Uber — Tapzo Design Issue
*From the draft archive; written a few months ago*
I have been using Tapzo app recently for my daily commute cab booking.
The app enables me to compare quickly between what Ola and Uber charges for a given ride and I find this feature very helpful. Their subscription plan also enables me to save a few monies and they have been accruing over a few weeks as I keep booking more rides in the app.
However this blog is not about their app features or their subscription plan but about a glitch in their cab booking payment flow. Specifically, while booking Uber rides in Tapzo. Hoping that the corresponding stake holders address this and make the app experience better for people like me who use the product almost daily.
What’s Working?
While using Tapzo to book Uber rides it’s all good till the ride is completed — I choose an Uber cab, call the driver — take the ride — complete the ride, etc. You know the drift.
What’s Missing?
It is in the payment process through debit card/ Paytm/ Jio Money that the glitch is present. After the ride is completed, first a driver ratings card is presented. Once that step is completed — rating the driver and giving a suggestion as to what can be improved — the next card that comes on screen is an ‘Outstanding Payment’ card. In this flow while proceeding to pay with a card, the feedback to the user that the payment is completed is missing.
Feedback that the payment is completed is missing after the payment is made in Tapzo Uber rides.
In heuristic parlance ‘Visibility of system status’ that the payment has been completed is not displayed. So the user is left confused for a few seconds here.
The disappearance of the ‘outstanding payment’ card is equated to payment completion which is not a direct, convenient way to convey payment completion to the user.
What the competitors do:
Ola, the direct competitor to Uber in India, uses ‘a stamp’ as a visual metaphor which provide a clear status the money has been paid. Confirmation of payment completion is thus clearly provided. Along with a green tick mark, redundancy of this crucial information is also taken care.
Possible Solutions:
Providing a clear feedback to the user after the fare has been paid that the money was paid solves this glitch.
It can be done through a tick animation. Or it can be done through a ‘Payment Completed’ card which is similar in form to the ‘Outstanding Payment’ card and has visual cues like a green tick which are associated with completion and positive confirmation.
This can also be combined with a ‘Thank you for using Uber’ which provides for a gratified completion experience. Different ways to solve this issue through design can be explored and completed.
To be fair, the same issue was there while paying with JioMoney too. I had to rely on confirmation SMS to confirm the payment.
Update: This issue has already been communicated to the design team of Uber and probably a design solution is in the pipeline.
Thanks for reading.
If you are interested in reading more about Uber’s design, you can check my piece on a recent Uber design event here:
