WW CS | My Site

Here’s a scenario for those that might struggle to handle their dog and for those who often find themselves juggling leashes.

You and your dog are on a leisurely walk through the neighborhood. Out comes a squirrel that catches the attention of your dog who decides to lunge after the small and lifelike chew toy. The leash escapes your hand as your dog’s force overpowers your grasp; off down the middle of the street goes your dog, losing sight of it as it chases the squirrel as it runs through the traffic.

Now with Wrist Walk’s innovative wrist attachment you will never worry about losing grasp of your leash or lose your dog.

Our Goal

To empathize with shoppers by discovering what pain points shoppers might have while purchasing items from an e-commerce website.

My Roles

Create interview questions
Schedule and conduct interviews
Synthesize our findings through individual and partner affinity mapping
Journey Mapping and creating primary and secondary user personas
Research competitors and comparators
Create deliverables to hand off to the design team
Deliver the prototype to stakeholders
Conduct use

The Process

Our team implemented the design thinking methodology - a tried and tested UX framework that helps us

Discover and define our users problems
Create and realize those solutions with effective design
Test them, then build our solution which is then paired with design in a re - iterative loop
We then collate and measure feedback and build in any changes in the design

Discover and Define

The Approach

In our interviews we searched to understand what some pain points and highlights users experience while shopping and undergoing a checkout process. We targeted pet owners, specifically dog owners, to see what their buying habits are and what makes a positive and memorable buying experience.

Our assumptions are that users want a sleek interface with just the right information to make an informed purchase. We asked our users about their purchasing behaviors, what information do they expect to see on a website, and what exactly makes a memorable purchasing experience whether it be in person or online.

A Few Quesitons

When going through a checkout process on a website what information do you expect to provide?
Can you describe a time when you had to shop online for pet accessories?
What information to expect to see on the website that might inform your decision to buy the product?
Can you describe your experience with making a return for an online purchase?

My Findings

Online shopping is hard especially when looking into boutique shops that one is unfamiliar with. Being able to captivate a shopper and not overwhelm them within a few split seconds as they scan a website is a make it or break it moment.

In the interviews we noticed a few common trends amongst online pet shoppers -

Simplicity - A simple design makes for an easy to navigate website as well as keeping your user engaged without leaving them frustrated. Users want to be able to quickly understand where to access the information they are seeking. Our interviews informed us that users want to see layouts and CTA’s they are familiar with.

Concise display of information - Users need to see what the brand has to offer to make sure they are getting exactly what they want and expect in the product. In our interviews we came to understand that users want to see sizing guides in metrics as well as photos of the product being worn to inform their purchase. Things like material, washing and general care instructions, and a thorough description are among the things users expect to see.

Resources - Going through a new or unfamiliar product can be daunting, especially when it comes to returns. Users need readily available information on things like returns, and ways to get advice about the product such as reviews and contacting support. Providing easy access to all of this information creates a sense of professionalism with the brand.

Straightforward checkout process - To seal the deal on locking in your customer is the checkout process. In our research we found that users often abandon products if the checkout process is too confusing or the process takes too long. We created a two step process, inputting the necessary information and the place order page. We found that users do not feel the need to create an account for a website that only has two or three products, like boutique shops such as WW, but would rather get what they want easily and quickly.

Through a feature analysis and a task analysis we found what features were pertinent and common amongst all of the ecommerce website we looked into. Some feature we noticed are -

Options to hover over the product photos to enlarge them for a better look at products
A star rating system that when clicked brings you to the product reviews
A quantity input option in the product page and on the initial checkout screen
Color selection option that changes the product photos to match the color selected
Scrolling option for product photos

User Persona

To further synthesize our data and really empathize with a user we created a user persona. Meet Georgette. She has recently adopted two highly energetic puppies. She hope to find a product that helps her manage both of her dogs as she has their first play date coming up soon. Georgette is looking to shop for something local and fashionable, but does not want to go through the hassle of returning or replacing something last minute for any reason. She struggles with finding the correct sizing for many dog products and finds that many products are not what they advertise.

Problem Statement

Pet owners need a simple and familiar way to identify and purchase the right pet accessory because they don’t want to deal with the hassle and disappointment of returning or replacing their item.

Ideation and Design

How might we help customers make a purchase confidently?

How Might We?

How might we create familiarity in a brand that instills a sense of security when purchasing a product?

How might we instill confidence in product sizing?

How might we simplify the checkout process?

How might we help pet owners make informed decisions?

Design Studio

Using my How Might We statements both the research team and design team took turns creating and iterating low fidelity wireframe sketches using Figma's Figjam application. This helped the design team gain insight on how to move forward to produce a high fidelity prototype .

Iterations

This iteration displays a few familiar features to give users a sense of ease while navigating the product page. We wanted users to be able to instinctually navigate the page to lessen any fatigue or discomfort while taking in new information.

In our high fidelity prototype we showcase features that allow users to comfortably navigate the page accompanied with the proper information to make an informed decision. Some of the key features we chose to include to instill trust in the product are -

Extensive product care information to inform users of how easy it is to clean and maintain their pet product - products that are subject to extreme wear and tear
Product features to let shoppers know of the high quality materials used in Wrist Walk's product
We gave users an easy and recognizable way to to navigate the product's multiple color features and photos
An easy way to add any quantity of a product to the cart

End of the Leash

As I ran tests for the new product page I found that people navigated using the new UI. The testers mainly used the functions provided, solidifying our research and our implementation of our findings.

I believe a feature to add would be a number hovering near the cart icon once the user has added items to their cart. This would give the user insight on to how many items they have added while shoppings without having to take the extra step to get back to the cart.

Suggested items that others have purchased would be a feature to consider giving users a more options in less time scrolling.