Improving the user experience in the swa Mobil app for the city of Augsburg
The swa mobil app is the mobility hub for Augsburg. If you want to get from point A to B in the city, you can find all available means of transport here, from rental bikes to streetcars and shared cabs. Stadtwerke Augsburg transports 60 million passengers every year. Around 30,000 of them use the swa Mobil app to plan their routes and find the right departure times and stops.
High data protection requirements in the everyday work of the development team
When you open the swa Mobil app it already shows what sensitive data is processed: locations, travel routes, and payment information for ticket sales. And all of this is linked to a user account - in other words, to an identifiable person - a crucial detail under the General Data Protection Regulation.
This means that data from 10% of the city's population is processed every month. You don't need to be an IT or data protection expert to understand that particularly strict standards must be applied to this app in order to protect the privacy of Augsburg residents.
The Stadtwerke Augsburg therefore decided against integrating analytics software for a long time. The established providers of app analytics simply did not meet the requirements.
There are two main reasons for this: Almost all of them transfer the personal data to the USA and/or sell the personal profiles that are created through the use of the app to data traders. These optimize the display of personalized advertising. Neither of these is in line with the legal requirements of municipal utilities and also contradicts their self-image as an infrastructure service provider.
swa Mobil
Navigate through Augsburg via tram, bus, car sharing, swaxi and bike!
However, not using analytics software also means no access to analytics data. In particular, the actual click behavior of app users is generally not visible to the provider of an app.
In the case of Stadtwerke Augsburg, this meant that the improvements to the user experience were mainly based on support messages or the swa employees' own tests. Although these are important sources, they are only limited perspectives compared to the diversity of people who use this app to navigate the city every day. Statistical usage data completes the picture.
About integrating TelemetryDeck
App analytics with TelemetryDeck works by inserting a software development kit (SDK) into the app code. Usually you try it out in a test environment (i.e. in an unpublished version of the app) whether all the desired information is visible in the TelemetryDeck dashboard. And this is exactly what Stadtwerke Augsburg did together with its IT service provider. TelemetryDeck's test mode ensures that the test data does not “contaminate” the live data.
After the test phase, a new version of the app - which includes the TelemetryDeck SDK - will be released via the App Store and the Play Store. As the app provider, you know whether all users or only a certain percentage of them will automatically receive an update. Especially when making major changes to the app, a multi-stage process can help to identify potential errors at an early stage.
The swa Mobil app is updated several times a year. This has enabled the integration of TelemetryDeck into the established release process.
App development and inspiration from existing navigation apps
Since the swa Mobil app is all about finding a way from point A to B, another well-known app that serves the same purpose was chosen as inspiration: Google Maps.
Specifically, one function of Google Maps was taken as a reference: the focus on the destination of the journey. The design of the app makes it very easy for users to enter a destination (an address, a stop or a specific store or administration office).
The app designers at Google have defined a default setting for the start of the journey: It is always the current location of the device on which the app is being used. This setting has also been adopted in Augsburg - but does this also meet the requirements of the people?
When the actual usage behavior differs from the expected usage behavior
For the first time ever, data on how precisely users plan their routes has been provided, thanks to the integration of app analytics with TelemetryDeck. And it turns out that 60% of them don't even want to start or leave from their current location. In other words: even though it requires more clicks, users make the effort to enter a specific start.
On closer inspection, this is quite understandable. While Google Maps - the big role model - is mainly used when the user is not familiar with the area (in unfamiliar districts, while traveling, for navigation by car), the swa Mobil app is mainly used in regions where users know their way around: in their own city, or even more specifically, in their own neighborhood.
Augsburg residents know which stop has a rain canopy, is closest to their home, or leads to a route with as few changes as possible. What they want to find out in the app are departure times, journey times and ticket prices.
This shows that the assumptions made when designing the app were not 100% matched with the users' requirements. Thanks to the usage data collected by TelemetryDeck this came to light.
About the adjustments in the UX
After the realization, the next steps were easy. Thanks to the clear requirements, the user interface will be revised and published with the next release of the app. Stadtwerke Augsburg expects the new user interface to have an effect of reducing the usage time per session - which is a good thing in this case, as the aim of the app is to provide uncomplicated access to public transport infrastructure.
We at TelemetryDeck will continue to follow the process closely and work with the Stadtwerke team to monitor and interpret the changes in usage behavior.