CLIENT
PERC Coffee (Savannah, GA)
ROLE
Service Designer & Researcher
TIMELINE
10 Weeks
COLLABORATORS
OVERVIEW
What started out as a roasting company in Savannah (Georgia, USA) quickly converted into coffee hospitality outlet with 6 locations in the southeast. PERC Coffee, short for Panther's Eye Roasting Company, shares exceptional coffee experiences with a growing community of coffee enthusiasts.
Over 10 weeks, we enhanced PERC's business offerings in Savannah by understanding the needs and pains of a burgeoning student market. We combined those insights with business goals and proposed a brand new ordering experience called 'Vibe Check' and rewards program called 'Perc Pass'.
SERVICE DESIGN • RESEARCH • TESTING
Crafting new services for a coffee retailer to attract new customers
PERC's target customer was the growing student population of Savannah, a city witnessing a rich coffee culture. There was a burgeoning community of coffee enthusiasts who needed a trusted, convenient and affordable place for their java fix. So we conducted some primary research to observe the customers and understand their needs and pain points.
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Online surveys targeted towards student coffee consumers in Savannah
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Preliminary interviews of PERC customers
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Netnography and observation
62% students cite 'value for money' to be their biggest challenge when choosing a cafe to work in Savannah
SURVEY FINDING
"I usually buy ground coffee from Kroger because it's convenient for me"
INTERVIEW QUOTE
The Home Brewer
The student customers consume 53% of their coffee at home, which makes homes brewing an important aspect of the customer lifecycle. They prefer to buy instant and quick coffee from the supermarket due to the lack of brewing knowledge. Moreover, it is hard for them to pick the right coffee as they're unsure whether they will like it or not.
USER NEED
Understanding that Students struggle to find the right coffee at a good price
We identified two core mental models of the student customer group - the Cafe Worker and the Home Brewer. Understanding both mental models gave us the opportunity to ensure that students save money and time with their overall coffee experience.
The Cafe Worker
The student customers in Savannah like to go to cafes 3-4 times a week, typically to go out and find a place to work and hang out with their peers. They value a quieter place which is affordable so that they can keep coming back every week. They also enjoy the idea of being part of a local community of good people drinking good coffee.
46% students face biggest challenges with finding the right coffee and knowing how to brew it
SURVEY FINDING
CHALLENGE
Making it easier and cheaper for students to find and consume coffee
APPROACH
Solving the choice dilemma for students and gamify the experience
" I want good quality local coffee and an affordable way to brew at home too "
INTERVIEW QUOTE
F 28, PERC Customer
Being a coffee roaster at the core, PERC specialized in bringing new and exciting roasts for their customers. They have a robust supply chain and are quite good with their in B2B sales. Yet, we found a lot of gaps within PERC's business ecosystem after hearing what customers said and what we observed throughout our research process.
1. SERVICE OPPORTUNITY
Identifying service gaps and areas of opportunities for PERC
I didn’t think $20 was unreasonable. Then she handed me my tiny bag of coffee.
ETHNOGRAPHY FINDING
Customers say that PERC has better quality coffee and friendlier baristas compared to other cafes in the area, but they disliked the frequent overcrowding at the cafe. Moreover, they chose other brands while buying coffee beans for their home brewing.
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PERC consistently faced issues with long lines and unclear waiting times.
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When asked, customers were completely unaware about PERC's rewards program.
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Customers who previously bought coffee beans found it overpriced.
Standalone establishments like PERC have to amplify their service to better suit the needs of the tech-savvy and budget friendly student community. We understood the core competencies of the business and identified the key resources in place already. After we found out the biggest needs and pain points of the students and the business, we posed two critical design questions that would help satisfy both their needs at the same time.
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How can we enable customers to quickly find the right coffee for themselves?
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How can we ensure that customers try out coffee beans while placing an order at Perc?
2. REDUCE LONG LINES
Helping students overcome choice dilemma by doing a 'Vibe Check'
Introducing Vibe Check for finding the right coffee
This online tool is a quick 2-minute questionnaire that enabled students to discover their 'coffee vibe'. In other words, it showed students a curated list of coffee blends based on their tastes and preferences captured in the questionnaire.
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Scan a QR Code to open Vibe Check on the phone.
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Enter your choices and preferences with respect to coffee.
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See a curated list of coffee blends with special discount offers.
Students place their order through the phone and are instantly notified when their order is ready. This ensures that they can place their orders without waiting in long lines or changing seats and tables.
We asked ourselves a last and final question to help complete what we set out to achieve.
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How can we provide an affordable way for customers to keep buying coffee regularly from PERC?
Answering this question would be a key milestone for the project as it would ensure that PERC has returning customers who they can serve both in-store and at-home. So we decided to conduct a Co-Creation Workshop with students from Savannah who are a mix of customers and non-customers.
3. INCREASE COFFEE SALES
Co-Creating a rewards program called 'PERC Pass' together with students
Introducing Perc Pass for affordability
Once the student discovers their Vibe, they are offered instant discounts on hand-picked coffee blends through Perc Pass - the all new rewards program. The program is offered in three tiers - Free Pass, Student Pass and Wild Pass. After the final ideas were prototyped, we modified the details of the program based on the feedback we received from usability testing with the student customer group. We found that students wanted
- Higher sign on discounts
- Pay with points for coffee and merch
- Discounted coffee bags
- Points accelerator days, and more
To satisfy PERC's business goals of increasing sale of coffee beans for in-store customers while reducing ordering time during peak hours, we identified a few key metrics that could help us measure the output. This would in turn help us achieve the outcomes we wanted to achieve with this service innovation.
1. Completion rate of 'Vibe Check' --> Enhanced Customer Engagement
2. Average number of 'Perc Pass' purchased monthly --> Improved Customer Loyalty
3. Average order processing time during peak hours --> Streamlined Order Process
4. Percentage increase of coffee bean sold to members --> Increased Revenue
4. ENSURING SERVICE IMPACT
Defining key success metrics for the service innovation