How One Sentence Saved Thousands of Dollars

The Project

While interning at Story Inc. New Zealand, a business that creates and consults on visitor experiences, I was tasked with helping build a kiosk flow for a client, Hong Kong Wetland Park. The new kiosk would allow customers to plan their route along the park based on what exhibits and activities they wanted to experience during their visit. I worked with a team of three to design the full kiosk flow, acting as the sole content strategist and writer.

The Problem

At the end of the kiosk flow, the users were prompted with a QR code to scan to access their personalized tour. However, some visitors may not have phones, data, or accessibility to use the digital version of the tour. In order to fix this problem, users needed the ability to print their tour out instead, but the business wanted to discourage the use of printing to save money on materials.

Print Tour Instead

The original solution to this problem was to place the text "Print Tour Instead" underneath the QR code to make it clear to users that a printed version was available.

"What is going to stop people from printing their tour even if they can access the QR Code?", I said in the first meeting about this screen. I knew from experience that a printed version is more convenient; I would print my own tour even if I did have access to the digital version, which means other people might too. With a printed tour, I could fold it and put it in my pocket, mark off the places that I have been with a pen, and write notes on the physical map of the park. With this in mind, I started brainstorming how to discourage the use of a printed version.

The Solution

I was in the shower after a long day at work and the New Zealand wind was blowing in dark clouds. As the water was flowing down my face I thought about this tricky printing problem. Then it came to me: hide the function behind the words.

If users didn't know there was an option to print until they couldn't scan the QR code, then they wouldn't be tempted to print a physical version. The solution was to focus on the reason behind the print version - it's for people who can't scan the QR, not for people who choose not to scan the QR.

The solution: Replace "Print Tour Instead" with "Having trouble scanning the QR?"

This solution hides the functionality behind a quick and caring message. A message that reminds users we are thinking about them, and if they don't have the ability to scan the QR, we can help. Once this link is pressed, it brings up a new screen that reads "Would you like to print your tour instead?"

Now the only users who click that button are the ones who can't scan the QR, successfully preventing everyone from printing out their own tours, unless they need to.

The Results

The next morning I was excited to go into work and tell my team about the solution I crafted. Not only could this potentially save our client a significant amount of money on ink and paper, but also keep the help desk (which printed the tours) from piling up with people. I got there earlier than usual and prepared my pitch, writing down the benefits of this new copy and how it could solve many problems with only a few word changes. When the rest of my team clocked in I prompted for a quick meeting to present my solution.

Eyes lit up as my project manager excitedly exclaimed "That's brilliant! Go ahead and create a mock and we will send it over to the client."

I immediately got to work creating a mock-up. Later that week we heard back from the client approving of this change. This solution is one of my proudest moments, as I discovered a problem, thought critically, and pitched a solution using my UX background and education. This project also taught me how a small change can have a large impact on user experience and save a business money.