Kerry Express · Mobile app
KEX Mobile App Revamp
Rebuilding the home screen for occasional senders
A revamp of the Kerry Express app home that puts each sender's parcels, tracking and most-used services first, with a warmer, friendlier tone.
The Problem
People who send a few parcels a month couldn't find tracking, check prices or pay in the Kerry app, so they had little reason to open it again.
The Solution
KEX Home: a personal home screen built around what each sender came to do.
Background
The people Kerry wanted to grow were the ones the app ignored
Our persona Am is a makeup artist in Nonthaburi who sends a box or two of pre-loved cosmetics at a time. When she opens the app to book a pickup or check a parcel, it's slow, some pages load blank, and the courier often doesn't call before coming.
People like Am send one to three parcels a month. Kerry Express calls them long-tail senders, and the business wanted more of their volume on the app and the web, with a target of more than 100,000 consignments a month.
"96% of long-tail senders account for 79% of Express and Instant volume."Kerry Express market research, customer type analysis
I owned the UX/UI process end to end over one month, from discovery to developer handoff. The goal was two-sided: grow revenue from long-tail senders, and give them an experience that builds a positive brand.
Research
Questions first
Before touching the UI, I wrote down what we didn't know: what would make the app easier, what users want to achieve, how the app makes money, who the users are, where they use it, what hurts, and what bad experiences they've had. Then I went looking for answers in three places: competitor apps, home screen click data, and the senders themselves.
Competitive Analysis: what every delivery app agrees on
I reviewed five delivery apps, Flash, J&T, SCG Express, DHL and FedEx, and found three patterns they all share. Our own market data added a fourth insight.
Tracking search, scan and QR
Every competitor puts tracking search with a scan or QR shortcut at the top of home.
Key services
Core actions like sending, pricing and drop-off points sit in one grid right below search.
Banner marketing
Promotions get their own band, separate from the services people come to use.
Who sends what
20% of SME senders drive 78% of Economy volume, and 35% of senders are new. Long-tail is where growth sits.
User Interviews: hearing it from senders
I talked with 21 long-tail and RKA customers through 1-1 interviews and online forms, then grouped what I heard into three themes.
Parcel status
"I couldn't find the whole tracking page. I want to see everything and get notified."
Tracking
"I want to follow the driver. One called me, but still hadn't arrived."
System and payment
"For COD I want to pay in the app when we don't meet, and scan the bill instead of typing it."
Define
Who we designed for
I mapped four personas on two axes, everyday senders versus online sellers and app users versus non-users, so the new home would work for both a first-time sender and a seller shipping every week. Am sits where the business needed growth most.
Primary persona: Am
Am, 31, makeup artist in Nonthaburi
Uses the Kerry app to track parcels. When she sends one or two boxes, she books a pickup instead of going to a branch. She also sells pre-loved cosmetics online.
Goal
Sell more of her second-hand cosmetics, and maybe sell through live streams too.
Frustrations
She can't reach the courier, nobody calls to confirm the pickup time, the app is slow and often shows blank pages, and some parcels have arrived damaged.
How might we...
- How might we make the app feel more personal?
- How might we let senders ship a parcel through the app in the least time?
- How might we make the app look cuter and friendlier?
- How might we make the app easier to use?
Ideation
Turning pain points into features
With Am in mind, I compared three theme directions and chose Personalize, Friendly and Easy to use over Assistant and Innovation, which both leaned formal. A mind map around "personalize" produced the ideas: a greeting that changes with time and weather, simple words like talking to a friend, Nong Carry the mascot inside the app, micro-interactions, and a new design system.
Pain points and what we built
Pain point
Parcels and tracking are hard to find.
Feature
My Parcel and Quick Log near the top of home.
Pain point
Home is crowded, and key services get lost.
Feature
Zones ordered by click data, most-used services first.
Pain point
The app feels formal and cold.
Feature
A personal greeting by time and weather, with Nong Carry.
Information Architecture
I kept the entry flow short so senders reach home fast: start, an animated Nong Carry loading screen, welcome, register or log in, then home.
Design
Visual direction: modern, friendly, quality
I sketched three wireframe directions to test against each other: user need hierarchy, marketing focus, and lean and clean. A mood board then set the visual tone.
The visual system
- Color: 70% white, 20% Kerry orange, 5% dark grey and 5% blue and purple, so the brand stays fresh without shouting.
- Key visual: Nong Carry rides across a header that changes from morning to night.
- UX writing: friendly and warm, like a friend checking in. "Hello Carry. Bang Rak, Bangkok. Raincoat time, it's pouring!"
- Grid and icons: one grid system and a consistent outlined icon set across every service.
Testing & Iterations
Testing three directions with 27 senders
I put a lo-fi clickable prototype of all three directions in front of 27 long-tail and RKA customers, using 1-1 interviews and free-flow feedback. I wanted to:
- Find the pros, cons and missing functions in each direction.
- Pick the better UX to develop further.
- Check the UI against the brand words "Modern, Friendly, Leading Industry".
Participants marked each screen as liked, okay or confusing. The winning direction became a home with six zones, each answering something we heard in research.
Personalized member zone
A greeting with the sender's name, location and a weather tip replaces the generic banner header.
Long-tail zone
Tracking search with scan, plus the most-used key services, in one block at the top.
My Parcel and Quick Log
The sender's latest parcels and their status show right on home, with no hunting for the tracking page.
Marketing zone
Promotions move into one band below the tasks, so they no longer push services out of view.
RKA zone and service zone
Business senders get their own entry point, and the full service list sits at the bottom of home.
Results
What the visibility check showed
A visibility analysis on the final design shows the eye moving from the personal greeting to tracking search, then down to the promotion band. That is the order the zones were designed for: who you are, what you came to do, then what's new.
"I couldn't find the whole tracking page. I want to see everything and set notifications."Long-tail sender, discovery interview
Final Thoughts
Designing the home around long-tail senders gave the app a clear order: who you are, what you came to do, then what's new.
What I learned: Click data told me which home sections people used, and interviews told me why the rest frustrated them. Neither was enough alone. Together they decided the order of the six zones.
Next steps: The design went to developers with a new design system, a grid system and full flows, and the team built it for iOS and Android. The next step is measuring the technical and business impact after launch, then carrying the same approach into Create Shipment, My Shipment and Reward.
What I'm most proud of: The tone. A logistics app doesn't have to sound like a form. Nong Carry, the weather greeting and the UX writing were small touches, but they changed how the home screen feels.
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