As the Lead Designer, I was responsible for creating, maintaining, and improving our user testing processes, which included conducting interviews and surveys.
For example, from June to August 2023, I led a user research initiative focused on improving the conversion rate and enhancing key pages in the user journey: the homepage, catalog page, and product detail page.
Who are we trying to reach?
Before diving into this work, it was crucial to understand our target users. To do this, we collaborated with the marketing team to define user personas, representing the types of users we wanted to attract and retain.
Initial work
In the first phase, I led a brainstorming session to identify issues and opportunities for platform improvement. To do this, we:
- Watched user session recordings from Clarity
- Reviewed data from previous customer surveys
- Analyzed frequent complaints collected by the customer success team
Taking all of this into account, we developed potential solutions through competitive analysis and innovative ideas.
Sketches
Based on the solutions we developed, I created quick sketches to test these ideas with real users.
Below are some example sketches
Testing sketches with real users
With printed sketches and recording equipment, we visited real coffee shops—Bonanza Coffee and Five Elephants in Mitte. We bought coffee and pastries for participants who volunteered to give feedback. We showed participants our printed concepts using a cut-out phone to mimic scrolling and recorded their feedback. Below is a table summarizing the responses. Below is a picture from the coffee shop, featuring the phone cutout and the recording sheet. Next to it, you’ll find the detailed results from the interviews.
Refining...
Based on the feedback, we refined our solutions to enhance the user experience.
Below is an example of refinement comments based on user feedback. These comments were used to enhance the high-fidelity design.
Improved high fidelity designs
Here are some high-fidelity improvements based on the research results.
While many changes were made, I’m highlighting two key updates: enhanced discoverability on the product listing page and a complete redesign of the landing page section to help users find coffee that suits their preferences more quickly.
What do the numbers say?
Most of the new pages and features were gradually released from late July to mid-August. Starting from August 21st, we observed a significant week-on-week increase in the conversion rate for returning customers.
Lastly, the overall average monthly conversion rate increased to over 2%, up from less than 2% in the previous months of the year. This was a successful outcome for us, but it also revealed new areas for improvement.
