Ecommerce Experience Audit

What do shoppers need to feel confident and informed?
Academic | 2018
Solo project
Goals
  • Understand what users need from ecommerce platforms that may differ from brick and mortar
  • Understand what users value most both emotionally and economically in the shopping process
  • Learn how  ecommerce can be enhanced to empower users and give them knowledge to make a confident decision
  • Identify opportunities to improve ecommerce experiences to be more fulfilling for users
Method
In order to learn more about the values of online shoppers, I observed six people as they shopped for a product of their choice on amazon.com. I asked them to describe their actions as they carried them out in order to gather insights into their decisions and process. I then made visual diagrams to chart their emotional, as well as literal, shopping experience. After observing their patterns, I drew individual experience maps and opportunity outlines for directions in product and interface design that may improve each user’s experience. I also diagrammed their values in the process, which are aggregated above and elaborated on below.
By combining the individual value maps, we’re able to gain a comprehensive portrait of what matters to people. The area covered by all shoppers is emphasized for clarity, demonstrating that quality is a core expectation, and personal need and function are crucial as base requirements for the search to commence. Other values were less consistent among all shoppers, but most were highly valued by individual shoppers.
Aggregate Analysis
  • Everyone cared about function up to the point that it meant their needs — but this was rarely analyzed past initial stages.
  • People were willing to sacrifice time to the search — they cared more about ensuring they purchased what they really wanted.
  • People generally tried to find factors they could use to measure quality. Different people used reviews, brands, visuals, social recommendations, and third party content as a surrogate metric.
  • Interestingly, people did not look at price this way, and used it mainly at their decision point.
  • Those who had “pre-shopped” and were looking for one specific item tended to use price as their primary determinate of whether or not to make a purchase.

Michele: Resources In, Resources Out

age: 48
gender: woman
hometown: San Diego, California
occupation: stay-at-home parent
Amazon usage: daily

What mattered

She knew the general category for the item she wanted, and knew it was important that she got a high-quality product that would last, perform, and suit her needs. Special considerations were given to function and durability, and friends, reviews, brands, and outside sources were consulted. She was looking at more expensive items, and was very thorough in her search.

What didn't

Michele was willing to invest time and resources into getting the product she wanted. She did not rush her research or flinch at costs.

Opportunities

  • Find ways to utilize friends in the product: both in mutually desired products and friend-related recommendations.
  • Introduce a way to sort for “premium quality” or “maximum value” as based on materials, reviews, and quantity of key features.
  • Provide extra details, especially visually, for items over a certain price point. Consider adding videos to address key benefits of products.
  • Add a quality score on a brand level to give weight to products that are credibly produced.
  • Survey users to add reports of average product lifespan.

Rachel: Value per Dollar

age: 20
gender: woman
hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee
occupation: student
Amazon usage: yearly

What mattered

As a student, Rachel most valued price. She was interested in a specific item, and she wasn’t going to buy it unless she felt like it was a high quality item she could use for a long time. She ultimately looked for a friend she could share it with instead of purchasing, because she didn’t think the product itself fit this criteria.

What didn't

She only viewed one product. Amazon as a marketplace, other products, this product in comparison, and overall marketing didn’t come into consideration.

Opportunities

  • Find a ways to incorporate her sharing instinct into UI and sales model.
  • Add social component to see friends or others in her area who are interested in sharing.
  • Frame user review questions to understand value over time and importance of purchase.  
  • Tailor platforms to emphasize quality of specific products, demonstrate cost per use, and suggest resale value or potential.

Richard: Best Bottom Line

age: 74
gender: male
hometown: Walnut Creek, California
occupation: retired businessman
Amazon usage: occasionally

What mattered

Since he came to Amazon already knowing what he wanted, Richard’s primary concern was price. He checked Amazon for the item, then price checked a few more specialized online retailers. He ultimately bought his desired item on Amazon, since in this case, they won on price.

What didn't

Since Richard had his mind made up on an item when he began shopping, his main criteria was price. Factors like aesthetics, materials were decided and social factors, or time involved were not a concern.

Opportunities

  • Display price comparisons between similar items and competing sites up front.
  • Bring more transparency to pricing and markup by showing pricing breakdown with profit margins, production costs, and worker wages to see if these factors impact consumers’ opinions.
  • When a specific item is searched, take to a page focused on that item rather than a general search results page.

Carson: Bang for the Buck

age: 26
gender: male
hometown: Alpine, Utah
occupation: web developer
Amazon usage: monthly

What mattered

Price and appearance. Items were screened from landing pages based on cost and visuals, and bad photography was an automatic out.  He moved quickly by focusing in on these factors to assess.

What didn't

Reviews and product info were completely ignored — he preferred information in a visual format. Technical specs in general were not a consideration.

Opportunities

  • Incorporate the reviews and product info into the visuals.
  • Removing extraneous detail from listing and using a cleaner, image-focused layout that called out key information would help him speed up and sort more quickly.
  • Consider adding information in icon form for easy scanning from main page.

Tim: Slow and Steady

age: 45
gender: male
hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona
occupation: physician
Amazon usage: weekly

What mattered

Tim looked for two things (price and quality) as much as he could for each item on the page before even clicking on one product. However, what mattered most to him was the information he found in the product info and reviews, both of which he spent several minutes reading and corroborated with outside sources.

What didn't

He had no preferences when it came to things like brand or aesthetics, and he was willing to devote some time into finding the right product.

Opportunities

  • Make products easily understood by integrating videos, tutorials, and visual instructions into the platform.
  • Include an aggregate review score from 3rd party sites, including professional and customer reviews and other retailers.
  • Add more media in galleries on front pages.
  • Incorporate top reviews from other sites directly into the platform.
  • Include a button to search out on other sites.

Claire: Shop for the Experience

age: 23
gender: female
hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah
occupation: designer
Amazon usage: weekly

What mattered

Brand, aesthetics, and quality mattered most. She visited other markets and outside websites to view more images and details, and trusted brands aided this search. She wanted social proof to validate the quality of her potential purchase, and brand and friends provided this, as well as adding a creative aspect to the search.

What didn't

She had minimal interest in technical details, including product info, price, and time devoted to the search.

Opportunities

  • Add points of spontaneity and surprise to make the experience more joyful
  • Increase social element of shopping. Showcase user comments and reviews, see others who bought the item, item popularity, and “friends who bought” components to add validation and community.
  • Make sharing easy, and consider implementing discounts for regular shoppers who share products individually.
  • Showcase images as much as possible, including images from different users and contexts to show a variety of environments and uses and increase detail.
  • Consider AR/VR applications to aid in building visual understanding of products.
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