Zalo Connect
During the COVID pandemic in Vietnam, Zalo Connect, a mini-app within Zalo, gained popularity by finding assistance and connecting small businesses to households to buy food, utilities, and medicine under restrictions. However, as the pandemic receded and restrictions were lifted, Zalo Connect faced challenges in finding a new direction and establishing its unique branding.
Despite these challenges, we remained optimistic about the app's potential to continue to expand and support small business owners who are active on Zalo.
Date
August 2022 - March 2023. Released on market on April 2023
The team
1 product owner, 1 designer with guidance from 1 senior lead designer, 1 writer and teams of developers and QC
What I did
User research, wireframe, hi-fi prototype, user testing, final product
01
Research
Insights from user data indicate a promising marketplace
2,7 million users
Utilize their Zalo social profiles to sell products
2-6 posts per day
Users post their listings actively with seasonal products
Wholesalers
made one of the largest groups on the platform
However, there are many pain points with the current version
Lack diversity and content
Each shop has a single profile with a field of description to write down all of their products and shipping information. Based on users' locations, these profiles are made into the main feed. Since the shop profiles and pictures remain the same for a long period on the newsfeed, users are discouraged from exploring new content.
To update listings, sellers need to submit a new profile and wait up to 24 hours for approval. This system was put in place during COVID-19 restrictions but has become obsolete as sellers now have access to a wider range of products and update their listing daily.
Lack solid positioning
Based on surveys and in-depth interviews with sellers and buyers, it was found that Zalo Connect lacks a strong position in the users' views. Many users are still confused about what can be purchased on Zalo Connect.
Hard to use
The mini-app is considered difficult to use by many, especially the content posting process and the location-based feed.
Zalo Connect currently lacks new content and is difficult for both buyers and sellers to use. How might we find ways to assist sellers in easily updating their listings and effectively help buyers discover them?
Based on research we recommend focusing on 2 values
Food focus
Food currently constitutes more than 85% of the content on the mini-app, selling fresh ingredients, countryside specialties, and unique imports not commonly found in supermarkets at very affordable prices.
Conveniently message buyers
Food purchase requires quick and convenient communication between sellers and buyers to bargain or inquire about product information.
02
Iteration
Two main criteria are identified to guide the direction of solution exploration
Fast and easy
Ensure that the mini-app is user-friendly and clearly communicates its purpose
MVP
Given that we need to release as soon as possible to receive feedback and evaluate shop turnout, our priority will be to design only the core features.
User flows
We started to define:
Seller registration flow from social feed
Seller registration flow from the mini-app
Buyer's purchase flow
We had several brainstorming and review sessions with my senior lead designer and product owners for 3 months, from user flows, wireframe to high-fidelity mockups to make the final decisions.
03
Our solution
Zalo Connect now focuses on food
Food is now the main focus of Zalo Connect, with an emphasis on specialties and fresh ingredients. Users can message sellers to buy products and get more information, just as they usually do.
Previously, users needed to be friends with sellers on Zalo to see product listings on their profiles. With Zalo Connect, users can discover more products nearby without being friends with sellers.
A brand new look
After conducting several interviews with the seller, it was apparent that the branding needed to be updated to better align with their image and message. I chose a more playful and cheerful approach, using vibrant colors that accurately represent the seller's values and personality, while keeping the core of Zalo branding.
Seller’s shop registration
To comply with the new safety regulations, sellers must follow steps to migrate to the new version. Dividing the process into smaller steps helps users easily register new shops. One of the challenges we face is how to deal with:
Shops on the old version of Zalo Connect wanting to migrate to the new version
Shops selling non-food products or a combination of food and other products, now want to migrate to the new version.
New regulations require identity verification for each shop, resulting in a mix of unverified old shops and verified new shops on the platform.
New regulations require a shop approval process conducted by the Zalo safety team, which typically takes a maximum of 24 hours to approve.
Seller registration flow from the mini-app
Feed and Buyer’s purchase flow
To improve the efficiency of the old feed ranking system, we introduced 3 factors: distance, time, and number of followers into the equation. We settled on a satisfactory number after testing various priorities and weights, with distance being the most important.
For better content discovery, aside from the regular feed, there is suggestion carousel of many shops nearby for users to discover.
The filter design is changed into chips to be more clickable with larger text size and stronger contrast, encouraging users to discover more categories.
Card design
The description is increased to 4 lines for a better grasp of the post content.
The main objective is for buyers to send messages to sellers, so the message button is designed as the primary button. The text is also changed from “Message" to roughly translated “Ask for detail" for a better context of buying food online.
Due to technical limitations, only the carousel layout is feasible for displaying photos.
Post detail
04
The results
Compared to the old version, there has been an increase in the number of shops from 40k to 400k during the first 3 months of launch.
Zalo Connect receives more than 1M monthly traffic on average.
The new approach encourages users to stay on the app longer and discover new content, with an average of 10 post views per session.
Sellers are happy with the new flow as it is similar to their behavior on social media. They find it easy to register shops and post their daily content compared to the old version.
