

Show HN: SnapRides – Carpool scheduling with a panic button - yarri
http://www.snapridesapp.com/

======
kevin
Hmmm…after having gone through the app I looked at the homepage stuff again
and I’m wondering if I would have had a different experience if I had gone
through it on my phone. Seems like yes based on screenshots so this might be
something I’ll try again later.

The web version…felt inefficient. Let’s start at the beginning. The first you
show me is this:

[http://cl.ly/image/260C102g1i3z](http://cl.ly/image/260C102g1i3z)

Most people are not going to read this. In that second sentence you basically
tell me what I’m going to need to do…but that’s not the kind of sentence I
could ever memorize and so the MOMENT I closed it, I already forgot what the
first step if that was your intention to make it feel easier.

Part of the reason I can’t remember that first instruction you gave me is
because normal people don’t talk/think in weird lists. It also doesn’t help
that it doesn’t have a nice parallel structure to it. Rhythm and repetition
helps a lot.

[https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/](https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/)

If it were me, I’d just get rid of it. If the first step is for me to create a
group. Start me with creating a group. Hopefully, I got to this step because I
understood along the way that this will help me create carpools.

When I closed that dialog…the next thing I did was look at this:

[http://cl.ly/image/1r3Q3d3H0C0X](http://cl.ly/image/1r3Q3d3H0C0X)

I would totally remove those ads…or at least don’t show me them until I learn
how to use your UX. They immediately caught my eye and attention and proceeded
to also write over your first instructions. At this point, I’d optimize for
people getting through your flow.

So this page is both distracting with the ads and the call to action isn’t
super clear. I’m looking right at the biggest thing on your page which is very
light gray and barely legible because it’s light gray on white text. THAT is
where a giant Add Group button should be. Again, I wouldn’t start here. If I
have no groups or carpools setup, just start me on the first step.

Which you have me do in a series of modals, not my favorite, but okay.

[http://cl.ly/image/3H2u250p0W0G](http://cl.ly/image/3H2u250p0W0G)

Studies show that people don’t have problems going through multiple step
processes…as long as they understand they’re making progress and that you sign
post it for them. It would be nice if you let me know the total number of
steps.

Also, I couldn’t abandon this once I started. Remember, the first time users
probably try out a new piece of software…they’re basically kicking the tires.
Let them move around and get a feel for it. The reason I wanted to back out
was because your app is still a stranger to me and the first thing you want me
to do is add my friends and their contact info to your system. You actually
WON’t let me move forward with just my name…and so now I’m thinking…shit…is
this thing going to spam my friends? What if this isn’t good? I can’t take
that chance…etc. Don’t trap me, bro.

When I get to step 3, I get totally confused.
[http://cl.ly/image/2j3T1P0a2I0o](http://cl.ly/image/2j3T1P0a2I0o)

This is partially because I do it to myself. When you asked me to create a
group, you forced me to write a description for the group, which seemed
unnecessary. So I just wrote “why” to get through it.
[http://cl.ly/image/0r1F080q0H0b](http://cl.ly/image/0r1F080q0H0b)

In the add driver/rider flow, which looks very similar to this define routes
flow…I’ve mentally mapped this type of interface (rows with text inputs
underneath) to adding items…but you have this setup working to update an
existing location. Also in the previous steps you made me even add myself as a
rider and so it feels weird and jarring that you have pre-picked places for me
for my convenience for this step. It’s the only place you do it!

Anyway, this is a long way of telling you that I hesitated typing anything in
here because I was trying to change the locations by clicking on them…I didn’t
realize just filling out those inputs would replace them. That’s power law of
practice for you. It works that quickly.

When I finally finish…I don’t realize that I need to do one last step:
[http://cl.ly/image/0V2I1D0f0j0i](http://cl.ly/image/0V2I1D0f0j0i)

Overall, I’d say the problems with your flow are clearly posting calls to
actions on the page…meaning make it obvious that when I look at the interface
that I know clearly what I should click on next. It also feels like I’m
clicking forever to do this task. I’d ask yourself some hard questions about
what is the minimum actually needed to get a carpool up and going.

If it were me, I’d just ask for where is the ultimate destination, maybe a
date and a list of emails. Then I’d push it out for everyone else to fill
things out. Their contact and locations and ask if they want to volunteer to
drive. If it goes well, ask if they want to reschedule it again or make it
recurring. To make people feel comfortable sending this out to friends, have
one already built that shows off the features that they can play with.

Whew…alright. I know this is a lot of feedback, but that doesn’t mean I
thought it was terrible. Keep editing / whittling this flow down and you’ll
get to something tight. If I have time, I’ll play around with this on my phone
later. Thanks for sharing!

~~~
yarri
Thanks, Kevin, for the time & the detailed feedback.

> the problems with your flow are clearly posting calls to actions on the page
> Sigh, agreed. I'd like to move away from a wizard-based flow and try either
> a) using a calendar to drag & drop the schedule, or b) create a WYSIWYG
> "signup page builder" flow.

>I’d just ask for where is the ultimate destination, maybe a date and a list
of emails.

So try to get quicker to the step where a signup page is shared with users,
right?

> If I have time, I’ll play around with this on my phone later. Thanks!

------
yarri
Hi, a suburban mother of school aged kids asked me to help her solve the
problem she has coordinating with other parents to arrange rides to shuttle
their kids to school & sporting events. She wanted a simple scheduling
service, with a panic button — a way for her to let others know if she was
running late.

Ironically, she works at Redpoint VC, but had trouble attracting developers to
her idea. I built the MVP, conducting UserTesting.com focus groups to gather
feedback from a busy, educated “soccer mom” demographic and iterated on a
“wizard based” signup flow. Users reported it being better than the current
email / spreadsheet / shared calendar approach they use now, some interest in
paying for the service on a subscription basis. Key request was a native
mobile app version, and, confusingly, a Craig's List like rideshare social
matching service.

MVP is built on Parse.com / Backbone / Bootstrap, waiting for the right time
to build out an iOS app; likely the start of a new school year.

Obviously the growth opportunities are in service-based, market-making
transportation providers like Uber, BlaBlaCar/Carpooling.com, whereas this is
more of a scheduling app with a long history of similar but failed approaches
(as a quick search of ‘carpool’ on HN will show!)

Still, I like the feeling that I'm helping make other people's lives easier.

Feedback & ideas for good mobile app design most welcome!

~~~
jchrisa
We raised our first round at Redpoint. Say hi to Satish!

My team's tech is designed to streamline the data and network portion of your
mobile app:
[http://developer.couchbase.com/mobile/](http://developer.couchbase.com/mobile/)

------
MatthewWilkes
What does the panic button do? Something like aborting it if the driver is
creepy? There is what looks like a link for "one touch" but it's just
underlined and there doesn't appear to be any other reference to it.

I'm on mobile, if that makes a difference. Another reply said it was very
different to on desktop.

~~~
jhardcastle
From OP's post above:

> She wanted a simple scheduling service, with a panic button — a way for her
> to let others know if she was running late.

My reaction was yours: it's a way to call for help if you're being kidnapped
or creeped out by the stranger-driver.

The feature is extremely poorly named, and not at all well-communicated
through the marketing or the front page. Needs a new name, IMHO.

~~~
MatthewWilkes
Ah, thanks. I hadn't noticed that post was from the OP.

------
elwell
Hmm... not so sure that business model will work. I think this has to be
_completely_ free.

