oBike Application Critique
oBike is a really popular bike rental app where you rent the bike where ever the last person left it by unlocking the bike using the app, and use it until you reach your destination where you can just lock it where it is, allowing the next person to rent from where you leave it.
So group 3 made a really good presentation on oBike and I shall attempt to summarize their presentation in 3 points which I feel are the most important.
1. Background
oBike is an up and coming startup which has recently raised a $45m series B funding. They are also expanding quickly into more than 10 countries, utilizing the first mover's advantage to try and capture the market share before stronger presences like Mobike and Ofo, which are oBike's strongest competitors who originated from China, appear.
It seems from their presentation that oBike is taking the right steps towards expanding as they have garnered the support from their investors and have begun capturing some market share. In the Q&A, group 3 mentioned that oBike probably does not want to go into very mature markets to fight for market share since they probably do not have the financial power to do so and their products are significantly weaker. (Someone quipped that the bikes are very good for losing weight because they require more strength to travel the same distance).
I feel like this point is important to me because I have been involved in startups before and often there is a lot of focus on growth hacking and expansion because the investor's expect a really high return on investment and they are pressured to do so.
To me, it seems like a mistake to expand before confirming that your core value proposition is really the best. Even in Singapore, if oBike has worse bikes than Mobike and Ofo, and the only reason they are winning over the competition is through discounts, they either have to maintain the cost advantage overseas, or risk getting their market share wrestled away in awhile. Either that or they can IPO or get bought out before that! (tsk Snapchat)
2. Poor UI/UX
oBike suffers from the cluttered UI problem. On first usage, group 4 was extremely confused because there was no guidance for new users on how to properly reserve a bike and unlock it.
Even after they realise how to do it, if the user is situated in a place where there are a lot of bikes, it is extremely unclear which exact one the bike is as the entire screen is filled with ugly red circles that block up the map. The initial page is also daunting with too many buttons.
Other than that, there are also quirks like the start and destination not working probably since the flag auto calibrates back to the center of the map on moving the map.
This point is really important because the way your users use your app ultimately defines your success, not how you intend your users to use your app.
From their comments it seems like using the app is a nightmare.
However, from experience as well as searching up reviews, it appears UX within the app is not such a big problem compared to UX of the entire bike rental service provided which I shall elaborate further about in the last section.
Perhaps the usage of the app may be similar to an experience I had in Korea. I first found the bike that I wanted to rent, before I downloaded it. As such, I had a clear idea of where the bike was and what the app was intended to do. Thus, all I had to do was confirm my payment and unlock the bike using my phone. This could probably be most of the user stories of oBike which may be why no one is really complaining about the UI/UX even though there are quite a few glaring mistakes!
3. Gamification
One of the more easily missed portion of group 3's presentation would be the various non-core features that oBike has on their app.
They talked about oBike Credits as a way to gamify and reward good behavior so that users do not damage the bike. Although we know that a poorer credit will result in more expensive rental rates, one complaint is that the extent of the increased cost for lower credits or discounts for high credit rating users is unknown.
Another feature that was mentioned was the carbon trace saved as well as calories burnt. (Calories saved was mistakenly said at first haha) This feature will allow users to feel proud of themselves for having saved the earth by that amount of carbon trace as well as show off to their partners for having burnt that amount of calories.
An interesting discussion I would like to bring up as of now would be : When does it become a feature bloat?
These seemingly excessive features do not seem to provide any value to the core value proposition of bike rental at first glance. For example, knowing how much I have saved in carbon saved does not affect how convenient it was for me to travel from point A to point B at the lowest cost.
However, it did make me feel like I made the healthier choice, which would cause me perceive that this service has provided to me a greater service than simply just travel.
The credit rating function also allows me to feel as if I have done my part in being a good, responsible citizen who is trustworthy enough to handle a bike properly. It makes me take pride in my discounts for higher credit and also scorn and disdain, which will hopefully discourage, those who have really low credits. I still feel similarly to group 3 in that I believe the formula should be released to the world so as to make me feel like I really have gotten a tangible benefit from the good behavior, no matter how small it may be.
In conclusion, to sum up my "original" thoughts,
I feel that although oBike may seem like they are on the right track and expanding quickly with their successful and super large Series B round funding, I believe that it would do them good to always reiterate and improve the core value proposition. This is evidenced through looking their app store reviews: many are complaining of lousy or faulty bikes, or that the bike are hard to find.
This also ties in with the UX problem. I believe that their app functions perfectly fine, other than that it may not be as the developer intended. The users seem to have all found their ways to use it, and perhaps only a minor experiment on how users actually use the application should be conducted to better streamline the flow of the app to fit the actual UX.
I quite like the attempts of gamification that oBike has done in rewarding user's good behavior and making users feel good about themselves after using oBike. However, I believe alot more still needs to be done to catch bad users and fix their bikes as I believe most of the complaints of oBike users are that the bikes are faulty and they cannot do anything about it.
Ultimately, I feel that oBike has a really great potential and I would love to see a Singaporean startup appear on the global scene, but I think they have to really listen hard to their users and make sure they please their users.
So group 3 made a really good presentation on oBike and I shall attempt to summarize their presentation in 3 points which I feel are the most important.
1. Background
oBike is an up and coming startup which has recently raised a $45m series B funding. They are also expanding quickly into more than 10 countries, utilizing the first mover's advantage to try and capture the market share before stronger presences like Mobike and Ofo, which are oBike's strongest competitors who originated from China, appear.
It seems from their presentation that oBike is taking the right steps towards expanding as they have garnered the support from their investors and have begun capturing some market share. In the Q&A, group 3 mentioned that oBike probably does not want to go into very mature markets to fight for market share since they probably do not have the financial power to do so and their products are significantly weaker. (Someone quipped that the bikes are very good for losing weight because they require more strength to travel the same distance).
I feel like this point is important to me because I have been involved in startups before and often there is a lot of focus on growth hacking and expansion because the investor's expect a really high return on investment and they are pressured to do so.
To me, it seems like a mistake to expand before confirming that your core value proposition is really the best. Even in Singapore, if oBike has worse bikes than Mobike and Ofo, and the only reason they are winning over the competition is through discounts, they either have to maintain the cost advantage overseas, or risk getting their market share wrestled away in awhile. Either that or they can IPO or get bought out before that! (tsk Snapchat)
2. Poor UI/UX
oBike suffers from the cluttered UI problem. On first usage, group 4 was extremely confused because there was no guidance for new users on how to properly reserve a bike and unlock it.
Even after they realise how to do it, if the user is situated in a place where there are a lot of bikes, it is extremely unclear which exact one the bike is as the entire screen is filled with ugly red circles that block up the map. The initial page is also daunting with too many buttons.
Other than that, there are also quirks like the start and destination not working probably since the flag auto calibrates back to the center of the map on moving the map.
This point is really important because the way your users use your app ultimately defines your success, not how you intend your users to use your app.
From their comments it seems like using the app is a nightmare.
However, from experience as well as searching up reviews, it appears UX within the app is not such a big problem compared to UX of the entire bike rental service provided which I shall elaborate further about in the last section.
Perhaps the usage of the app may be similar to an experience I had in Korea. I first found the bike that I wanted to rent, before I downloaded it. As such, I had a clear idea of where the bike was and what the app was intended to do. Thus, all I had to do was confirm my payment and unlock the bike using my phone. This could probably be most of the user stories of oBike which may be why no one is really complaining about the UI/UX even though there are quite a few glaring mistakes!
3. Gamification
One of the more easily missed portion of group 3's presentation would be the various non-core features that oBike has on their app.
They talked about oBike Credits as a way to gamify and reward good behavior so that users do not damage the bike. Although we know that a poorer credit will result in more expensive rental rates, one complaint is that the extent of the increased cost for lower credits or discounts for high credit rating users is unknown.
Another feature that was mentioned was the carbon trace saved as well as calories burnt. (Calories saved was mistakenly said at first haha) This feature will allow users to feel proud of themselves for having saved the earth by that amount of carbon trace as well as show off to their partners for having burnt that amount of calories.
An interesting discussion I would like to bring up as of now would be : When does it become a feature bloat?
These seemingly excessive features do not seem to provide any value to the core value proposition of bike rental at first glance. For example, knowing how much I have saved in carbon saved does not affect how convenient it was for me to travel from point A to point B at the lowest cost.
However, it did make me feel like I made the healthier choice, which would cause me perceive that this service has provided to me a greater service than simply just travel.
The credit rating function also allows me to feel as if I have done my part in being a good, responsible citizen who is trustworthy enough to handle a bike properly. It makes me take pride in my discounts for higher credit and also scorn and disdain, which will hopefully discourage, those who have really low credits. I still feel similarly to group 3 in that I believe the formula should be released to the world so as to make me feel like I really have gotten a tangible benefit from the good behavior, no matter how small it may be.
In conclusion, to sum up my "original" thoughts,
I feel that although oBike may seem like they are on the right track and expanding quickly with their successful and super large Series B round funding, I believe that it would do them good to always reiterate and improve the core value proposition. This is evidenced through looking their app store reviews: many are complaining of lousy or faulty bikes, or that the bike are hard to find.
This also ties in with the UX problem. I believe that their app functions perfectly fine, other than that it may not be as the developer intended. The users seem to have all found their ways to use it, and perhaps only a minor experiment on how users actually use the application should be conducted to better streamline the flow of the app to fit the actual UX.
I quite like the attempts of gamification that oBike has done in rewarding user's good behavior and making users feel good about themselves after using oBike. However, I believe alot more still needs to be done to catch bad users and fix their bikes as I believe most of the complaints of oBike users are that the bikes are faulty and they cannot do anything about it.
Ultimately, I feel that oBike has a really great potential and I would love to see a Singaporean startup appear on the global scene, but I think they have to really listen hard to their users and make sure they please their users.
I agree with you that UI/UX of the application was not as important to Obike as compared to other applications as the company relies on their physical infrastructure; bikes and their peripherals, more than the application itself. Like you have mentioned, Obike probably didn't attract their users thanks to their awesome UI or easy-to-use application but because the user found a physical Obike and he needs to use it.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I feel that Obike has a different way of keeping their users thanks to the deposit users have to pay up front when first using their services. This deposit in turn incentivise the users to continue using Obike. Unless the user is really unhappy with the application or service and request for a refund (which apparently takes 1-30 working days, really?), the user is likely to continue using Obike for a while. Therefore, I can see why UI and UX might be lacking but they are unlikely to get better as the focus was never really there.
I like the point you brought up about feature bloat. I too, do not really care to know about my carbon saved or calories burnt (since I am only doing short trips in the first place) and these feature should not crowd the main feature of the app which is to rent bikes. That said, these frill features do look good on paper when they publish to the app store which I feel could be the fault of the consumers ultimately.
Hello Jun Wei. This is Jia Yee.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you learnt much from our presentation.
I am not going to say anything about (1) Background, as I agree with your opinion.
As for poor UIUX, I was one of the confused sheep tapping around in the oBike app (I have never used it before). What I would like to have is to just unlock the nearest bike, and if I reached that bike and hated it, let me lock this and unlock the next nearest one. I was not able to do that in oBike, and even if I could, there was no tutorial. When I first opened the app, I just saw the map and the large and annoying advertisement overlay.
In addition, Tampines was a crowd of oBikes. There ought to be a limit on how many are displayed. None of us are organizing an impromptu bike marathon. Just show me the 10 nearest ones (assuming I have even 10 friends) and let me demand for more to see if need be.
Credits are a good way to prevent abuse. However, if I am such a walking disaster, I would simply quit that account and resume my destruction with another account. Better abuse prevention measures have to be in place, one of which... a fine right at my doorstep?
Furthermore, there should be more emphasis on these credits. Some examples would be levels, like whether I'm a oNoob, oPro, or oCriminal. 3-digit numbers are not going to catch people's attention.
One last point for gamification, I see potential in the calories burnt / mileage for long-term events. In Healthy 365, I had to clock steps to earn my NTUC vouchers. In oBike, these data can be the equivalent of "steps". If I am not wrong, Singapore has built more bicycle parking zones. There are potentially external organizations who would be willing to partner / sponsor for such events for oBike.
I will end my comment with a point about the physical bikes themselves. People need to be civilized and treat the bicycles with respect. For people who couldn't find a better place to park the bikes, oBike could at least try to protect their bikes by telling users where is the nearest good place to park.
Hi Jun Wei, I'm Jeremy (from Group 3).
ReplyDeleteI think why UX is not such a issue for most people, is because people tend not to use the app's entire main interface (calculate route costs etc.) people just scan, use and pay however much it costs. And this model only works because they know that it is 50cents/15 mins and thus won't rack up that much costs. While that is definitely feasible as status quo, since most people are using the main function that it is designed for. It is definitely such a waste of potential since there is so much that you could do with an app that is on all these users phones.
I think your gamification idea is then a great idea to take advantage of the app. Taking a leaf out of Apple Watch's fitness circles. oBike could possibly reward users who burn a certain amount of calories with free credits to ride for free, and this could even be a tie up with HPB and LTA for a car-light and healthy Singapore. A simple interface showing how many calories burnt, and how much more to the next milestone would be great. (After all Singaporeans walk in circles just to chalk up HPB's national steps challenge)
Taking a separate leaf out of Forest's book, would be to have the app reward users who save carbon by cycling. They could tie up with an NGO in Indonesia where slash and burn tactics are so prevalent, to maybe plant trees. Similarly this could be a tie up funded by LTA due to their push for a Car Lite Singapore.
Hi Jun Wei, this is Weiguang. I agree with you that oBike is definitely successful as a start-up company, and their steps so far to expand to other countries and capture market share seems to be very smart and ambitious, but they do need to focus on the core value of the company, and also improve the UI/UX.
ReplyDeleteAs a start-up company faced with strong competitors like ofo and mobike, it is not hard to understand why they strive so hard to attract new users and capture higher market share in Singapore, as well as expanding worldwide. As compared to ofo and mobike, two very successful start-ups from China both with over 60 million active users, oBike offered more discounts to new users, and it student discount really did the magic to get students in. However, from the experience of my friends who have been riding oBike and mobike almost every day, the quality of bike from oBike is not as good as mobike, and also a lot heavier to carry with. Although oBike may be more popular than its competitors now, this may not hold forever if they don't make some improvements on their bikes. As a company that rents bikes to users, the quality of bike and the bike-riding experience are really critical. Discounts may work for now to attract new users, but a great riding experience should be what oBike offers to keep its users.
Also, I agree with you that the UX should be improved. From the presentation, I do feel that the UX is kind of "engineering". They don't have a guide for new users to show how to find a bike and unlock it. Also, the presentation of the bike on map should be improved. For example, if there are 100 bikes nearby, there is no need to show all of them as it blocks the map. Instead, showing just-enough bikes would suffice. From the point as a user, I just need one bike nearby, what's the point of showing so many bikes to confuse me?
Indeed, I almost forgot about the point on gamification until I read your post. In a way, I think oBike is actually making good use of the idea of gamification. A problem with gamification is abuse. As a thought experiment, let's say Wikipedia is now using gamification to encourage people to contribute to its content. My prediction is that the number of useless edits on Wikipedia will increase. Notice that this isn't inherently bad - if they can achieve a positive net gain, then good for them, but we can see how it can very easily goes in the opposite direction too.
ReplyDeleteBack to oBike, I think gamification is suitable because 1. the user has to pay to use the service, so even if they are crazy enough to in some way spam their way to glory, it's still a win for them; 2. it rewards good behavior rather than other inconsequential actions that many other apps are doing (e.g., opening the app everyday).