Google Calendar
Freeing up energy for overwhelmed users with an automated feature for package delivery dates
- new feature
- user research
- ux/ui
Background
Delivery dates change
People care about delivery dates for online orders. They want an estimated delivery window before completing their purchase and once an order has shipped, they want the exact date it’ll arrive.
But even after the initial ‘it’s shipped!’ email goes out with a delivery date, it isn’t set in stone. It can change at any point during transit up until the package actually arrives.
Tracking updates showing delayed packages
Problem
Overwhelmed by organization
People are overwhelmed with maintaining organization in their lives but need to create organization systems to stay on top of package updates so they know when it’s arriving.
Solution
Automated calendar feature
An automated Google Calendar feature for packages that frees up people’s time and energy for other priorities by:
- Adding delivery dates from a user’s Gmail to their Google Calendar
- Updating the delivery date as new shipping-related emails come in
- Keeping key information consolidated in one place
Research
Discovering a hidden need
Nobody expressed a need for help with staying on top of packages and delivery dates. Everyone had their own organization system for it, and I wondered if there was even a problem to solve.
But when talking about organization, people said it’s hard to be organized in all parts of their life. They pick and choose areas to be organized in, usually choosing work over their personal lives.
I’m not always on top of things but I’m more organized with work than outside of it.
With work, I’m super organized but otherwise, it’s more of an organized chaos.
key insight
Users’ organization systems to manage package updates adds to them feeling overwhelmed by organization in their lives.
how-might-we question
How might we manage package updates for overwhelmed users to free up their time & energy for other priorities?
Ideate
Automatically add delivery dates
I built on Google’s smart feature of adding events from Gmail to Google Calendar to include packages.
Automatically adding and updating delivery dates replaces users’ organization systems and fits into how they use calendars–to know what’s going on, plan what to do, and coordinate with others.
Users can quickly go to their calendar to easily:
- Know an accurate delivery date
- Plan to be home that day
- Coordinate with a neighbor if they won’t
results
Saving time & effort
This automated feature saves users the time and effort they would’ve spend sorting and organizing package updates to stay on top of delivery dates.
With one less thing to manage in their daily life, users can focus on organization in other parts of their life feeling less overwhelmed.
