AnyList — Case Study
By: Hajrah Mushtaq
Tags: UX Design, Grocery App Development, Figma, UI Design, Ironhack

A feature added to a Grocery Lists Sharing App

Another story from my journey at Ironhack!

Challenge

This time I was given a solo challenge to:

Analyse an already existing mobile app (android / iOS)and incorporate a new feature into the existing product.

I had two weeks time to complete this task and for the first time on my own, which was both challenging and exciting.

I chose AnyList as I had to go through a drill to choose a grocery listing app for myself as I am a forgetful person and I have to keep track of groceries along with my partner, AnyList made the job easier by sharing the lists with my partner and we both could update our lists in real-time. The platform I would be working for is Android.

Empathize

Client Research

I started off by doing some research about AnyList. There’s no shortage of grocery list apps in Apple’s mobile app store, but the real kicker of the AnyList app formula is its ability to share and update multiple shopping lists in near real-time. AnyList was founded by Jeff Hunter & Jason Marr, based in California. They were roommates and they often bungled the buying process.

Founders of AnyList App

The app was first launched in Apple Store, in 2011.

Market Research

To have a better idea of what the competitors are offering and where does AnyList lag, I conducted Feature Competitive Analysis with other companies like Out of Milk, Listonic, Our Groceries.

Feature Competitive Analysis

I noticed that AnyList does not offer Voice Input feature and it does not suggest items to add to the list as some other competitors do.

Playstore Reviews

I looked into the reviews at Playstore to find out what people are liking and disliking about the app.

“Good app for what it does but I shouldn’t be required to have an account to make a list. Why you need my information to make a list? ” — Cameron Williams “In-app experience was great, but the app is missing a widget, which is critical for any list app.” — Jan Smrcina “ Needs to be smart to remove similar items from all lists. ” — Hoda Mustafa

User Interviews

I also interviewed 5 users to dig into the pains of our users and below is what they say!

“Want to add voice notes to a list. ” — Fatima “More options for sharing as text. ” — Irene “Want to put a reminder to a list. ” — Harry “Add pictures with an item. ” — Ashar “Doesn’t take permission for list sharing. ”- Haris

Affinity Diagram

I put all the insights from User Interviews and Playstore Reviews into Affinity Diagram to brainstorm about the solution.

Affinity Diagram

Ideate

User Persona

Then I created a Proto Persona of my primary user while listing his goals and frustrations to have a better idea of our user.

Primary Persona

Lean UX Canvas

To have a better idea of the whole scenario, I put my ideas onto the Lean UX Canvas. Now I had a clear idea of what my business problem is, who is my user, what solutions I can provide to help the business and user.

Lean UX Canvas

User Flow

I defined the user flow that Harry follows to Set Reminder to Albert Heijn List in his app.

User Flow — Reminder Set

Define

Through Dot Voting I decided on what solution idea to work on, as I had to add one feature to the app. I got maximum votes on the “Set Reminder with a list” feature.

Then I focused on the main problem and defined the problem statement and concluded a Hypothesis for the problem.

Problem Statement

Harry needs to find a way to remember purchasing the grocery items at the right time so he can have them in stock when needed.

Hypothesis Statement

I believe that by having a feature for setting reminders in his grocery listing app, Harry will be able to timely stock the required grocery items.

Prototype

After defining my problem, I started working on the prototype.

Concept Sketches

I created two versions of the feature. In Version, A user could set only one alarm with one list. Whereas in Version B user could add more alarms to a list.