.png)
Overview
VoorpretAtelier's goal is to sell unique hand made homeware. Concrete trinkets, plates and vases have been carefully hand crafted to transform your house into a home.
72% of handmade buyers claim that handmade items are generally more special than mass produced items.
However with the dependency of 'next-day' shipping, instant downloads and mass production, hand made items are struggling to compete.
How can we start VoorpretAtelier's business and stand out in the saturated market?
Responsibilities
User Researcher
UX
Design Director
Period
4 months
Client
2021
Deliverables
User Research
UX
3D Renders
Business Strategy
SEO
Prototype
AR
Team
+ 1 Designer
+ Software Developer
Key Objective
To create an e-commerce website that starts VoorpretAtelier's new business whilst standing out from the competitors.
Solutions Preview
Refined
Catalogue
-
Revenue increased to 80%
-
+30% increase in sales
-
Average rating of 4.8 stars
.png)
Functional
Augmented
Reality
-
Integrated functional AR
-
Catalogue Integrated into Social Media
-
Consistent Visual Fidelity
-
Modern minimalistic responsive e-store
-
NPS +95%
-
Company Revenue Increased +20%
.png)
Modern
E-commerce
Prologue. " What is the situation? "
A team of hobbyists that have a tight budget and no business experience, that's the project's scope.
The Design Brief
Having a meeting with the stakeholders allowed me to scope the project's situation: no experience in business and a tight budget.
"This is exciting to start a new business... even though we've never sold any of our items before..."
- Business Owner
Figure out which stakeholders to manage closely
Stakeholder Mapping
-
Voorpret is starting with no experience in selling hand-made home decor.
-
Team (other stakeholders) have a collective 14+ years of design experience.
-
English is their second language, members would prefer to text message.
Q1. " What are the requirements and constraints? "
Problem to Solution
-
VoorpretAtelier's primary concern is fulfilling orders and delivering on time.
-
The team has never sold a handmade item before. They depend on my leadership to ensure they bring in revenue promptly.
-
No set deadline, yet most of the team members are depending on Voorprete as their main source of income.
Identify which items sell and who is buying them.
Research Goals
-
How much experience does Voorpret have with creating concrete decor?
-
What is the average time of item completion to customer receiving item?
-
Map out ideas on how to gain candidates to interview.
What are the worst-case scenarios that COULD happen?
FMEA (Failure Modes & Effects Analysis)
-
Hypothesising all worst-case scenarios to set out anti-goals and design goals.
-
FMEA helps map out which problems could occur and who is at fault: the user, the website for the business owner.
-
Design features for the new website should prevent all failure modes if possible.
Hypothesising the worst-case scenarios and ranking them based on severity, frequency and mapping out possible solutions.
Damaged on arrival, lack of materials & undelivered packages: Voorpret's main concerns.
FMEA Matrix Chart
-
Voorpret's team and I managed to map out the worst-case scenarios to ensure everyone was in sync.
-
An inventory system will be implemented to ensure items and materials are in stock.
-
All FMEA elements will need to be processed when designing the website.
Matrix Chart of the previously mapped out scenarios. 2,1& 5 are considered to be top priorities to prevent.
Stage 1
EMPATHISE
Q2. " What is the landscape for the hand-made home decor market ?"
Handmade home decor is a woman-led market, mainly started as hobbyists.
Market Research
Users buy handmade home decor as sustainable gifts...for themselves
Buying Decisions
Etsy is the go-to platform for handmade items with 500 million purchases in Q4 2020
Recognisable Platforms for handmade items
-
Self-initiated scrum exercise saw me audit the following: Etsy, Facebook Store, Facebook Marketplace and Amazon Handmade.
-
Some platforms were never heard of before (Amazon Handmade).
-
Etsy could be a good starting point to allow Voorpret to practice their business whilst gaining revenue.
Results from the self-lead audit to see what interfaces and features users are accustomed to. Etsy is the winning platform out of the 4 audits.
Voorpret may be too eager to sell that items could be delivered to buyer incomplete...
Hypothesis
-
The main objective in the short term needs to ensure Voorpret can obtain finances.
-
Voorpret's capabilities need to still be determined: can they consistently achieve commercial quality items?
-
Achieving an Etsy store competitor's analysis could identify the average price range and popular sold items.
Voorpret must test their capabilities in a scenario to see results of their handmade items
and time delivery.
Surveys and Interviews
Q3. " What do users wish to obtain from hand-made home décor websites? "
Only 5 were selected to commence the user testing stage due to:
-
Budget
-
Amount of time browsing hand-made items
-
The amount of home decor bought
Interview Insights
Reason for purchase
The interviewees stated that most of their purchases were for personal use. Only a small margin were bought for gifts for close friends or family members.
The occasion for buying lists as follows:
-
New home
-
New student dorms
-
Changing to new aesthetic
Users are predominantly female and buy homemade home decor to decorate their rooms
Personas
Following the collected data, the user testers were then categorised towards their interest in hand-made home decor.
-
The Undergrad
-
The New Homeowner
-
The Decorator
Users have moved into a new location and see their rooms as a canvas to customise with home decor
Empathy Maps of Personas
-
Their go-to website is Etsy for handmade items.
-
Dining area and bedroom are their main areas to decorate.
-
Users have some design background.
An interface that matches other e-commerce platforms, tracked delivery & safe payment options are desired
Storyboarding Purchasing Process
-
Users often buy an object based on photo inspiration ideas for the item.
-
A game of elimination is at play: multiple tabs are open and users often choose the winning item based on price and delivery time.
-
Approx. 7 - 10 days is an ideal time frame according to 87.5% of users.
Payment options: 87.5% of users favour Klarna and PayPal
Current User Journey
-
Current user journey graph showcases the key moments for The Undergrad persona.
-
Their 'Triggering' point seems to be related to 'filling up an empty room/ space'.
-
5 out of 5 use social media, Pinterest in particular, to generate ideas.
Price of item with recognisable payment options will ensure users will purchase
Affinity Mapping
-
Users stress the importance of clearly stating shipping price.
-
Minimal design for easement of payment checkout: users may have two addresses: billing and delivery.
-
Ensure website has modernised security, buying from unknown websites is a fear that users have expressed.
Subconscious Reasons
What do they want?
What do they REALLY want?
"I would love to design my ideal
home! Plants, sofas and décor"
- Student Persona
Home Design
Workshop
Length
8 - 10 minutes
Participants
5 Participants
Location
United Kingdom, London
Study Type
Ethnology &
Contextual Inquiry
Fulfil the desires of the user: to design their ideal 'Pinterest' home via an interactive game
Self Initated Workshop: Interactive Card Sorting
-
This exercise took aspects from EA's The Sims.
-
Items used for workshop are based on user's interviews past purchases.
-
Interactive workshop saw honest engagement from user: Time-on-task av. 5 mins due to enjoyment.
Recordings from user designing their ideal Pinterest home: Colour-coded items are placed into designated rooms. Unity's Game Engine and Blender 3D were used.
Heatmap signature from the 5 users. The lounge and office areas are the most populated rooms.
Mugs and Coasters are the most popular: practical and best value for price
Results from Workshop
-
Mugs and coasters often come in a set of 4.
-
Living room and Office are most popular rooms decorated.
-
The layout of flat could help with navigation of product.
"Hand-made items have a particular quality to them. The look, the touch and sound..."
- Student Persona
Users buy items based on price,
scale and source of material
Identifying sustainability through sound
-
Certain materials are instinctively associated with sustainability.
-
87.5% would prefer to avoid buying glass from hand-made store.
-
100% agree that wooden home decor is allocated to large pieces of furniture: tables, chairs & desks.
Wood, Rubber & Concrete are the most eco-friendly materials according to users
Results from Workshop
-
100% agree: Plastics are associated with micro-plastics and mass production.
-
87.5% agree: Concrete items are seen as unique.
-
20% agree: That they would buy home decor made out of rubber.
Users want high quality for a good price with recognisable safe payment options
Recapping the user
-
Etsy is the users go-to store for handmade home decor.
-
filtering system to allow users to navigate store through: colour, price and scale.
-
Buying items through room and cultural events are users main motives.
Stage 2
DEFINE
Firstly, define the current state of Voorpret's capabilities producing and delivering
Workshop: Scenario acting as a customer
-
Item delivered within 5 days.
-
Voorpret offered tracking service, I was able to plan day around arrival of item.
-
Centre of trinket tray was not set properly. Concrete was still wet.
As predicted, their eagerness produced an incomplete state: still wet & damaged
Workshop: Scenario acting as a customer
-
Scenario scored highly in FMEA making this severe.
-
Voopret expressed they wished to deliver item within a week.
-
60% users claimed they would want a refund/ return item if they witnessed this scenario.
3 out of 5 would ask for a refund
2 out of 5 would shop from Voorpret again
4 out of 5 would class Voorpret as 'Amateur'
1 out of 5 would publicly review Voorpret with
1 or 2 Stars
Stage 3
IDEATE
Ideation
Prioritise quality control of products first, then create e-commerce website.
-
Take lead to make sure that Voorpret team can produce a hand-made item in a complete state.
-
Workshop scenario proved my hypothesis to be correct: Voorpret's eagerness to deliver quickly resulted in item being incomplete (concrete not set properly: still wet inside).
-
Producing a functional catalogue on Etsy to gain revenue promptly whilst website is being made.
Elephant Carpaccio: Highlighting the most urgent tasks to achieve in this project and mapping out the Product Road Map.
Obtain revenue on Etsy, then produce a high-end e-commerce store
Product Roadmap
Product Roadmap produced by me to ensure all stakeholders are in-sync with project.
"Etsy is my go-to place to look for hand-made items..."
- Student Persona
Ideation
Competitor's Analysis on Etsy stores
-
Take lead to make sure that Voorpret team can produce a hand-made item in a complete state.
-
Workshop scenario proved my hypothesis to be correct: Voorpret's eagerness to deliver quickly resulted in item being incomplete (concrete not set properly: still wet inside).
-
Producing a functional catalogue on Etsy to gain revenue promptly whilst website is being made.
Figure: Competitor's Analysis of Etsy stores that Voorpret can use for a basis on items, price and presentation
Profit
Voorpret sells on Etsy whilst website is built. Profits increase by 200%
-
Users claim Etsy is their standard platform for hand-made items.
-
I strategised that Voorpret must start on Etsy to gain practice distributing items whilst turning a profit.
-
NPS for Voorpret's brand increased to +87% with an average of 5 star ratings.
Figure: Screenshot from Voorpret's Etsy page. Catalogue is now functioning and ready to be placed into website.
Ideal User Journey
The relationship between Voorpret and the customer depends on how much content/ information the brand offers. This in-depth ideal user journey maps out the thought process, and the breadcrumb trail of on-screen user flows.
Create a modernised interface for hand-made items
Competitor's Analysis
-
I highlighted features that prevent any scenarios mapped out in FMEA.
-
Feature Prioritsations help user fulfil their goals and help with audit of competitors.
-
Low End websites are allocated to hand-made, High-End showcase established 'higher makert'.
5 Low - End and 4 High - End home decor stores were examined for the following:
-
Colour scheme
-
Nav Bar Categories
-
Elements that are Unique, Best, Same and Poor
-
Time duration for purchase completion
Multiple payment options and clear check out procedure help ensure users buy items
S.W.O.T. Analysis
-
Users may not know what '.tr' suffix is, '.com' is universally known.
-
Nav Bar options are highlighted: search by rooms, gift ideas etc.
-
Items should be placed within a realistic setting to help users gain some inspiration, this will increase chances of item purchase by 20%.
Show inspiration first, then sell the item
Architectural Information
-
User search for handmade home-decor for visual inspiration.
-
Undertsanding the VOC (Voice of the Customer) for SEO ranking purposes.
-
Social media is also accounted for.
"I would like to see the item before it arrives...place it in my room before I buy it."
- Student Persona
Using Augmented Reality to 'try-before-you-buy'
Voorpret's catalogue
Augmented Reality Workshop
-
Self-lead workshop to try out which method of AR works.
-
Adobe's Aero program is the most accessible for the team.
-
Objects from AR will help out with showcasing Voorpret's catalogue to users.
Augmented Reality
Other stores such as IKEA, Target and Anthropologie allow users to use
Augmented Reality to place their item at their current location.
Benefits of using Augmented Reality result in:
-
Reducing the refund and return of items
-
Customer satisfaction with technical engagement
-
Easy set-up for the user
-
Customisable renders
Users do NOT depend on AR for purchase: they have their own method of decision making
Architectural Information
-
Not many users need AR for handmade home decor items.
-
AR would mainly work for larger items (desks, chairs, beds etc.).
-
Will only be restricted to mobile devices.
Users prefer to use desktop to have multiple tabs open.
Although the previous 'possible approach' would have made Voorpret stand out from the competition, this would have decimated the persona's mindset.
A practical approach
Meta's Instagram and Facebook allow businesses to create and use augmented reality. Seeing that 100% of the users have access to Instagram and Facebook, this approach seemed to be more practical...
Multiple payment methods, filtering system and
dimensions of items
MoSCoW & How Might We's
-
MVPs help conceptualised features to help prevent any cases found in FMEA.
-
Impact and Effort Matrix determined the ROI.
-
Each feature was then categorised using the MoSCoW procedure.
Ideation
Allow users to navigate catalogue through cultural occasion, item and room within house
-
Users would often buy new decor when moving into a new property
-
Shopping by room was implemented due to workshop (decorate your own flat)
-
Social media features will also be implemented to help increase sales.
Figure: Architectural Information and User flow from Organic Search to Order Complete.
Ideation
Mobile version has different user flow; Augmented Reality
-
Desktop version is prioritised; 87.5% of users claim desktop is their standard device.
-
Klarna and PayPal are payment methods users highly recognise from other platforms.
-
Users may need onboarding guidance for AR feature.
Figure: User flow for mobile version. Including AR feature as an option.
Stage 4
PROTOTYPE
Lo-Fi Prototype
Length
8 - 10 minutes
Participants
5 Participants
Location
United Kingdom, London
Study Type
Usability &
Contextual Inquiry
The previous 5 user testers were again tasked to complete the audit. An unmoderated remote user testing session allowed us to determine whether the foundation of this website was functional as an online store for hand-made items.
Insights of User Testing for Lo - Fi
A collection of bar graphs, quotes and gathered data.
Error Rate
100% of all users managed to complete the business-related tasks. The lo-fi prototype proved successful due to the high-scoring audit session. All candidates recognise the state of familiarity as it follows closely other online stores.
Mobile Prototype
Mobile version has a lower success rate; users unversed with AR
-
1 out of 5 of users found AR feature, by accident...
-
The individual expressed confusion not knowing that AR feature is shown, they mistaken feature for film footage gallery.
-
Users' Click Error Rate increased to 34% due to candidates trying to find AR feature.
Figure: Graph showing the user tasks given to the 5 candidates. Tasks were completed with a 77.7778% success rate.
Iteration
Onboarding product tour help guide users through AR segement
-
User flow now introduces an interactive 5-step flow tutorial.
-
Onboarding highlights AR features in a clear manner.
-
Users express their gratitude for quick tutorial, Customer Satisfaction increased by +70%.
Figure: User flow focusing in AR segment: stressing the onboarding process to guide user through AR.
Iteration
Visual tutorials and walkthroughs increase success rate by 147%
-
Icons changed to highlight Augmented Reality function
-
An interactive 5 step flow tutorial guides the user through the AR UI.
-
Error rate decreased for AR segment dropped 23% down to 4%
Figure: Graph showing the user tasks given to the 5 candidates. Focus in the Augmented Reality segment.
Prototype Iteration
First Time Users claim checkout section is too long. Iterations use a wizard to help with progression.
-
A new set of candidates were also tested to ensure FTX can use interface.
-
Check out uses a checklist and step-by-step to help with completion.
-
The Abandonment Rate is 60% with Order Completion having a 25% chance.
Figure: Flow showcases the current Check Out process. Shipping and Billing Addresses have dedicated pages which slows down the process.
Figure: Graph showing Abandonment Chance vs the Checkout Completion Chances.
Decrease the number of pages for order completion lowered abandonment rate by 133%
-
Drop-down menus help minimise amount of pages from Cart to Order Completion
-
Time of task completion decreased from +30secs down to 15 secs.
-
Onboarding checklists ensure users complete input fields for correct information.
Figure: Cart page now hosts the item, Shipping & Billing address: cutting down pages from 5 to 3.
Figure: Graph shows the Check-Out completion increase by 133%, as Abandonment Rate drops down 142%
Micro-interactions and animations
Animated icons help increase sentimental score and onboarding experience
-
Subtle 2D micro-interactions act as onbaording experience for users
-
Voorpret's hand-made step-by-step procedure is shown through storytelling
-
Users express their intrigue towards animations, increase Customer Satisfaction by +70%.
Animated hover animations for Voorpret's icons: Added to cart, Tap, Delivery, AR and Filter
Hi-Fi Prototype
Length
8 - 10 minutes
Participants
5 Participants
Location
United Kingdom, London
Study Type
Tasks Analysis
& Sentimental Score
Stage 5
TEST
Hi-Fi Desktop
Using 3D renders to showcase hand-made home decor items
-
3D rendering allowed me to quickly distribute high-quality stills for the website.
-
Voorpret's photography considered too poor to be on Home Page of website.
-
Sutble animations for locations and icons help with storytelling element of brand. Users expressed their admiration towards this approach: increased NPS to +90.
Hi-Fi Mobile
Mobile version is prefered by users; Augmented Reality increase chance of complete payment and NPS
-
Cards, tiles and panels are heavily used for navigation on mobile device: brings S.U.S. to score +75.
-
Drop-down menus helped prevent Click Rate Error from increasing past 4%.
-
Time-on-task on average scored approx. 3mins to Order Completion.
Users agree that the product successfully combines hand-made with high quality emerging tech
Hi-Fi Insights
KPIs
Working catalogue increases revenue by 200%
-
Voopret's brand gains on av. 4.8 stars
-
Users globally buy items from their store. Largest gig saw Voopret help accessorise a local hotel.
-
Website is ready for when Voorpret aims to expand their business.
Overview
Helping VoorpretAtelier create their new business was an engaging experience. Using interactive workshops to obtain new forms of data allowed for new skills to be obtained, as well as truly understanding the true motives of the users.
Combining sustainability and minimalistic design gave an overall upper hand against the saturated market, alongside the functioning AR.
What I personally learnt from this project:
Augmented Reality with Adobe Aero
Behavioural Biases when users buy home décor
Common e-commerce standards
Interactive workshops (Card sorting)
Understanding subconscious motives