The SmartWithFood app, for food to suit your needs The project Are you a vegetarian or vegan? Are you looking for gluten-free or lactose-free products? Or do you just want to quickly and easily find the right food products to suit your taste and diet? With the SmartWithFood app, you simply scan the product s barcode and immediately find out whether it fits your needs and preferences. The app will even suggest alternative options. The SmartWithFood app recognizes almost all products at Colruyt, Bio-Planet and Okay, as well as the range of Colruyt Group products in participating Spar supermarkets. SmartWithFood, together with Human Interface Group, chose to use iterative user tests and diary studies, to ensure the app would be perfectly geared to the user s needs. Human Interface Group 1
The challenge The SmartWithFood app offers an innovative solution, but this comes with a number of challenges. In addition, consumers often have high expectations of an application. If an app cannot meet their expectations immediately, they won t take long to dump it. How can we maximize user retention? Value An app will only be successful if it clearly has added value. Initially, the app s purpose was to help people suffering from food intolerance make the right dietary choices. When we started user testing in the early stages, we noticed however that people who want to make well-considered consumer choices as part of their personal lifestyle were also very keen. People who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, for example. Or people who want to avoid added sugar. This meant that we had to ensure clear added value for various personas. Interaction Ease of interaction and navigation are basic elements, of course. Scanning products is a key action in this app, hence we wanted to be sure that consumers walking through the supermarket, or taking something from their kitchen cupboard at home, would be able to do this easily and swiftly. But with a shopping list in one hand and a shopping cart in the other hand, will consumers still be willing to take their smartphone and scan a product? And for how long will the app remain interesting to the consumer? Once you know whether a certain product is right for you and which are the alternatives, will there be enough incentive to continue using the app? We wanted to answer all those questions before launching the app. Scanning in the supermarket, do people find it practical? Human Interface Group 2
User onboarding Consumers will not just stumble upon this app. They ll read about it in a magazine or a blog, or hear friends talking about it, and will then go and find it. That s how they ll end up on the website or the SmartWithFood pages in app stores. These have to not only clearly show the value, but also excite consumers to use the app. That s why we had to be sure, before the launch, that we would be able to bring consumers on board through these various channels. Users often judge apps based on the information in the app store. Human Interface Group 3
The results Thanks to a combination of focus groups, user tests and diary studies, we were able to perfectly gear the app, from concept to final version, to the consumer s needs. That s the way to confidently launch an app! Value The user tests quickly revealed an enormous need for reliable nutritional information. The test participants were immediately very enthusiastic about the application. We also noted that the needs of the different personas were being met quite well: l The newbies, people who have only recently discovered they or their child have a food intolerance, can use this app to find out whether products are suitable or not. l People who have been living with an intolerance for much longer (the specialists ) are often stuck in a one-track diet, always using the same safe products. With this app, they can now discover new products and broaden their diet. l The app also supports a third group, the lifestylers. They use the app to easily find vegetarian or vegan products or avoid sugar or preservatives. l And for those who are watching their calories, the app offers a wealth of information about nutritional value and the equivalent in physical exercise for each portion. Human Interface Group 4
The app shows a product s nutritional value and suggests alternative options. Proof of usability The entire app s interaction was tested and improved through several rounds of user testing and diary studies. The use of the scanner was highly appreciated. Users find it fun and easily get the hang of it. We were also able to pinpoint where exactly more support was needed. Tooltips were included here and there, to help users discover the various functions at the right time. Human Interface Group 5
Context Beta-testing and diary studies gave us an insight in the most effective use in shops, and allowed us to make recommendations to further improve the experience. Users also really appreciated the fact that feedback about missing information can be sent from the app to SmartWithFood in a very simple way. A lot of people consequently opted to be kept up to date. This increases the sense of involvement. That s how your users will become real ambassadors for your app. It s very easy for users to give feedback. User onboarding With the feedback received from test subjects, we were also able to improve the information on the website and in the app stores. Consumers especially appreciated: l The pleasant and modern range of colors. This was considered very positive and reliable. l The fact that the SmartWithFood platform has a scientific basis. This further increases the app s reliability. l The clear graphics that quickly indicate how the app works. Human Interface Group 6
The images in the tutorial immediately show how the app works. During the agile development of the SmartWithFood app, Human Interface Group consistently carried out both usability and UX testing. This resulted in an optimized application matching user needs and SWF s objectives. We are very pleased with the result. Ilse Van der Weeën, Marketing Manager Human Interface Group 7
What we did By gaining increasingly more insight from consumers, from the first concept to the final screens, we helped to get this app ready to launch. Phase 1 User tests The first user tests focused on usability. Can users find the various functionalities; can they use the app without help; etc.? In general, the app was considered to be intuitive, but we did find a few usability problems. For example, users were struggling to navigate because of the different navigation mechanisms: swiping, scrolling, clicking buttons. By simplifying this, the app became much easier to use. During these user tests, we also noted the impact the app had on the different personas: l specialists : have had a food intolerance for a long time, know exactly what they can and cannot eat, but are also a bit stuck in a dietary rut. For these people, it s not enough to know whether they can or cannot eat the scanned product. The real added value for them is in the alternative options the app suggests. l newbies : have found out about their intolerance just recently, and are still looking to find out what they can or cannot eat. For these people, seeing whether the product is suitable is a big added value. l deniers : know that they should follow a certain diet because of medical reasons, but don t do this enough or don t do it consistently in their daily life. The app is of little value to them. l lifestylers : avoid or choose certain food products because of a deliberate personal choice. This group especially became more and more important during the entire process. Consequently, the app was expanded to meet their needs. The app has added value for the different personas. Human Interface Group 8
Phase 2 Beta-testing and diary studies We had now solved the interaction problems, but in order to be sure that the app would be a hit, we took the process a step further. We asked 32 people to keep a diary for an entire month. Our intention was to evaluate whether consumers would continue to use the app in the long run. At the end of the month, we discussed the participants feedback during focus groups, so as to gain more insight. What did we learn? We learned, for example, that the reliability of the information is crucial. But we also learned a lot of other things that proved to be very useful for the app s further evolution. In the long run, users share unexpected but crucial insights. Phase 3 Ready to launch In order to be perfectly prepared for the launch, we did a last round of tests. We wanted to validate the changes that were made based on previous feedback, just one last time. Thanks to this final fine-tuning, we were really ready to launch! Human Interface Group 9
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