Product Strategy, Web Design, Collaboration

BAOBER

Overview

Baober is a startup building an online platform for parents and newborn care providers to find one another. Baober aims to provide a reliable and stress-free solution for parents navigating the early days of parenthood.

Responsibilities

  • Founder / CPO

  • Product Designer (me)

  • Project Duration ~1.5 months


  • Conducting in-dept research to understand and develop detailed personas

  • Designing a user journey and refining wireframes for an optimized user experience

  • Collaborating with the CFO to align product design with business objectives

Problems

As an early stage, pre-revenue company, Baober has a small team and limited resources. While the founders are experienced entrepreneurs, there is currently no in-house design talent to guide the team as they build and refine their MVP.

Given that the platform is a two-sided marketplace, every experience must be considered from two separate personas - parents and providers - this means double the work but also double the fun! Lastly, this is my first project working directly with a Founder / Chief Product Officer, so I have to operate and communicate at a different level.

Research Goals

  • I want to understand the existing market (i.e. current solutions) better and how BAOBER's platform is unique in providing a better experience as a new solution to the same problem.

  • As neither a parent nor a newborn care provider, I want to understand the process they go through to find one another, the problems they face,  as well as the various emotions they experience throughout the process.

  • I want to have a deeper understanding of the motivations behind both sides of the marketplace so that I can design an experience that can amplify their desire to transact on the platform.

A Two Side Marketplace

Before I can proceed in this project, I need a better and deeper understanding of the two key user personas: Parents and Newborn Care Providers. So I met with the CPO to learn more about their existing market research and user persona development efforts.


This meeting gave me a strong foundation in understanding the current problems faced by the users, along with Baober’s unique solution and position in the market.

Two interesting findings I want to highlight

  1. Declining birth rates: 3.6M babies were born in the US in 2023, which is a 2% decrease YoY. This is the lowest number of births in over 40 years.

  2. Severe burnout in the nursing profession: approximately 60% of nurses report feeling burnt out, with 13% considering leaving the profession

Baober.co Product Strategy

  • Providing parents with a trusted network of verified caregivers

  • Reduce stress and build customer loyalty through positive word-of-mouth.

  • Verification process can be resource-intensive

  • Opportunities to expand services (offering postpartum support

  • Collaborating with hospitals and pediatricians = enhance credibility

Competitive Analysis

ShiftMed and Bell Family Company are the closest competitor in terms of market positioning, but they don’t offer newborn care services which is BAOBER’S main focus.

SUPPLY

  • Companies like Bell Family Company offer family caregiving, but they don’t focus on newborn care through a digital platform.

  • Their services cater to a wider caregiving market but don't match the specialized, platform-based care BAOBER offers to new parents and infants.

DEMAND:

  • Platforms like Shiftmed demonstrate the growing need for specialized, flexible caregiving, particularly in healthcare.

  • Shiftmed’s on-demand staffing model highlights a broader consumer trend toward more immediate and personalized care solutions.


This shift is what Baober aims to address by providing targeted newborn care.

Other agencies provide general caregiving, but none offer a platform specifically dedicated to newborn care in the way Baober does.

Personas

There are two archetypical provider personas - primarily determined by their source of qualification:


The term Newborn Care Provider was developed by Baober’s founders to encapsulate this larger umbrella of caregivers. Of course, I couldn’t forget the supply side and created a persona for new parents who are looking for help in their new journey!

Turning Insights into Experience:

After gathering key insights from user studies, we identified the main challenges and opportunities to guide our design approach. Our next step is to transform these insights into a clear and efficient product journey.

UX/UI Comprehensive Review

The highlight of the process was the booking system at Baober. The CFO outlined five steps to ensure the best user experience. I explored the original wireframe and identified areas for improvement by breaking down the user journeys for both Parent and Provider.

User Flow

To improve the journey from proposal to payment, I created a user flow that outlines the screens that need to be designed for both the parents and provider.

Booking Process - Iterations

Final Booking Design

Video Call Design

Parents & Providers

After we clarified the process for booking the service and scheduling a video call, I added the missing screens that come before booking and payment. I ensured the journey begins immediately after the video call ends, with a popup prompting users to rate the call. Below is a visual of the full journey of the user journey, leading to a successfully booked service.

REFLECTIONS

Iterate again & again

Working in a team sparks creativity. It was exciting and inspiring to see how we built on each other’s ideas, constantly refining a single screen together through multiple iterations.

Communication is crucial

This was my first project working with a CFO, and it taught me how to collaborate and communicate more effectively. I learned the importance of clearly expressing my ideas and asking questions—no question is too small. It’s also crucial to follow up promptly to maintain clarity and avoid wasting time.

What's Next?

There is still a lot to be done, as Baober is in its early stages. Here are some things I’d like to focus on for the future:

  • Develop a comprehensive design system

  • Conduct A/B testing and gather feedback for improvement on design

    and experience

© Elise Zeng 2024