few buttons for promotions and calendar conforming with Soufflé’s standing style.
High Fidelity Protoype
Desirability Testing And Further Ideas
The customer response from a restaurateur was positive, they said the design was simple, clean and straightforward.
For further additions Soufflé could implement a map which shows where the deliveries go to and times. Also a semiautomatic process as a middle ground between the automatic and manual could be added, giving the restaurateur more in depth customisation options for subsequent automatic promotions