gomdrop
Streamlining Group Orders for Clarity and Control in a Process That Often Feels Overwhelming.
Managing just one order for my family—making sure we get everything we want, tracking shipments, and handling payments—can already feel overwhelming. I can’t even imagine managing over 100 orders, ensuring that every single person gets what they need while juggling deadlines, messages, and unexpected issues. Yet, GOMs do this every day, often relying on Instagram DMs to keep in touch with joiners, maintaining a personal touch while handling massive logistics.
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Despite their importance, GOMs lack specialized tools to streamline their workflow. Our research explores ways to enhance the group order experience through better organizational tools, tracking systems, and payment solutions.
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Through thoughtful design iterations, we created a seamless platform that empowers GOMs to efficiently organize orders, communicate with joiners, and ensure everyone gets exactly what they were hoping for—without the chaos.
Made for Group Ordering Managers
Role: UX/UI Designer & Researcher
Timeline: January - March 2025
Skills: User Research, Wireframing, Interaction Design, and Usability Testing
Tools: Figma, Sketch
Team:
- Anna
- Annie
- Ellie
- Marisa...thats me :)
Background & Context
What Are Group Orders? (GO)
Have you ever split a bulk order with friends to save on shipping? That’s the essence of a Group Order (GO). In global fandoms, especially K-pop, GOs help international fans purchase merchandise affordably by pooling orders.
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Directly ordering from Korea can be costly due to high shipping fees, currency conversion, and language barriers. GOs solve these issues by allowing fans to share costs and increase their chances of getting exclusive merch.
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The Role of Group Order Managers (GOMs)
We spoke with two experienced GOMs—one with four years of experience and another with just over a year—who manage orders for their favorite K-pop groups.
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GOMs act as intermediaries, handling everything from negotiating with suppliers to organizing payments and shipments for hundreds of joiners. Their role is demanding, requiring meticulous organization and trust within the community. Despite functioning like small businesses, GOMs receive no formal support or financial backing—they rely on spreadsheets, social media, and personal dedication.
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Who Are the Joiners?
Joiners are fans who rely on GOMs to secure their merchandise. They participate for various reasons, such as:
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Saving on shipping costs by pooling orders.
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Overcoming language and currency barriers.
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Guaranteeing specific merchandise rather than receiving random items.
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Trusting a reliable middleman for international transactions.
Joiners range from dedicated collectors willing to pay extra for rare items to casual fans looking for convenience and affordability.
Problem
Group Order Managers juggle dozens of individual payments, shipping preferences, and order updates across scattered communication channels, often missing critical information. Despite their desire to help their communities access special products, the resulting financial confusion, delivery mistakes, and reputational damage create significant personal stress that discourages them from organizing future group orders.
User Research
We interviewed an experienced GOM (4+ years, 150-200 joiners per order) and a ​novice GOM (1+ year, 15-30 joiners per order)
Fig. 1: Google Spreadsheet masterlist for a single order batch from one store (from interview)
To optimize our research, we first distributed a questionnaire to gather baseline insights on group order (GO) management. The responses helped us refine follow-up questions for a semi-structured interview with a primary stakeholder.
The interview covered topics such as workflow evolution, time-consuming tasks, common joiner mistakes, and the tools used for managing orders. During the second half, we observed a live screen-sharing session to see the full GO process in action, from order collection to shipping logistics.
Both stakeholders used Google Sheets or Notion to compile their masterlists, requiring them to manually update each entry. (as seen in fig 1 & 2)
Fig. 2: Notion master that is regularly updated for joiners to view ALL the orders they have bought
User Research Findings
GOM Communication Challenges
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Managing updates at scale: While small GOMs can use group chats, high-volume GOMs must centralize announcements to avoid constant manual updates.
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Joiner mistakes: Errors in payment and shipping info cause financial strain and delays. GOMs try to be lenient but often end up covering costs themselves.
GOM vs. Joiner Needs
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GOMs need a structured, centralized system to manage payments, claims, and shipping logistics efficiently.
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Joiners need a clear, accessible way to track their orders without relying on direct communication.​
Our ideal solution balances detailed backend organization for GOMs with simple, transparent tracking for joiners, reducing confusion and manual workload.
Solution Exploration
We aimed to capture a Group Order Manager’s pain points—financial burden, joiner communication, and time efficiency—based on stakeholder interviews, which highlighted the challenges of cross-platform tracking despite organizational flexibility, especially when individual joiner issues delayed progress.
A GOM’s workflow depends on efficient communication and payments from joiners. Research shows fandom spaces face international payment barriers, yet joiners remain eager to participate. Interviews with GOMs confirm their ongoing efforts to streamline the process for joiners.
Competitive Analysis
​Notion
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Customizable & Organized: Notion allows GOMs to create structured databases with categorized tabs for managing order details, payments, and shipping status.
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Real-Time Updates: Can be made public for GOJs to view, with real-time updates to keep them informed.
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Display & Information Sharing: Primarily used for organizing and sharing information rather than interactive features like payment tracking or order processing.
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Customization Overload: Extensive customization options may be overwhelming without a clear template, potentially causing inefficiencies.
​Google Sheets
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Advantages: Easily accessible with a Google account, can store large amounts of data, integrates with Google Forms for automation.
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Disadvantages: Requires manual edits, overwhelming data display, difficult for joiners to view past purchases, lacks interactive features for joiners, and limited customization options.
​Gomdrop
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Advantages: All-in-one tool for order management, tracking, and communication with dedicated GOM and GOJ interfaces.
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Disadvantages: Limited flexibility—manual data transfer needed, CSV export requires a subscription, Markdown learning curve, and difficulty editing joiner info post-submission. Some GOMs prefer it for selling leftover stock rather than active group orders.
​Google Forms
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Advantages:
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​Seamless integration with Google Sheets, making it easy to organize and manage collected data.
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Widely used, providing broad accessibility and familiarity to users.
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Allows GOMs to include product images for joiners to view when selecting items.
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Users’ progress is automatically saved through their Google accounts.GOMs can control the process by closing the form when needed.
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Disadvantages:
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​​Lack of automatic invoicing, requiring GOMs to manually calculate and convert payments.
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Manual payment tracking can lead to errors, as calculations are not automatically checked.
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Limited customization options for group order management.
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UX Flows
Don't worry I know this seems daunting but it will all make sense soon! :)
UX Flow #1:
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Start: GOM updates their order form, which is starred, for a specific event with limited merchandise.
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Form Preparation: GOM prepares the resources and updates a single form linked to their primary database.
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Database Sync: The form is automatically synced with the database, reducing the need for multiple forms for each event.
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Real-Time Edits: Joiners (GOJs) can make real-time edits to their order via the form.
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Order Organization: GOM uses toggles and database features to organize hundreds of joiners and manage their orders efficiently.
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Finalization: The GOM finalizes purchases, ensuring the process runs smoothly with less manual labor and fewer errors.
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Tools Integration: The flow integrates Google Sheets, Google Forms, and Notion, saving time and effort for the GOM.
UX Flow #2:
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Start: GOM calculates the final shipping fee after merchandise reaches the K-addy and the total shipping cost is determined.
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Automatic Shipping Fee Calculation: The system automatically calculates the shipping fee after the international fee is inputted.
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Payment Request: The system sends payment requests and shipping info to GOJs.
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GOJ Updates: GOJs receive automatic updates and can verify or change their shipping address easily.
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Tools Integration: The flow integrates Google Sheets, Notion, PirateShip, and Instagram/Email for tracking and communication.
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Simplified Payment: Shipping fees and payment requests are managed within the same system, reducing the need for external apps like Venmo or Zelle.
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Result: This flow centralizes all steps, improving efficiency and communication for both GOMs and GOJs.
UI Sketches
Our sketches focused on helping GOMs track joiner details while speeding up their process using templates and invoices. The designs were inspired by stakeholder tool usage and competitive analysis, such as Notion for organizing information and Google Sheets for tracking orders. This was one of my favorite parts of the case study being able to sketch different ways to solve this problem and create new solutions.
UX Flow #1: Updating order form masterlist
UX Flow #2: Payment reminder
Lo-fi Wireframes and Prototypes
The wireframes for UX flow #1:
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Focuses on key components like the Dashboard, Orders Page, and Order Masterlist, inspired by Notion’s interface. Initially, we planned for additional features but refined the design to focus on managing masterlists, as GOMs often deal with large orders requiring custom notes and calculations not needed by joiners.
The Dashboard provides a summary of order statuses, notifications, and deadlines, helping GOMs manage multiple orders efficiently. The Orders Page gives an overview of all group orders, allowing GOMs to organize, categorize, and access templates. The goal was to centralize everything into one tool rather than switching between platforms.
The Order Masterlist updates automatically, reducing manual data entry, while GOMs can still make manual edits. The joiner view lets GOMs control what joiners see, enabling them to check updates and payments without needing to contact the GOM.
The wireframes for UX flow #2:
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For the second low-fidelity prototype, we focused on streamlining the payment reminder process for GOMs. The goal was to simplify sending mass payment requests and order updates to joiners. This design builds upon our previous UX flows and UI sketches, emphasizing intuitiveness and user-friendliness.
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Key updates include a confirmation checkbox to ensure shipping and payment info is correct, preventing errors, and a late fee notice with a clear due date to keep joiners informed of deadlines. We also explored two interface options: a sidebar pop-up that allows GOMs to send announcements without leaving their current page, and a full-page design dedicated to the announcement, providing more space for messages and payment info.
Lo-fi User Testing Results
We did user testing with the first lo-fi prototype with our experienced GOM. ​
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Prototype/Flow A:
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Favorable Features: Our stakeholder appreciated the at-a-glance summary (e.g., total joiners, items ordered, amount collected) and the organization of joiner and order info. The ability to export specific details and let joiners edit their responses was especially valued.
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Confusing Features: The stakeholder mistakenly interpreted some design elements, like pre-set templates and summary displays, as buttons or filters. Additionally, the "Open, In-Progress, and Completed Order" structure didn't match their workflow, where some orders remain open even after the merchandise is purchased.
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Prototype/Flow B:
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Favorable Features: The payment reminder feature was a highlight, as the stakeholder appreciated how it simplified sending mass reminders—something they currently do manually.
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Confusing Features: The main challenge was locating the "send reminder" button. However, once found, the feature was well-received, and the flexibility to adjust payment reminders was appreciated.
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Comparing Prototypes/Flows: The stakeholder didn’t express a clear preference, but both flows were appreciated for different reasons. Flow A was liked for its organization, while Flow B was favored for its payment reminder feature. This pushed us to combine the best features from both prototypes.
Final High-Fidelity Wireframes
High-fidelity Wireframes and Prototypes (before and after from user testing)
Before
Stakeholder got confused with the templates, mistaking them for filters.
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After
Here we reformatted the buttons to easily determine the templates
For our second version: We redesigned the buttons in the “Create New Order” section to clearly indicate they are set templates for GOMs. This change was made after our stakeholder mistakenly saw the original pre-set templates as filters.
Before
After
During user testing, our stakeholder highlighted the need for a dashboard summarizing joiners, ordered items, and payments to enhance the GOM process. In response, we repositioned orders, notifications, and batches while adding an overview section to consolidate this key information.
Hi-Fi User Testing
We tested our prototype with experienced joiners that are new to the GOM role, gaining key insights to improve usability.
Key Takeaways & Iterations
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Clarity of Key Info – Terms like “balance due” and “GO total” were unclear, so we refined labels and cost breakdowns.
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Navigation Issues – Users struggled to edit responses from the joiner view, so we improved button wording, placement, and visibility.
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Dashboard Confusion – Terms like "batches" were unclear, so we reorganized orders by group/shipping address.
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Send Reminder Visibility – Users couldn’t easily find it, so we repositioned it for quick access.
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Payment Reminders & Shipping Fees – Users weren’t sure if reminders went to all joiners or select ones, and shipping fee calculations were unclear. We clarified both.
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Joiner Updates & Notifications – Updates were hard to find, so we made them more prominent in the masterlist.
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“My Response” Button – Users didn’t understand it, so we renamed it "Edit Response" for clarity.
Hi-fi User Testing Changes
Before
After
Quick Actions Icons:
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Before: Mix of filled and outlined icons in the welcome banner.
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After: All outlined icons for a more cohesive visual style.
Order Summary Snapshot
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Before: Single static summary snapshot of all order progress.
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After: Carousel displaying individual summaries and snapshots from all active group order masterlists.
Batch Sorting
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Before: Batches sorted by Batch 192 & Batch 195, causing user confusion about their function.
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After: Batches now sorted by ATEEZ Orders & K-Friday Address, aligning with shipping addresses and order groups for better clarity.
Before
After
Order Action Buttons
Before: Some order action buttons were separated between the summary banner, with a prominent Send Reminder button.
After: All order CTA buttons were rearranged above the summary banner for consistency. The Send Reminder button was redesigned to visually match other CTAs, reducing competing elements.
Payment Information Clarity
Before: Users struggled to differentiate between Balance Due and GO Total, and questioned whether there was an indicator for paid joiners.
After: Payment status is now displayed first, clearly showing whether a joiner has paid. If unpaid, they move to the next column to see the expected payment. The total balance is placed last to ensure full transparency on what the GOM is expecting.
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After
Email Recipients
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Before: Users were unsure whether payment reminders were sent to all joiners or only pending payers.
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After: Added an option to select which group order to send announcements to and which joiners should receive payment reminders, making the process clearer and more customizable.
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Payment Fees Transparency
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Before: Displaying a set payment fee was misleading, as fees vary per joiner and are manually calculated by the GOM.
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After: Removed the Payment Fees section from the joiner view and allocated it to the GOM’s personal masterlist, with an option to hide sensitive content from joiners in the Joiner Preview for better privacy and accuracy.
Prototype Demo
Looking Back
Reflection
Throughout this design process, I dove into a completely new space, learning about group order managers (GOMs) and joiners, something I had little experience with before. This pushed me to quickly adapt, research on the spot, and gain a deeper understanding of how these systems work. It was both challenging and exciting to step into an unfamiliar domain and design for a community with such specific needs.
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This project really pushed me out of my comfort zone, not just in learning the subject matter but also in refining my design process. I had to balance rapid iteration with thoughtful problem-solving, ensuring the prototype felt intuitive for both new and experienced GOMs. At the same time, I had the freedom to explore, experiment, and fine-tune ideas while leaning on user feedback to guide decisions.
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Overall, this was such a fun and rewarding experience. It challenged me to be more adaptable, sharpen my research skills, and design with a completely new user base in mind—all while reinforcing my passion for creating user-centered solutions.
Next Steps
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Conduct user testing with both experienced and novice GOMs to ensure the final hi-fi prototype is intuitive for all users.
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Test all finalized features in a fully interactive prototype, allowing users to explore every function as intended.
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Gather feedback on usability, workflow efficiency, and discoverability of key actions like payment reminders, batch sorting, and order summaries.
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Finalize the prototype for potential implementation based on feedback, making the tool ready for real-world use by GOMs.
Acknowledgements :)
A huge thank you to my team for being incredibly supportive throughout this project. We created such a fun and collaborative atmosphere where we could bounce ideas off each other and learn together every step of the way. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to grow with!
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I also want to extend my gratitude to our TA, Dave, for his insightful feedback that really helped shape this case study, as well as to Professor Guo for fostering such a welcoming and safe learning environment where we could truly expand our knowledge and skills. Thank you all for making this experience so rewarding!
