Background
Luxurious Beauty is an Instagram store where customers can purchase beauty-related products through direct messaging.
This eCommerce business built their customer base through Instagram. Upon visiting their page, users can scroll through the businesses' feed in order to view products they're interested in buying.
If users want to make a purchase, they must DM (direct message) the Instagram account with the items they want to purchase. Sales are conducted through Paypal, Cashapp, or Zelle.
Problem
Customers find it difficult to browse and purchase items through the business' Instagram page.
This e-commerce store sells various types of beauty products. Since Instagram is a post-and-go app, items are not organized by tabs or pages which makes it difficult for the customer to view products in an organized cohesive manner. In turn, this decreases the number of possible sales for the business.
The challenge is to understand customers' issues and pain points about the current Instagram store and create an online store that provides a solution for their overall experience whilst simultaneously building the business's brand identity.
DESIGN PROCESS
For initial user research, I conducted user interviews to understand the customer's problems. I also conducted an initial stakeholder interview to get a good understanding of the business goals we aim to achieve through this design.
During the synthesize phase, I used affinity mapping to analyze key pain points, and determine priorities. Then, I generated task flows to demonstrate the journey of each page of the online store, created lo-fi sketches and hi-fi interactive prototypes.
In the end, I was able to validate my design by analyzing the business's sales projections and conducting user testing, to ensure that the initial problems and pain points were corrected.
research
Competitive Analysis
I first did competitive analysis research, viewing other successful e-commerce businesses and their strengths/weaknesses. Analyzing what makes them successful and what methods they use to retain returning customers can help us know what tools to implement for this website.
Something I immediately noticed is the way sales are marketed to attract customers. With sales, saving draws users in and increases the likelihood that a customer will purchase more items.
Stakeholder Interviews
Further, through an initial stakeholder interview, I was able to uncover additional issues with the business's protocols. Here are a few problems that stand out to me:
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Customers paid through Cashapp, Zelle, or Paypal which are all different online payment processors. This makes it difficult for the business to keep track of all of their profits. Further, because there is no single secure payment processor, the business runs the risk of facing a loss where customers can dispute the charge after receiving their item, thus causing the business lose out on money and inventory.
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The business implemented very few marketing tools. No giveaway contests, promotion codes, special sales, email lists, etc that attract and retain customers, and boost audience engagement.
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The business's brand identity is lacking. They don't have a logo to remember them by, or a color scheme or theme on their Instagram page to make it look generally uniform and cohesive.
User Interviews
I conducted 7 user interviews to get a specific understanding of the issues customers are facing when trying to browse and purchase items. Through these interviews, I was able to gain insight from a customer's perspective and uncover general pain points. I organized the data that I collected on an affinity map. Here is the general consensus that I gathered:
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Customers want an organized way to view different products (i.e. lashes, nails) separately- rather than all on one page. Customers want to be able to see all the item specifics on one screen (ie. size, length, color) and its corresponding price.
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Customers don't like direct messaging as a means to purchase. Most customers want to checkout on their own, without having to inquire directly to the business.
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Customers want to be able to add items to a cart and view their final total. Price visibility is very important to users as it guides their purchase.
synthesize
I took the data I gathered from my user interviews and narrowed my goals down to. a few simple priorities.
Business Goals
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Find the target audience and hone the website and Instagram page interface based on the target audience
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Implement customer engagement and marketing strategies throughout the website. Sales, discounts, promo codes, mail list, call to actions, etc
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Create a logo, implement theme colors throughout the website, create a uniformed look that reflects the beauty brand
User Goals
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Create a responsive e-commerce shopping experience; items shown with the price automatically calculated, ability to add multiple things to a cart and check out independently
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Organize items in menu and sub menu’s to create an easy experience for users to navigate between pages and find exactly what they’re looking for
ideate
Information Architecture & User Flows
In order to understand the functionality of this website, I created an information architecture of each page and section of the site.
To explore the IA a bit more, I created a user flow of the general course a user like Lori would take to purchase customized nails.
branding
Before moving onto the UI design of the website, it was time to work on the brand identity of Luxurious Beauty.
By analyzing data taken from Instagram, I was able to see the target audience for this brand we’re women between 18-24. Using this information, I came up with some brand attributes (feminine, bold, simple, clean) that would adhere to this audience.
I started by brainstorming ideas on a mood board to get a gist of the direction for this new branding.
Lo-fi Wireframes
Home Page
Content
Cart
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Checking Out
Hi-fidelity Prototypes
Try it yourself!
User Feedback & Validation
I conducted seven moderated usability tests to encourage users to navigate through the website and share their thoughts on the design and functionality. We had users complete a purchase (for testing purposes, that would later be refunded if desired)
General insights gathered:
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7/7 Users completed checkout process error-free
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6/7 Users commented and complimented the color scheme of the site
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7/7 Users were able to navigate through the site and find exactly what item they were looking for error-free
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5/7 Users decided to buy another item in order to use a promotion sale code
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6/7 Users pleasantly opted out of the refund, decided to keep the items purchased (:
Final product
Further, to ensure business goals (an increase in sales) were met I analyzed the sales projection from the first week after launching the responsive website. With these insights, we were able to gather that the average amount of completed sales in a week doubled. *Woohoo!*
Final thoughts & next steps
Reflection
I loved working on this UX case study and collaborating with a small business to bring their visions to life. This experience allowed me to navigate prioritizing not only a user centered design, but benefit a business as well.
What's next for Luxurious Beauty?
As Luxurious Beauty joins the eCommerce market, we must now stay up to date with market trends, user research, and continue iterating this design to ensure that this brand stays successful.
Thanks for reading!