Tim Hortons Reusable Cup Program Case Study
Integrating the SW reusable cup program in the Tims mobile app
Overview
Last summer, I worked with Vancouver's clean-tech company SW to create a rewards program for their mobile app. During my user research, I found out about SW's partnership with Tim Hortons and did a case study on how their program could be integrated into the Tims app.
Timeline
July 2022
Team
Solo project
My role
User research, journey mapping, prototyping, usability tests
Streamlining reusable cup returns
Reducing the number of steps it takes to return reusable cups by integrating SW into the Tim Hortons mobile app; allowing customers to deposit their cups, and go.
Register return now, deposit later
Flexible cup return system allowing customers to register their return cup now and deposit later.
Get reward points for every cup return
Reward allocations on top of regular Tim Hortons reward points for every successful reusable cup returns.
Stay updated on your refund status
Customers can check the refund status of their reusable cup deposit in the home screen.
Every year, Vancouver throws out over 130 million disposable cups.
Only 9% of recycled plastic is actually being repurposed in Canada (“Plastic waste and pollution,” 2023) because the majority of recycled material is contaminated plastic waste with food residue that cannot be repurposed.
ShareWares’ mission in this waste crisis
ShareWares is a Vancouver clean-tech company that launched a city-wide reusable cup share program.
Tims customers can save ¢25 by paying a deposit of $4.48 for a Tim Hortons branded SW reusable cup that can be returned for a full refund.
Problem
Despite Sharewares partnering with 10 Tim Hortons locations, it is struggling to get traction and scale its business.
Observing how Tims customers are interacting with SW
I wanted to gain more insights on the routine behaviours of users and what demographic of users used the ShareWares reusable cups. I observed how users interacted with the SW program at Tim Hortons DT over the course of 4 hours.
The majority of the SW users at Tim Hortons do not return their reusable cups.
& treat it like a bring-your-own-cup program.
Tims customers explained that they preferred reusing reusable cups because they found it more convenient to leave the cup in the office rather than dealing with the hassle of returning it each time.
Why is this a problem?
Although BYOC is great for the planet, this could pose a serious issue to SW as a business because if users continue to purchase the SW cups without returning it, it could impact the company’s scalability and relevance.
The majority of SW users at Tims are eco-conscious customers who already do their part.
ShareWares is primarily targeting eco-conscious customers, a niche group of users who are already actively committed to practicing sustainability in their daily routines such as bringing their own reusable mugs and grocery bags around.
SW should instead be targeting sustainability-curious users who are reluctant to make substantial changes in their lifestyle like BYOC but open to SW with the right incentives.
I created a user persona based on my research findings to represent customers who can benefit from Sharewares’ service.
How might we incentivize sustainability-curious users to use ShareWares and streamline the cup return process?
Solution
Integrating ShareWares into the Tim Horton’s mobile app
With the insights from my research, I hypothesized that by integrating ShareWares into the Tims app and refining the SW’s target users to Tims mobile app users would allow SW to reach more users.
Evaluating my assumption
I recruited 6 Tims customers to conduct user interviews with the research objectives to:
Understand how users felt about BYOC in comparison to reusable cup programs like SW
Discern if incentive plays a role in adopting new habits
Identify any other concerns preventing them from using SW altogether.
Key takeaways from user interviews
The majority of the users I interviewed expressed that BYOC didn’t fit their lifestyle, because it’s inconvenient to carry around and clean. However, they were still interested in adopting sustainable habits
“I transit everywhere so [it’s] a hassle to carry around”
[female, 24]
Half of the users I interviewed said that they would be more inclined to participate in the reusable cup program if there was an incentive involved such as rewards. This was especially an appeal for devoted Tim Hortons’ reward program users.
“I think it would be more incentivizing with extra points, I would consider way more with an incentive like that”
[female, 24]
Some of the users I interviewed had trouble understanding when I first explained how the SW reusable cup program worked. They either misunderstood the initiative or assumed it’s more difficult than it really is.
“Ohh I thought the $4.48 was a monthly subscription fee”
[female 22]
Solution
Leveraging the Tim Hortons Reward Program
My research insights show that users would be more inclined to participate in the reusable cup program if there was an incentive. For devoted Tims’ reward users who routinely collect points, the opportunity to collect even more points is a bigger appeal.
Get reward points for every cup return
By integrating the ShareWares reusable cup program in the Tims mobile app, the experience of returning cups and receiving rewards is streamlined.
Additionally, extra reward points serves as an incentive for users who are open to trying reusable programs like SW with the right incentives.
How might we mitigate the cost of convenience and simplify the experience of returning cups?
The ShareWares’ cup return process is 5 steps long
Four of the steps in the current return process has to be completed in one go and requires the customer to be in-store.
Solution
Depositing reusable cups should be a quick and easy process
Register the cup return now & deposit later
To make it easier for customers to initiate returns without being present at the store, I came up with an interaction flow that lets users sign up for return and deposit the cup separately. These are two separate tasks that can be done at different times.
Refund status update
The current return system does not show the customer’s refund status which is especially an issue in the case of delays.
The refund status bar in the home screen keeps users updated on their refund status as it takes 2-3 business days for returns to process. The status bar also shows whether the return has been initiated by the user.
Evaluative Research
After finishing my high-fidelity mockup, I recruited 5 Tim Hortons app users to test my interactive prototype through a moderated usability test and identify any additional roadblocks. My main goal was to see whether the SW return portal was intuitive enough as well as observing whether or not users understood how points were allocated.
Key takeaways
Some users did not notice the refund status at the bottom and suggested that it would be moved higher up on the page, because currently it’s below the screen fold and many users didn’t think to scroll
There’s no feedback indicating that the scanning was unsuccessful in the scanning flow
Final Design
For my final design, I reorganized the UI elements in the return portal and made sure that the refund status bar was visible to users.
Reflection
Looking for answers outside the box
I was always taught and hard-wired to think that empathizing with end users is of paramount importance when solving design problems. Therefore, I initially struggled to understand the real problem SW was facing since its app didn’t have any serious usability issues. However, understanding the product and what exactly makes the product viable for the long-term is what broadened my perspective as a designer, enabled me to re-evaluate the foundational practice of the reusable cup program and ideate ways to streamline the experience as a whole.
The search for a simpler way to use reusable cups continues…
Although I argued that the target demographic for reusable cup programs is pretty niche in today’s society, the ultimate goal of a sustainability project like this is to get everyone to join the reuse movement.
This project made me reflect on why it’s so hard for people, myself included, to bring their own mug around or try out reusable cup programs like ShareWares. A lot of my research findings pointed back to the one thing people cannot seem to compromise; convenience. At one point in the project, I realized that ShareWares’ real competitors were none other than disposable cups and that the appeal that makes tossing disposable cups in the trash so difficult to compromise is how quick and easy the process is.
There’s a saying that goes “if you can’t beat them, join them”. While it’s impossible to completely mitigate the cost of convenience, reusable cup programs can still mimic the experience of tossing disposable cups out by separating the tasks of reusable cup registration and actual deposits. With the development AI technology which can automatically scan the QR code on the reusable cup when deposited in the garbage, reusable cup programs like this can become more mainstream and accessible.