The key to driving quality user experiences in self-service checkouts.

I recently visited a self-service checkout at a local retail outlet. The self-service checkout, clearly a late entry to the market, is in place for two reasons.

Firstly, it’s designed to increase efficiency, freeing up staff members to complete replenishment tasks. 8 self-service checkouts can also be supervised by 1 attendant.

Secondly, it speeds up the user experience for the customer. Sometimes users want to move swiftly through the process in the most frictionless way possible and then carry on with their day.

There have been some big players in the market when it comes to the design of the self-service checkout, but I was amazed to see that this late entry lacked some of the simplistic user interface used by other organisations.

It was almost a Back-End skeleton, not offering a very smooth process to payment. I was shocked that it had been released in such a rough fashion.

However, was it that I had become so familiar to how other scanners worked, that I was alien to this new system? Now that I have been in 5 or 6 times, I actually now know my way around the checkout, and I'm always using it.

It could be that it is poorly designed, but if we are used to using an iPhone religiously, when we pick up an Android for the first time, no matter how teach savvy we are, its a different experience, that takes time to adapt to.

What's crucial in developing a new idea is completing a real design ideation process, that includes looking at the market and really trying to identify what the customers needs. Compromise on this step, and you jeopardize the end product.

Here at Lvl-7 , we’re equipped with the capacity to design digital products that puts the user at the forefront of the experience.

What are your thoughts on the recent ‘Donate to charity insertions on Chip and Pin devices, is it disruptive or is it just right?