MY ROLE

UX Research, User Flow, Sketching, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing

TOOLS: Adobe XD, Figma, Invision DURATION: 3 Weeks

Blue Ring Bicycles: Improving Mobile eCommerce

Blue Ring is an online retailer for bikes who want to make a significant contribution to the culture of cycling. They are a company of cyclists making great products for other cyclists.

The goal for this project was to improve the conversion from browse to completion of checkout to increase revenue on a mobile web experience.

THE PROBLEM

Blue Ring's mobile web store has seen an increase in users opening multiple item pages but then abandon the site without moving any items to their cart. Additionally, 70% of their customers who do put an item into the cart do not purchase these items and abandon the cart at the account registration page. Without improving these features, consumers will look elsewhere to find similar products and Blue Ring will risk losing market share to competitors.

DISCOVERING USER BEHAVIORS

I conducted five user interviews screening for people who are often comparing many items before purchasing online. I asked about their shopping and browsing habits. Since Blue Ring has such a large inventory and variety of products it was important to ask people about their method for finding the right products for their needs.

When asked about how often these shoppers are comparing multiple items before committing to one to buy they all said they are almost always taking the time to make sure the product is exactly what they need. During this research I also found that everyone I talked to uses a guest checkout experience when possible.

WHAT THEY REVEALED

Users show a huge difference in habits and motivations when shopping. Here are some key takeaways from those observations:

• Shoppers rely a lot on reviews to influence purchases.

• Shoppers like to see relevant recommended items.

• Shoppers will scan the home page the first time they're there to get comfortable with the site.

• Everyone wants to compare items when shopping for something new.

• Unless they are a return customer, shoppers tend to use guest checkout.

THE GOOD PATHS

With the understanding of the users and their behavior, it was time to see how other e-commerce sites flowed, their features and how they solve the problems that Blue Ring is having. I looked to Trek, Specialized and AllCity. I spent some time checking out how some non-bike e-commerce giants handled these issues as well.

From the user research insights and competitive analysis I created a site / shopper flow from the landing page to the confirmation badge following a completed purchase.

LET’S PUT IT TO THE TEST

After getting a few ideas out in the form of low-fidelity sketches, I developed some wireframes based on other popular bike and e-commerce websites. I made sure to tackle the must haves as early as possible by making sure there was always a search function and by making sure the user could easily access the compare tool.

BUT WHAT DID USERS THINK?

I conducted 5 usability tests and made 2 rounds of iterations. The main task given to shoppers was to find a few bikes to compare and to go through the checkout process. The biggest pain points were in the compare tool usability, the confirmation screen was confusing and didnt give an option to sign up and the text was much too small to read on a lot of pages. These problems were addressed below.

THE SOLUTION

Welcome to the new Blue Ring Bikes online store. A streamlined shopping experience, seamlessly integrated with a simple and elegant product comparison tool.

WHAT I LEARNED

KEEP THINGS SIMPLE

Online shoppers are used to a very streamlined experience and have very little patience. Anything that gets in the way of their goal can easily turn them away from your site as a whole. Less really is more when getting someone to purchase your product.

TEST TEST TEST

Even though I was given then problems Blue Ring was experiencing I still needed to do a lot of user testing and user research. I really absorbed the importance of the research for a product like this. The way people shop really varies but when it comes to the checkout process everyone wants that instant gratification.

BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT

I was originally very ambitious with my scheduling and did not give myself much wiggle room if any at all. After week one that all changed and I loosened up quite a bit for my own sanity's sake. I had to bring myself out of this mindset of having a perfect plan. Things happen and I have to be adaptable and roll with the punches.