Cima

Synopsis & Problem Statement

Cima is an online-only bicycle retailer specializing in high-end models. Website analytics show potential customers open numerous product tabs and add several items to their carts before ultimately choosing to navigate away from the site.

Scope & Constraints

No budget was allotted. The project took 1 month to complete.

Users & Audience

Per the design brief provided by the product manager, the primary users of this product are affluent, 35 to 50-year-old male cycling enthusiasts.

Roles & Responsibilities

As the sole product designer, I was responsible for writing the research plan, analyzing competitors, conducting secondary research, sketching solutions, designing a prototype, and conducting usability testing.

Research Plan

In order to investigate the problems identified in the design brief, I composed a research plan. Amazon and Target were identified as competitors based on their average monthly traffic and net sales in the United States, while Trek was chosen because it operates in the same retail space as Cima. The goal, as stated in the plan, “is to Identify competitors in the e-commerce space and analyze their checkout and product comparison flows to identify strengths and weaknesses vis-a-vis conversion.”

Research plan Google Docs

Secondary Research

Per the design brief, website analytics showed that “70% of users who place an item in the cart do not purchase.” This is in line with data published by Baymard Institute and found on Statista.

The design brief also states, “[d]ata shows that users abandon the cart at the registration page.” Information from Forter and OnePoll (also verified on Statista) shows nearly one-quarter of users abandon carts because of account creation requirements.

As identified in the research plan, Amazon, Target, and Trek were reviewed to understand checkout processes, product comparison tools, and user journeys so as to gain insight on how these key market players implement these features.

Data found on Statista supported the product manager's hypotheses and competitor analysis gave an overview of common and “best practices” regarding the checkout process. This information, as well as information gathered on the UI patterns used on these sites, provided a foundation on which the design would be based.

Main reasons why consumers abandon their orders during the checkout process in the United States in 2022 (Statista)

Research Synthesis

The findings summarized in the research report were distributed via slide deck in order to facilitate sharing with stakeholders. Key insights revolved around competitor analysis findings, as the usefulness of anonymous checkout and product comparison (with regard to increasing conversions) had been previously established.

Slide deck Google Slides

Low-fidelity Prototyping & Validation

Since I needed to validate whether guest checkout and product comparison features would lead to increased conversions, I built the prototype around these flows. In order to gather metrics for both features, the design allowed users to checkout as both a registered, logged-in user as well as a guest, and featured a product comparison feature to aid decision-making.

I used a “one-thing-per-page” flow for the checkout process, and user feedback was positive. The comparison feature, however, had numerous issues — not a single user was able to complete the task relating to this feature.

When asked to compare two road bicycles, users either clicked directly on the “Compare” icon in the header or added a single bicycle for comparison before navigating to the comparison page. On review of the recorded tests, several factors appear to have led to this course of action:

• Task phrasing ambiguity / task instruction length
• Low discoverability of “Compare” button
• Users not being alerted to change in system status when adding bicycle for comparison

Low-fidelity screens.

High-fidelity Prototyping & Validation

After reviewing the test recordings and summarizing the findings, I designed a high-fidelity prototype. Throughout this process, I regularly tested user sentiment regarding design choices, including UI patterns, spacing, and perceived complexity by sharing quick design examples with those in my design community. Had I used this Lean UX methodology sooner, I would have avoided mistakes relating to the product comparison feature.

Frequent validation culminated in a significantly improved task completion score for the product comparison activity — 5 out of 5 users were able to complete the task without issue, and most feedback related to UI pattern issues.

Validating with users.

Reflection

I chose this project because of my relative lack of knowledge in the e-commerce space and finished with not only a large body of new skills, but a respect for what I mistook for unimportant design aspects. The devil is indeed the details — product comparison isn't as nearly straightforward as it originally seemed.

Cima high-fidelity prototype (Figma)

This project could not have been completed without help from Lewis N, Krupa P, Greg G, Ethan M, Jamie W, Tiffany L, Nancy L, Andrew C, Sharad C, Kaisha G, Pragya S, Julia H, and Jennifer M.