Let's Hit Pause, For Now
Daily Harvest offers plant-based, frozen, ready-to-eat meals for every occasion—from breakfast to late-night snacks, solo dinners to family gatherings. The mission is to help customers eat more sustainably sourced fruits and vegetables while creating food that’s good for both people and the planet.
While the web and iOS experiences had recently undergone much-needed UI/UX improvements, the online plan management experience remained outdated. Customers noticed, expressing their frustration through NPS scores and CX tickets. The experience was so cumbersome that 18% of NPS detractors cited difficulties pausing or canceling, and 14% of CX tickets (3,500 per month) were related to these issues. Clearly, this was a pain point and we didn't want customers to leave with a bad taste in their mouth (pun intended).
Role:
Design Lead
What I Did:
UX/UI
Prototyping
Web App
The Vision
Redesign the plan management experience from the ground up to deliver an improved UX, win back customers, gather better data and reinforce our value proposition.
Improved UX
After watching site sessions, reviewing CX tickets, and assessing the data, we knew we needed to simplify the flow, clarify the relationship between pausing and cancelling, and make it easier for folks to take a break.
Clients wanted to reactivate their plan but needed reassurance—both mentally and financially—that they wouldn’t receive an unexpected box or charge. We addressed this concern with a clear, transparent tone and messaging.
The previous experience was unclear and unpredictable, leaving users unsure of how long it would take. We streamlined the process, providing clear navigation, progress indicators, and copy.
Win Back Customers
Our data showed that 31% of cancellations were temporary, leading us to believe we could create a compelling case to retain users before they canceled.
User research revealed that the CX team frequently comped customers for SKUs they didn’t like. Showcasing our range of options was the first step in translating that experience online.
Gather Better Data
Due to the original experience’s poor UX, we lacked insight into how many users paused as a step toward canceling (since pausing was required to ‘unlock’ cancellation), the true reasons for pausing, and how motivations for pausing or canceling evolved over time.
Before launching this experience, we had never asked customers why they were pausing. After introducing a survey, we discovered that 'eating less than expected' was the third most common reason.
Process & Outcomes
For this project, we relied on three key inputs to shape our product strategy: quantitative insights, qualitative research, and guidance from Strategic Finance.
Quantitative insights revealed behavioral patterns in the original experience and allowed us to A/B test the new flow to ensure it delivered the desired results. Qualitative research provided the ‘why’ behind the ‘what,’ helping us refine both the UX and tone, including copy. Lastly, collaboration with Strategic Finance ensured the feasibility of our win-back strategy, allowing us to fine-tune the right approach for launch.
The Team:
Design: Nate Baker
Product: Aaron Gommoll
Engineering: Jeff Armstrong
Data Analytics: Radhika Dala
/01
02
Rounds of user testing
/02
17
User research participants across active, paused and cancelled users.
/03
10%
Increase in retention
/05
66%
Increase in users maintaining their plan after entering the pause flow.
/04
4%
Increase in net revenue/customer/week
