Our Experiences with GO-JEK - The Good and Bad of Its UX

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this article was made to fulfill our group project in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) subject. We do not and never intend to offend any related parties or bring down any company. Furthermore, this is NOT intended for use in real business analytics. Therefore, we are highly recommend you to take with a grain of salt.

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A handy app can go downhill if they were handful. Such an irony, yes? A satisfied customers comes from their first impression, that decides whether they will like it or not. User Experiences is one of many crucial factors that determines their decision. A buggy UI or even a slight bland appearance is enough to put a smiley face on your competitors.

However, Go-Jek has delivered it. Its' UX and overall design has pleased our eyes on a first sight and then it was surprisingly easy to operate. Because of that, we had been given a duty to dig further to hunt for a poor side of Go-Jek... Because nothing is perfect they said!

4 Apps to compare with GO-JEK

MAPS.ME

MAPS.ME is the Google Map's rival. Some said that it did better than Google ones. Some said it directs them straight into the graveyard, apparently.

STRENGTH: MAPS.ME runs in offline mode. Its constant updated and responsive map could kick Google Map out of its top position. It has all Google Map features, but this app performs better and does surprisingly accurate as an offline map.

WEAKNESS: Although it was designed to work in offline, you should turn your internet on in case the map got outdated. Otherwise, it would direct you into the unwanted 'hot' spot.

Tokopedia

Tokopedia does not only offer a marketplace. It also serves electronic payment, such as power and plumbing tax, and much more.

STRENGTH: Countless features and services, easy to learn, and high traffic marketplace means it is a suitable app to sell your items.

WEAKNESS: Its' countless features made this app kind of like it just spilled on all over the floor. That means, user should take their time to explore and get through the unnecessary or unneeded things despite it was easy to learn. In addition, its inconsistent use of language made things a little bit awkward and confusing.

GRAB

GRAB is the simplified version of GO-JEK. It serves as same as GO-JEK, but with fewer features. However, that doesn't mean GO-JEK is better than GRAB or vice versa.


STRENGTH: Simple User Interface, easy to learn, and responsive app.

WEAKNESS: There is no homepage in Samsung Galaxy S7, instead it instantly directs me into the Transportation Service. In addition, the GPS is somewhat inaccurate when locating where the user was. Misdirection would potentially occur.

Amazon Shopping

Amazon is of the most popular international marketplace. Its huge traffic around the world and variety of awesome brand makes this app seems to be an expensive way to make you homeless.

STRENGTH: Simple design, the ability to shop by Department with a very specific category.

WEAKNESS: Not recommended for newcomers of modern technology because of its confusing homepage UI. Beside the 'Shop by Department' feature, the homepage is unable to only show the items we are generally interested, drawing its homepage useless.

Aspects We Would Consider:

• Appearance - Is it look pleasant, eye-catching, or even breathtaking?
• Functionality - Is it work as it should?

Does Go-Jek flawed? Does Go-Jek has the best design? Or even worst of all? Without further ado, let's find out!

The Good Design

GO-JEK's Homepage Is More Inviting Than GRAB's

While GRAB's Homepage design is incredibly simple, that doesn't mean it is better than GO-JEK's one, at least with our experiences.

GO-JEK	GRAB

GRAB has great deals, but it felt like it was hidden, decreasing its opportunity to invite more customers to use GRAB. However, GO-JEK letting us know what is ongoing deals. When we scrolled down, GO-JEK does offer the latest news, too.

GO-JEK Is Easier to Use Than Amazon Despite Having More Features

More Features means more cluttered, right? GO-JEK says no to Amazon Shopping.

GO-JEK	Amazon Shopping

Amazon only focused on 1 thing, which is a marketplace where users buy, sell, and offering a deal. while GO-JEK has GO-FOOD, GO-RIDE, GO-PAY, and it does offer a deal too, we still feel like it is easier to use than Amazon.

On the other hand, as a first time user of Amazon Shopping,  I have a hard time trying to figure it out where the hell do I search for specific category. Unfortunately, the important features are somewhat hidden inside of side panels. We found it eventually, but it is enough for us to leave a bad first impression about Amazon Shopping.

The Poor Design

GO-JEK's GPS Navigation Is Flawed

Then, we compared GO-JEK's GPS Nav with MAPS.ME's. GO-JEK wins our vote for a poor design. Unfortunately, it's map that is powered by Google is flawed and pretty uninformative. Let's take an instance where I want to go to police station. I typed a word 'police' as a destination, then this is the result:

GO-JEK	MAPS.ME
Where is the nearest police station?	Now I'm sure where I should be heading

Is 'Police Woman' even a station? Joke aside, as you can see, GO-JEK doesn't provide the estimated distance. Not to mention the shortest route. This could potentially incur undesirable destination and transportation cost because everyone assume that the list has been sorted into the nearest place, so they just clicked it with just looking at its name without looking at where it was. It is human error, but not entirely their fault. Also, GO-JEK's GPS Nav was sometimes inaccurate when locating where the user was. That problem is similar with GRAB, because both GO-JEK and GRAB's GPS Nav were powered by Google. Should we accuse Google Map for giving a flawed GPS?

"MAPS.ME is specialized in GPS Nav while GO-JEK's not. You should not compare both because they were completely different things. It's like comparing an apple and carrot."

I will take that argument as an excuse. GO-JEK DOES use GPS Navigation (even if it is powered by Google), so does that mean there is no room for improvement?

GO-BILLS Neither Has Category nor Is Sorted By Any Way

It still has a few payment services so this is not actually a problem, until they clumps together after GO-BILLS keep adding another payment services. Therefore, we are concerned about it.

GO-JEK (GO-BILLS)	Tokopedia

It would be better if GO-BILLS separate its' payment services to appropriate category because otherwise, it would get messy. What does Google Play voucher do beside BPJS Kesehatan? Would it be more appropriate if I could just see all life and healthiness payment services, or just video games, or household taxes... Or at least can you just sort it alphabetically? To be honest, this feature is messy despite there are only 6 payments available.

Meanwhile, Tokopedia has its' payment services sorted with each category. Not only it looks pleasant and structured, it is super helpful to users that need to find what they need in no time. So, kudos to Tokopedia!

Conclusion

GO-JEK has delivered almost every aspects to make a good app. Unfortunately, the flaw lies on its important feature: GPS Navigation. Other than that, GO-JEK is truly as amazing as the other apps that were involved in this article.

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Once again, this article was made to fulfill our group project in HCI Subject.
Subject: Human-Computer Interaction
Our Lecturer: Titien Suhartini Sukamto S.Kom, M.Eng
Class Group: 6503
Members of the group:

• Nur Azizah - A12.2017.05765
• Khairul W - A12.2017.05885
• Galih MP - A12.2017.05804
• Alfian K - A12.2017.05809