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We explore the challenges pet owners face when traveling and use research insights to enhance Rover with new features that address these needs.
Conducted 5 user interviews (2 females, 3 males) with pet owners to gain insight into their current challenges. These interviews explored key topics such as cleaning, veterinary services, companionship, and pet health.
View Interview Protocol ↗
A Qualtrics survey with 28 responses was conducted to identify key challenges faced by pet owners and inform the affinity map.
Demographics: 19 cat owners, 7 dog owners, 1 hamster owner, and 1 fish owner.
"I often give up on shows because fast subtitles make me feel like I’m studying for an exam rather than relaxing. I just want to understand the slang without missing the scene."
"I worry so much about my cats when I'm not home because they can't take care of themselves."
How might we ensure pet owners feel fully informed about potential caretakers' experience and trustworthiness?
How might we arrange for pet owners and caretakers to meet comfortably prior to travel?
How might we give just-in-time updates to pet owners while they're away?
Connect reliable, vetted pet caretakers directly to pet owners.
Check-in on pet health and status anytime while traveling.
Provide flexible, customizable pet care options.
Provide attentive, personalized care for each pet's unique needs.
Empathizing with target users was key to our process, so we created fictional personas to better understand their needs, priorities, and pain points. By considering factors like affordability, convenience, reliability, and flexibility, we designed a solution that makes pet care more accessible and dependable for a range of users.
As a team, we brainstormed using techniques like Crazy 8s and the Wheel Randomizer. We then revisited user needs and unresolved frustrations to ensure our concept addressed pet owners’ core concerns.
Our competitive analysis examined existing pet care solutions, including TrustedHousesitters, Pet Sitters International, and Bark. We selected Rover to enhance because it is a trusted and widely used service that we primarily relied on to find pet care. Rather than creating a new platform, we focused on improving a familiar service based on identified user needs.
Guided by our user needs statement, we asked, “Which features best address users’ needs for trust, flexibility, and inclusivity?” This question led us to focus on the following feature directions for our final prototype:
Pet owners can vet pet caretakers by completing a questionnaire about their pet and preferences, helping identify their care needs and match them with a suitable pet sitter.
Pet owners can access care for animals beyond dogs and add multiple pets, including different animal types, during pre-screening or after initial setup.
Call To Action: Fetch the Purrfect Sitter Today!
This button starts the Match Maker Questionnaire and is simple, fun, and playful, just like our pets. It ensures universal understanding without any confusion.
Based on usability testing, we identified user challenges and ranked their severity using star ratings.
Pet owners need to complete the Match Maker questionare to see pet sitters.
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Pet owners can select a service and see available pet sitters.
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The app did not accommodate pet owners with multiple pets.
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Pet owners can choose which pet they want to find care for and add a new pet.
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Pet owners saw a match percentage based on their questionnaire responses, with 100% indicating that all their needs were met. They could then chat with the sitter, but couldn’t book immediately.
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Pet owners no longer see match percentages and can either chat with the sitter or book immediately after being matched.
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Created a video highlighting potential new Rover features, including a Match Maker questionnaire and an expanded service offering to accommodate other types of animals.
Identifying gaps in existing solutions helped us recognize that improving an established platform can be more effective than creating a new app from scratch.
Clear role distribution, strong communication, and flexibility allowed the team to collaborate effectively and pivot as new insights emerged.
Future iterations would expand pet inclusivity, refine the prototype, and include testing with more diverse participants.
