The Pain-points Employees have more to remind customers about at the register which could increase wait time and overall decrease the quality of the customer’s experience Employees lose time they could be spending on other tasks Employees frequently remind customers of the following: - Store hours - Items available - 2nd hand selling services There is less inventory available for buyers If customers don’t sell items, inventory will decrease Many customers do not know that they can sell their items in-store Customers do not know about the variety of items available in the store
Final Designs Iteration 4 Re-creating Icons Iteration 3 Iteration 2 Feedback Iteration 1 I also took into account the store-window space. One goals was to have the posters printed and placed in the window. I tried to take into account walking traffice as well as where the customers’ eyes might travel. Given that BookOff USA serves a prodominantly English, Japanese, and Spanish speaking customer base, I wanted to make the headers short, simple, and familiar phrases ( phrases like “valid ID” can be heard or seen in federal buildings ). <-- For this poster in particular, I tried to list items in order of demand for our invenory but also more interesting as a viewer reads down the list ( starting with books, ending with figures which is already unexpected from a book store ) I grabbed my tablet and began sketching. A lot of the past signage didn’t take into account neither the US nor the Japan BookOff brand, so I essentially had free range to create company signage. I wanted to add visuals and shapes that reflected the bubbliness of both logos and assist in linguistic acessibility. Initial Sketches
All images are owned by Eli Boahen, and cannot be used without express permission from them.
From January to May 2021, I led a project where I produced posters to improve customer relations, sales, and helped customers understand the services available at BookOff USA.
BookOff USA CX Design
Projects By Eli
Highlighted Projects Skillset Summary
The project explained below was the main project I worked on during those 5 months.
I was a Sales Associate at BookOff NYC for about 6 months. I learned a lot about the second-hand market and took time to listen to customers and understand their needs. After working the floor and getting lots of feedback, I realized that BookOff had some obstacles that effected all aspects of the business.
The Backstory
In the Fall of 2020, I got a part-time job at BookOff NYC. My goal was to gain customer service experience and experience working in a Japanese company. What I found was an interest in CX and Service Design, which soon turned into this project.
After months of interviweing customers and coworkers, and making mental notes, I present to you my map!
. . . It’s a little hard to follow. Let me show you it this way:
Company Goal: Sell good quality second-hand items and make a profit Challenge: Having enough inventory to support demand Employees Goal: Screen second-hand items and create a smooth check-out exepreince Challenge: Balancing roles with customer care Customers Goal: Buy movies, books, gifts, tech, and collectables for a low price Challenge: Finding the items they’re looking for
The Customer
The Company
The Employees
Customers struggle to find items
Employees frequently remind customers about store hours & services while shelving
Less sellers means less inventory
Many customers do not know that they can sell their items in-store
Surplus invetory is disposed of, increasing losses
Inventory numbers can fluctuate based on how many items sellers bring
Employees need to infom customers about promotions at the register
Empolyees at the register rotate between 3 roles at the front counter: Purchase, Payout, and Checkout
Delays at checkout answering cutomer questions & infoming them about promotions
Altogether, there was an information gap and this gap had an impact on customer experience, employee experience, and company sales. The marketing strategy at that time exacerbated other pain-points across the board.
I focused on how to improve company-customer communication to close that information gap. My first step on that journey: What are our goals?
How can we help customers find what they’re looking for, know if BookOff may have it, inform them about the selling process, and answer their frequently asked questions?
Signage
With this, I understood what each party needs and their pains. Now, how do I help them?
The Summary Not only did we increase customer curiosity— customers on the street stopping to read our signs—but we decreased checkout time. Overall:
ü Customers who were already shopping spent more time in store looking for other merchandise Check-out time decreased and employee efficency as many questions were answered on the signs The selling process became more streamlined: Less customers went to the check-out line to sell items and new customers knew where to line up to sell items Employee efficiency increased: More time spent shelving, a decrease in FAQs at check-out or while managing merchandise New customers
ü ü ü ü
The project was a success!
In the end, the posters improved both sales and CX, but there is also room for improvement. With formal surveying, I could deliver quatitavtive data and I could create better seasonal signage to match inventory influx and customer needs. The B-log