THE SOAPERY
E-COMM DESIGN
The Soapery is a cosmetics boutique that carries a variety of sustainable beauty brands in addition to their own all-natural products. I conceived of the brand and designed an e-commerce desktop site to explore business growth and provide an enjoyable shopping experience for both new customers and businesses who carry its products.
CLIENT
GA E-Commerce
Project
ROLE
Worked independently,
research through testing
TIMELINE
2 weeks - August 2020
TOOLS
Adobe Illustrator & XD
CHALLENGE
Design an e-comm site to meet the needs of both casual shoppers and B2B customers while highlighting the sustainability of the brand.
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
Surveys
Collected 12 survey responses that helped to reveal which sites were shopped frequently and why they were favorites.
INTERVIEWS
Held 5 interviews to identify:
1) pain points in locating items and the checkout flow
2) understand users preferences around creating an account when online shopping
AFFINITY MAPPING
Analyzed responses from the survey and interview questions to identify user trends and frustrations
COMPARATIVEANALYSIS
Compared LUSH, Sephora, Ulta & Amazon among others to compare:
- checkout flow
- home page hierarchy
- how they feature their brand compared to others they carry
COMPetiTIVE
ANALYSIS
Researched other sites that offer - all natural products
- sustainable packaging
- rewards or subscription services
CARD SORTING
Determining what products the store might carry was easy but figuring out how to categorize them in a way that shoppers could find them was less so.
I had several small groups conduct an open card sort to see what the users thought.
JESSE
student
- Doesn't go for rewards programs
- Gets site suggestions from friends
- Shops online when she's bored
- Feels good buying green products
It's annoying to have to create an account for every site. I can't remember every user name and password.
CHRISTINE
co-op owner
Sites that save my previous orders are the best. It makes it much easier to restock my shop with whatever I need.
- Creates an account for fast checkout
- Is loyal to sites with great customer service
- Makes thoughtful purchases
- Hates it when rewards are hard to redeem
GUEST CHECKOUT FLOW
CASUAL SHOPPERS
7 steps for checkout
EXPRESS CHECKOUT FLOW
BUSINESS OWNERS
3 steps for checkout
GUEST checkout FLOW
Using Adobe XD I built out the success path for a my casual shopper who
skips login and saved payment/shipping information
EXPRESS checkout FLOW
The user logs in to start and references her account to repurchase items from a previous order and check out using saved payment/shipping info.
MY DESIGN GOALS
Familiar
The shopping experience should feel instinctual.
My goal was to achieve this by using a clean aesthetic, recognizable icons and CTA's to help guide shoppers along their path.
FLEXIBLE
Some users weren't interested in creating an account while others preferred saved details so I created both a guest and express checkout flow.
I also made products searchable by category, benefit or brand so items were easy to find.
FAST
Returning customers needed a way to view both recent orders and their full purchase history. I added these features to the 'my account' section along with their saved payment, address & shipping details.
User testing AND interview FOLLOW UP
FEEDBACK
Increased feedback to give the user a sense of where they were on the site
SUGGESTIONS
Suggested related products based on items you click on or add to your cart
SEARCH FUNCTION
Implemented additional search categories including by category, brand, or benefit
SHIPPING
Added shipping and pick up options and a more detailed order summary
OUTCOME
I accomplished my design goal of creating
a site that is familiar, flexible & fast
My second round of testing resulted in the user completing the task in their given scenario faster with fewer missteps along the way
The feedback cues that I added in the transaction flow and during a users search helped the testers click more confidently
DOWN THE ROAD...
Dig deeper into a rewards program
How might I entice casual shoppers to create an account and become a returning customer?
How might I continue to ensure the loyalty of returning/business shoppers and incentivize them to place more substantial purchases in the future?
Look into the need for a mobile application of the site
What percent of our users shop on their phone or tablet vs. a desktop computer?