Designing User-Centered Interaction for Missed Home Deliveries: Service Design Approach to Improving Parcel Recovery Experiences
Author
Katwal, Ganga
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2026
Abstract
This thesis examines why home deliveries in the Danish last-mile logistics system frequently fail from a user experience and service design perspective, and how the interaction around those deliveries can be redesigned. Focusing on Denmark’s highly digital e‑commerce context, where many customers pay extra for flexible home delivery, the project highlights a clear mismatch between preferred delivery options and actual outcomes, as well as the effortful recovery processes that follow. Using a Service Design approach framed by the Double Diamond model, the study triangulates a consumer survey (N = 17), interviews with parcel shop operators and a courier, digital ethnography on Reddit, and an autoethnographic case study documenting two personal service disruptions. The analysis reveals a pronounced “Trust Gap” in which information asymmetry, delayed notifications, and rigid back-end algorithms – including a 30‑second countdown rule for drivers – generate friction, high cognitive load, and a loss of agency for end-users, while shifting practical and emotional burdens onto customers and local merchants. Based on these insights, a dual-sided interactive prototype built in React and Firebase was developed to transform passive parcel tracking into live coordination and clearer communication across both prevention and recovery phases. Scenario-based, time-pressured usability testing (N = 9) indicates that the intervention can lower cognitive workload, restore situational awareness, and provide more transparent pathways for trust repair during service anomalies. The thesis contributes a scalable, human-centered framework for designing more transparent, user-agency‑oriented interactions around missed home deliveries in last-mile logistics.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvorfor hjemleveringer i den danske last-mile‑logistik ofte mislykkes set fra et bruger- og servicedesignperspektiv, og hvordan selve interaktionen omkring leveringen kan forbedres. Med udgangspunkt i den danske e‑handelskontekst, hvor mange forbrugere betaler ekstra for fleksible hjemleveringer, påviser projektet et markant misforhold mellem kunders præfererede leveringsformer og de faktiske leveringsudfald samt de efterfølgende genopretningsforløb. Gennem en service design‑tilgang struktureret efter Double Diamond‑modellen kombineres spørgeskema blandt forbrugere (N = 17), kvalitative interviews med pakkeshops og en kurér, digital etnografi på Reddit og en autoetnografisk case om to personlige leveringsfejl. Analysen afdækker en udtalt “Trust Gap”, hvor informationsasymmetri, forsinkede beskeder og rigide back-end algoritmer – herunder en 30‑sekunders nedtælling hos chaufføren – skaber friktion, øget kognitiv belastning og tab af handlemuligheder for brugerne, mens både kunder og lokale butikspartnere bærer den praktiske og følelsesmæssige byrde ved fejlede leveringer. Med udgangspunkt i disse indsigter udvikles og implementeres en to-sidet, interaktiv prototype i React og Firebase, der omdanner passiv tracking til live koordinering og tydeligere kommunikation i både forebyggelses- og genopretningsfaserne. En scenariobaseret, tidskritisk brugervenlighedstest (N = 9) viser, at løsningen kan reducere kognitivt arbejde, øge situationsforståelsen og skabe mere gennemsigtige forløb for tillidsreparation ved servicefejl. Specialet bidrager med et skalérbart, menneskecentreret rammeværk for, hvordan last-mile‑tjenester kan designe mere transparente og brugeragentiske interaktioner omkring missede hjemleveringer.
[This abstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]