Shopping Filter Case Study
"Time is money."
Overview
Objective: Put a shopping filter on the Plant Nursery website to help the user brainstorm and find what it is they have in mind. Ultimately creating more sales by making the shopper experience more efficient.
Problem statement: Plant shoppers don’t want to waste too much time endlessly browsing through products. They want a seamless experience, so they will shop elsewhere to save time and avoid the hassle of pointless scrolling.
Role: Designer, Researcher
Primary Research
The research for this case study rolls over from the results in my first case study "Plant Nursery Home Page Update." A survey was made on surveymonkey.com and some were surveyed via email. Forty-six people responded to the survey. Forty respondents from SurveyMonkey and six more respondents by email. Most of the questions were open ended and resulted and plenty of qualitative data to work with.
Pain points:The plant shopper wants to shop locally online, but most local nursery websites are difficult to navigate and the website designs typically do not inspire any further browsing.
User Personas
These user personas were developed based on the qualitative data that was found in the survey. The first persona, Taylor Lopez is the true plant shopper. She knows why she is shopping and would either use the search bar to find exactly what she is looking for or use the shopping filter to help her brainstorm her ideas. The second persona, David Johnson uses the website to shop for someone else and is more likely to need help navigating through the website to find the right item. A shopping filter would greatly benefit him.
Comparing Competitors
Card Sorting
To create the categories and options for the shopping filter I used key words and phrases that were mentioned throughout the survey. In order to see how they all best fit together I had fifteen users do an unmoderated card sorting activity using Figma.
Through the card sorting I was able to see how the users categorized the words, what kind of wording they would use, and if there would be any possible confusion with any terminology.
Hifi Prototyping
Usability Testing
I conducted a series of individual usability tests having these five users follow a set of tasks and then having them perform the task on their own to see how easy it was for them to use the filter. Afterwards, there was a section for the user to discuss their experience and give feedback.
Iterations
The category order was moved around, multiple selections were allowed with the use of a select button, and tool tips were added.
Final Iteration
Key Learnings: Users feel that a shopping filter is necessary and that it works best within each tab page category, opposed to having it available on the home page. Most importantly, shopping filters save the shopper time and they don’t feel like that have to do a lot of clicking and pointless browsing which makes their online shopping experience pleasant.
Retrospective
Limitations and constraints: Due to the pandemic, reaching out and trying to find users took a lot more time. Also, conducting the research via Zoom was difficult due to internet connection, and getting users familiar with using Zoom.
Solutions: With the pandemic causing limitations, all that could be done was to push forward patiently, and continue to be empathetic and communicative with users during the process. Fortunately, they were all very understanding and patient.
Next steps: Discuss the sales numbers with the client to see how the sales have improved.