Case Study: Improving conversion for an Online Music store
This assignment project was a part of Springboard’s UI/UX program.
About this project
The assignment simulated a real-world E-Commerce project with business goals. The prompt below was given from the ‘client’, which suggested that their firm was having conversion issues.
Project role: Ridin solo
- Competitor Research
- User Research
- Prototyping
- Product Thinking
- Visual Design
Platform: WEB
Timeline: April 2021 (2 weeks)
Business Goals 🎯
- Improve the conversion from browse to completion of checkout to increase revenue on the product’s web experience.
Important Information from the Product Manager
- Data shows that 50% of users open an average of 7 item pages and then abandon the website without moving any items to the cart.
- 70% of users who place an item in the cart do not purchase. Data shows that users abandon the cart at the registration page
Target Audience 🙋
- 16–50 years old
- User base is 72% men
- Low-to moderate income earners
- Amateur to professional level Musicians.
Assumptions 🤔
Being an amateur musicians myself I did have a couple of assumptions before I kick-started my research process.
- Buying audio gear and musical instruments is an extremely research and opinion driven process.
- Current solutions in the market do not provide a quality user experience.
Competitive research
To better understand the current solutions in the market, I conducted a thorough analysis of India’s top 3 Music E-commerce stores.
Bajaao is one of the most popular music E-commerce stores in India.
- Employment of dark patterns throughout the website
- Constant pop-ups every 2–3 mins which can annoy the user.
- Lack of information on features and technicalities of instruments.
- No feature for comparing different products.
- Poor quality of images
- Illegible text in various Sections of the website
2. Sudeepaudio.com
Sudeepaudio has been in the industry for more than ten decades; they are not as popular as Bajaao. Their customer base includes mainly of industry veterans.
- Extremely Outdated layout and design.
- Use of confusing terms.
- Lack of information on products.
- Lack of clearly defined CTA buttons.
3. Furtadosonline.com
Furtados is a well-known brand in the Music Industry. They have been around since 1965 and are the largest retailers of Music instruments in India.
- Outdated layout and design
- Confusing navigation
- No guest checkout available
- Text formatting issues on product pages which makes it hard for the user to scan pages.
Learnings
After checking out the competitors I gained a fair understanding of the current solutions in the market.
User Interviews 💁🏻
I conducted user interviews with musicians ranging from the amateur to professional level to understand their process of buying musical instruments.
Learnings
After Conducting interviews, I learned more about the users’ purchasing behaviour and it also helped me in validating my assumptions.
Common Design Patterns
I conducted a quick scan of the most successful E-commerce stores in India. To find out how they try to keep their conversion metrics consistent and successful.
Common patterns included:
- Appealing and Clear Call-to-Action
- Use of good quality visuals ( Photos & Videos)
- Guest check out
- Multiple mode of payments
- Use of limited time coupon codes
- Friendly return policies
How might we? 🤷🏻♀️
I found How might we question’s to be the best way to articulate the problem statements.
- How might we optimize the conversion rate of the website?
- How might we provide an informative and intuitive browsing experience?
Feature Brainstorming💡
I listed down all the features I could think with their Pros and Cons.
I listed out the wider implications of each feature on the business and engineering teams.
Impact/Effort matrix 📈
I gathered the best of ideas and used the matrix to map out all the features.
Some features might require a huge effort but not have a considerable effect on the users or business goals.
I decided to evaluate each idea with the following considerations:
- Reach: how many customers this product could potentially reach.
- Value for customer: how satisfying this solution is for the customers.
- Potential revenue: how well this solution meets the business goals of the company
Userflow
I created a user flow map to understand better the screens required and to help easily communicate the flow with the developers and other stakeholders.
Wireframing 📎
After sketching on paper, I created detailed wireframes. This allowed me to purely focus on layout and hierarchy without worrying too much about other visual design details.
Color 🌈
I created a comprehensive color guide for all use cases adhering to guidelines prescribed by the W.C.G.A.
Color code- #202020 Nero
I chose this as my primary color because as it best portrayed the attributes of the brand like serious, knowledgeable and focused.
Typography
I chose Avalon as the main type for my heading due to it’s clean and elegant looks and Open Sans for the body text due to it’s excellent legibility and neutral yet friendly form.
Visual Design 🖼️
After multiple iterations to the layout and structure of the screens, I created the final visual design.
Home page
I designed the Home page which would best showcase the USP’s of the store, making the visitors feel confident about their purchases.
Results Page
The visitor can compare multiple items and apply filters based on their preferences. I also added a chatbox feature that will help the users in case of inquiries and doubts.
Product page
- A product page that portrays the instrument’s uniqueness by showcasing its complete features, demo videos and specs in an easily scannable format. No more wandering around Youtube and Reddit to find answers.
Guest checkout flow
Guest checkout for users who don’t want to go through the entire sign up process. This will help solve the cart abandonment issues.
Comparing different products
Product comparison can help musicians decide which product best fits their needs without opening multiple item pages.
Prototype
Checkout the prototype for a full walk through of the product.
Measuring Success 👏
Finally before launching the product I will discuss the KPI’s with the product manager that will indicate the success of this solution.
Here are some of the metrics that could help in defining the success of the product.
- Sales conversion rate
- Cart and checkout abandonment rate
- Engagement rate
Key Learnings 🎁
- This was my first ever project with real business goals; it helped me understand the scope of a designer stretches far beyond visual screens.
- Designers role in tech companies involves not just solving user’s problems but also business problems. And a truly good solution often lies in the intersection of the users and business goals.
- Working on this project allowed me to understand the challenges product designers face every day and how to use product thinking to solve them.
A special thanks to my mentor Agam Arora for helping and guiding me throughout the design process.