Case Studies Pt.2: E-Commerce Solutions
Project Two
For our second UX challenge, I and my second group were assigned an e-commerce website of our choice for redesigning. It was a thorough project, as we engaged in several methods of research to come to our conclusion. We used templates from brand comparisons and product statements to discover what the industry might be lacking. With this, we reached out to users to learn more about the experiences they have interacting with the website and the industry in general.
The project went well, and it gave an immense example of how this would have been handled in a corporate setting. Dealing with stakeholders that may or may have not been available for an interview. Receiving research data later than expected making for constant revisions. Even working with teams with good intentions and unkempt schedules. All these interactions made for an interesting solution. Let me take you through a brief look at how all this played out.
The (Not So) Friendly Competition
We started by finding several companies that sold similar products our client’s company was selling. From a distance, All these companies seemed successful. Their layouts were standard enough to make the cut, and they have been established long enough that any new changes, at first glance, would come off as threatening to the present businesses.
Then we lined them up to each other and something changed
The features that some companies had, others did not. I’m all for individuality, but this was the kind of sticking out one wouldn’t like. Soon after some of the sites appeared lacking. Other sites looked as if they just did not care. Website strengths and weaknesses began to reveal themselves. There were opportunities that invited improvement. And there were threats that if ever encountered, would cause a company to suffer soon. It was our responsibility to make sure that didn’t happen.
The Client and the Consumer: Something like a Love Story
Asking how customers felt about the site in question raised a lot of different viewpoints. Some were quite agreeable, others were very passionate, and the rest are left unsaid. I say this because regardless of what an individual might have said about this site, although important to us, may not have been so important to our client, the stakeholder. On another note, this company, for the decade or so it has been open for business, is still standing. With all the different attitudes about this company, we had to wonder how.
“Let’s talk about empathy for a moment. It’s all about the customer right? Would a business exist without the customer? Or without the business, would a customer exist? Do businesses make customers out of people, or do customers turn companies into successful businesses? Who needs who first? Does one seek out the other? Or are both on a constant search to find each other?”
We formulated the overall idea of the user in scope (the persona) and put them on a journey through their day experiencing a problem and attempting to solve it with our client’s website. That showed us the pains they had with the site, and the gains they wished to have at the end of their journey. When this was completed, we had a clear start on how to build the solution that could help both our client and the consumer.
To Feature or not to Feature
Something very special happened during this cohort that changed views on ideations. This being the acknowledgment that
“There is no such thing as a bad idea”
A part of me has been waiting to admit this for a long time. And now that I have, more boundaries can be broken, and creativity has a more fluid meaning again.
Of course, this doesn’t mean to do anything that would put you or others in harm’s way. This means, like questions, as long as you put them out there you are sure to always learn something. In a world full of consequences, Saying or doing the wrong thing can lead to some of the worst outcomes. In the scope of this project, we were able to find the best ideas with what is coined as the MoSCoW Method.
This method aided in prioritizing our features, helping us decide what is necessary and what is not. With all of the ideas that were presented for this assignment, this technique was the turning point. It allowed us to begin to focus on what needed to be done.
All about Flow
In this step of the project, we decided to analyze the client site to break it down into parts. This made it possible to find an entrance for our new feature and find new ways someone could navigate through the site with more fluidity. This came in 3 deliverables.
- Site Map
- Flow Outline
- Flow Chart
The Site Map removed the fluff and aesthetic of the site, leaving only the standard functionally that made it possible to use.
The Flow Outlines was the introduction of the flowchart. This gave a brief and flexible summary of how someone would move through the website. Full of optimism and forgiveness, these outlines previewed the optimal start and end a user could have.
The Flow Chart is more thorough than a flow outline in the sense that it provided all scenarios someone could take when going through a website. It came with user decisions, backtracks, and a process that had to be taken correctly to get a successful outcome when using the site.
These 3 techniques made for clear wireframes that provided the solution with an improved layout.
Final Thoughts
This assignment started from “Did we have to do all of this?” to “Is there more we could do to improve?” The more data we had, the more data would have deemed useful if we took the time to get it. Of course, this was a very time-sensitive project. But for the future, it would have been best to commit an amount of time to obtain data.
I used to think UX and Design Research, like many other skills, becomes faster and simpler with time. In ways it does. But the process never changes. There is always research. There is always brainstorming. There is always testing. And hey, maybe one day I can walk in a room, drop a golden thought, bring a crowd to a frenzy, and walk out. But there will always be an extensive process behind that would have made that possible.
Always grateful to all of you who take the time to read this. You give me the will to write more. Thank you.
