Data

The definition of great design is when you successfully balance aesthetics with function. In order to achieve the correct function, a lot of data needs to be analysed. Here are some important data points for this task:

• What section of the "request quote" form experiences the most user drop-off or abandonment?

This will give important information on whether a question within the form should be removed or reworked.

• Has any A/B testing been carried out for the entire process?

The results will tell me if specific things have proven useful for conversions and need to be included or not.

• What is the current conversion rate for secured bookings after the quote form has been submitted?

This will be key in understanding if things need to be tweaked or completely changed.

Friction Points

The box sizing is not uniform on the first slide. While not a major issue, the inconsistency within boxes emphasises the larger one. The customer's eye will be drawn to the larger box, which is not ideal.

The title text for these blocks are not vertically centred within the white space under the image.

Perhaps the customer should be able to select up to two types of chefs in this section rather than just one? This will result in more chefs matching the customers requirements and submitting a quote. Maybe customers are 80% sure they want to hire a fine dining chef but would like to see options for celebrity chefs too. It gives them more options and flexibility.

The "adjust budget" section is a little bit confusing for me. If I have already selected the types of chefs I want to get quotes from, which include a rough budget range, then why do I need to submit a second slide that is also related to budgets? In my experience, budget sections usually have the highest drop-off rate, so limiting these slides could be beneficial.

In the cuisine selection and preference selection, the "skip" button in the bottom right does not change to "next" when items are selected. It should only show "skip" if the customer does not want to make a selection.

The wording for the final screen is incorrect. It should say "We've found 46 chefs in your area" instead of "We've found chefs 46 in your area."

In order to increase the conversion rate here, I would suggest adding a preview of the chefs profiles. It will create an element of "what's next?" for the customer. I would recommend that some important details be blurred out to achieve this. Perhaps only the chef's image, rating, and meals are shown; location, price, etc. are all blurred.

After I have finished the quote section and login via the email link, I arrive at this page. I would rather be taken directly to a page dedicated to "my quotes" instead of this general one. It's not obvious enough where "my quotes" are either. There should be a dedicated button for this. similar to how Upwork functions after I post a job. It's super simple to find "my jobs" and this is the number one page they try to get me to spend time on because I am already a warm lead.

I only see that I have new unread messages when I open the dropdown menu. There should be a notification icon that is visible even when I do not click the dropdown. This should decrease the number of people who request quotes but never open or reply to chef messages. I am aware that email notifications are sent when chefs reply, but let's assume the customer is still on the website and interested in booking soon. The current "new message" indicator is not vertically centred correctly within the orange box and it should probably just say "new," or even a small dot would work. The interface will feel less cluttered and text-heavy.

After I click "view quote" within the chat with Olivia, it takes me to this page which shows all of the quotes in a list. The correct UX should take me to Olivia's quote only. Perhaps with a secondary call-to-action for viewing all quotes. The primary call-to-action should be trying to get me to secure or communicate with Olivia since I am already interested enough to view her quote; everything else is a distraction from getting me to book her.

The right side of the screen within the conversation area does not utilise the space enough. I would consider A/B testing this by removing the "in demand" and "popular" widgets. Replacing them with images from the chef's profile or displaying a minimised version of the profile, which includes the rating, job title, etc. It feels like these widgets currently catch the eye more than the main call-to-action and also feel a little dated for the modern web.

At the moment, there is no way to go from the conversations page to the chef's profile. Her name at the top should be clickable in order to take me to her profile. You can see here that the name is not clickable at the moment.

Other

Only the chef should see the "OPEN IN MAPS" prompt. As it is my own post code, it doesn't make sense why this prompt is carrying such visual weight from the buyers perspective. If a prompt does not ultimately help the customer book a chef, then it is not necessary to include in the interface.

The orange box around the "request quote" title is there to increase hierarchy, which is fine in theory, but it has an effect on the horizontal spacing between titles. Visually, it appears like the distance between "request a quote" and "explore chefs" is smaller than the rest because the line cuts the space in half.

Also, the "Hello, Beau" title has different letter spacing. Each character is further spaced apart than the other titles. This is not necessary because the title already has two differentiators. It is bold and orange. The spacing change makes the top bar feel imbalanced.

When the drop-down menu is open, the arrow should flip or change to an X to show that the menu is already open and the next action will close it.

This screen feels very text-heavy, which pulls away from the call-to-action. For example, the date and guests' information are displayed three times, which is overkill. It's on the left, under each of the chefs. It is also at the top and in the right column. Removing it in two of these areas will indirectly create more white space and add more emphasis to the call-to-actions.

Since yhangry follows a fairly traditional marketplace user flow, I would consider using the most tried and tested sites as inspiration. Upwork and Fiverr have decades of experience in optimising the "quote to purchase" UX so following their principles should be effective.

Conclusion

It's difficult to tell if things needs to be completely rethought without knowing the data I mentioned at the start. If the conversion rates are extremely below average then I would consider a revamp of the process. The points I have mentioned are based on one day of research and with limited knowledge of the business.

Thank you for reading the post and considering me for the position.