Type of project
MSc course - Strategic Design Studio
Client
PostNL Innovation Studio
What we delivered
Strategy presentation
User research on sharing data with PostNL
Implementation plan for next 5 years
Prototype of the strategy
Period
Nov 2024 - jan 2025
For over 225 years, PostNL has been the logistical backbone of the Netherlands, with an ongoing focus on efficiency, sustainability, and crucial societal engagement. Traditionally, our deliverers were the face of PostNL in every neighborhood, where the face-to-face interaction at the doorstep was the most vital moment for shaping customer experience, influencing NPS, and fulfilling our social role.
However, the logistics sector is changing rapidly. To meet consumer demand for flexibility and ensure consistent delivery success, we are increasingly investing in Out-of-Home (OOH) delivery solutions, such as Automated Parcel Lockers (APLs) and PostNL points at retail partners. This shift is essential for the future but simultaneously reduces our human interaction and presents us with a new challenge
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The Design Challenge
PostNL's pivot to OOH delivery (lockers, pick-up points) diminishes traditional personal interaction. How can we, through co-creation with customers and employees, design unique and emotionally resonant OOH experiences that drive engagement via our app, strengthen brand loyalty, and build 'brand love'—particularly among crucial emerging segments like Gen Z and students?
Our strategy: Unlocking the potential of lockers
We developed a strategic new app feature designed to leverage the user’s personal context for highly convenient package pickup.
Custom Address Network: The core of the solution is a feature that allows PostNL users to register and manage a personal network of frequent 'Everyday locations'—such as work, gym, or preferred supermarkets.
Contextual Routing: This network of custom addresses enables the user to schedule a more convenient pickup point along their actual daily commute, moving beyond the current default of home delivery or the nearest fixed pickup point.
User Research and Strategic Pivot:
Our strategy and UI development included user testing, which resulted in a critical insight and subsequent pivot regarding data collection:
Initial Barrier: Users were highly unwilling to share sensitive, passive data like GPS location and Personal Calendar access.
Successful Pivot: Instead, users were comfortable actively registering their own 'Everyday locations'. This pivot allowed us to create a privacy-conscious system that still delivered high personalization.
Impact and Implementation:
This new strategy enables PostNL to unlock the full potential of its parcel locker network. To drive adoption, the strategy includes:
Incentivization: Leveraging push notifications within the PostNL app to guide users to their most convenient pickup point.
Network Expansion: Focusing the expansion of the existing locker network in high-density areas relevant to these new 'Everyday locations.'
This design ensures high user adoption by integrating OOH pickups effortlessly into the customer's lifestyle, cementing PostNL as the preferred delivery partner.
Successfull implementation
In April 2024, PostNL rolled out a new feature allowing users to select their favorite PostNL service point. This made it possible, for instance, to choose a PostNL point that is conveniently located along a frequent cycling route or is situated near one's workplace.
