Reimagining accessible self-service for elderly customers at Royal Mail
DESIGN FOR ACCESSIBLE SELF-SERVICE KIOSKS · USER RESEARCH · HUMAN FACTOR
Project Overview
The Team
Bingqing Cui, Le Chang, Natalia Mitina, Tulika Singh, Xuqian Hu
My Contribution
Responsible for observational research, interview, user flow and delivery of low to high prototyping
Timeline
Sep - Dec 2021
In the fall of 2021, our team investigated the self-service kiosks at Royal Mail and examined the overall posting experience. We found that elderly users are more likely to wait in line, despite the fact that over eighty-five percent of consumers consider self-service checkouts to be generally faster than waiting in line (The Raydient research, 2021).
In this case, we aimed to access the user needs related to self-service kiosks in order to better serve elderly users; to achieve this, we regenerated its user flow and developed an accessible mode, taking into consideration the decline in cognitive capacities among senior users.
What's the context?
Self-service technologies (SSTs) such as "transactions" and "information-related technologies" are being employed to deliver services (Boon-itt, 2015). As a result, service sectors are being driven to draw in more customers, deliver better services, and boost transaction execution. However, elderly users receive insufficient attention in the design and implementation of SSTs, leading to cognitive and social segregation among young people and older adults.
Challenge
We found that elderly users struggle to use self-service kiosks due to cognitive and sensory limitations. They often prefer to use the counter service because they are supported by another person throughout the process. Our challenge was to design a more accessible and user-friendly self-service kiosk that would meet the needs of elderly users.
AIMS
· To understand the behavior patterns when elderly customers engage in a posting service.
· To generate a more accessible functionality of the self-service kiosk.
Outcome
Design approach
Why is this a problem?
A large population has had experience using self-service kiosks, though, based on the findings of a basic questionnaire (The Raydient research, 2021), 67.3% found them "not work", including "system reacts slowly" and "high learning cost (of time) for the first time". Apart from these, although self-service kiosks minimize human interaction and contact to items, some are concerned about the "cleanliness of stationary self-checkout screens".
hen it comes to the elderly users in using self-service kiosks, we assume there should be advance human factor consideration as the aging process results in a decline in physical and cognitive capacities, including sensory, causing the elderly to have difficulties adopting technologies (Yap, Tan, & Choon, 2022).
Research findings
Opportunity
What features and design elements should be incorporated into a self-service kiosk to better serve elderly users, particularly those with limited tech literacy, and encourage them to use the kiosk instead of relying on counter service?
The solution
Flow chart
