As a UX researcher, you naturally want to analyze such difficulties. For this reason, I researched this topic using expert interviews.
I invited 6 customers, with whom I conducted a guided interview. In this specific example, I had them click through the colors on the product detail page (product with many colors) and observed how they reacted. 5 of the 6 female customers were visibly confused as to which color they had now chosen after the color tile, which had previously been in third place, suddenly jumped to first.
With the next question – to get back to the overview with browser back after three color changes – all customers were confused/annoyed.
A clear sign that something can be improved here to offer customers a better shopping experience.
The click logic on the color tiles has been adjusted – the user can now return to the PLP quickly and easily! With just one click the user now gets back to the overview, no matter how many colors he has clicked or viewed on the PDP in the meantime.
At the same time, the selected color now stays in its position, making it easier for the customer to browse all colors (the selected color tile no longer jumps to the foreground).
A rather brief example of UX optimization. But sometimes it can be quite simple to improve the user experience in your online store!
During various customer interviews I found out that there are problems with the filter usage on the PLP, especially on desktop. Customers do not immediately find how to apply their selection to see a filtered PLP.
After it was clear that the customers have problems on desktop to take over the filters, but on smartphone and tablet the problem does not occur, the current display method will have major usability weaknesses.
The first step was to notice these difficulties during the customer interviews. For validation, a mouse tracking analysis was then carried out to also see quantitatively how the customers behave on the online store. Personally, I think it’s very important to use quantitative methods to test the hypotheses obtained in qualitative interviews. In this case, the problems were also confirmed quantitatively.
With the help of the findings, new prototypes were developed – based on the mobile design – and tested again in an Uselab. At the same time, an A/B test will drive the measurement of success.
My role in this process is to deliver qualitative and quantitative analysis results, to conceptualize the new user-friendly design and to follow up the success. The customer always has the most important voice, no matter which feature is optimized.
In January 2022, I presented an analysis of the new PDP as part of Contentsquare „Power Hour“ format. In particular, I addressed what I had previously analyzed and what the current redesign now looks like.
Contentsquare is more than just a mouse tracking tool – compared to a conventional mouse tracking tool, a relatively fast analysis is possible. It’s not only session replays or heatmaps.
In this use case, I first looked at the customer journey. This is a good way to get an overview of what customers do after visiting the page you want to analyze. For example, you can filter out the customers who leave the store after the PDP. By creating a segment of just those customers, you can compare how they differ from customers who don’t leave the online shop. Often, this can yield some very exciting insights.
What follows is a more detailed analysis using zoning. Zoning is similar to traditional heat maps. At the same time, there are more ways to look at KPIs – attractiveness rate, click-through rate, time to first click, etc. This also helped me to get an initial assessment of which features are relevant on the PDP and which are very rarely used by the customers.
In general, it can be said that a zoning analysis can be very helpful to get a first impression for all smaller research questions that arise in daily work. At the same time, it often generates insights that can then be converted into a new A/B testing idea.
It’s always important to measure success – especially big changes. Therefore, after going live, ask yourself: How is our customer interacting with the new PDP? Do any adjustments need to be made? It is also highly recommended to use web analytics data to supplement and compare. Personally, I was able to learn a lot, e.g. how to prepare such presentations for a wide audience and what it is like to present online in front of many people.
DESKTOP:
The latest customer survey showed that they like to use the page navigation to orient themselves and search more specifically in the assortment. So, for example, if the customer is looking for coats & jackets, they have the option here to search by subcategory.
MOBILE:
Why is it a problem on mobile devices? There is a lack of clarity, it is not immediately apparent that one can filter further into the assortment. The customer is initially overwhelmed with around 8000 articles.
Therefore, a possibility should be created that - similar to the desktop - a page navigation is visible to facilitate the entry into the assortment.
After the findings from the qualitative interviews, the decision was made that we also wanted to offer our mobile customers the option of filtering deeper into the assortment at first glance. The idea behind and the main UX goal: Make it easier to get into the assortment.
Together with the frontend team and UI, I worked on a possible solution. Keeping the products in first view, the decision was made to go with a slideable solution, simply for space reasons.
There is now a slideable navigation beneath the category headline, which displays the subnavigation items.
After implementing – the question raises: Is the UX change better or worse for the user? Does it really help the user? Due to this - analysis and performance measurement are essential.
What tools and research methods can be used for analytical consideration?
For the first step: I would recommend mouse tracking if possible. It is simple, the data is already collected and you can get a good overview.
You can analyze quickly how often the navigation is clicked and whether it has an influence that the filter and the articles are now pushed down. In my opinion, a heatmap gives a very good clue of the overall structure of the page being analyzed.
Depending on the results of this analysis, qualitative interviews or a survey could also help to understand the usage of the new feature. The advantage of qualitative interviews is that they can be done exploratory and a survey then helps quantify those findings.
Next steps could be testing it. It would be conceivable to conduct an A/B test and let the customer decide. A possible KPI for such a test could be the ATB and the CTR on the products.
For me as a UX Researcher it is very important to work data-driven. When analyzing I love to combine quantitative and qualitative methods to get to know the user and work really customer centered. Always keep in mind that Human-Centered Design is essential for reaching business goals.