Introduction & Problem

Zwende is a unique platform that provides the user with tools to forge their own creations. Zwende allows its users to select from a range of lifestyle products and add their own magical touch. 80% of Zwende’s customers are mobile, and 40% of their shoppers are on the hunt for a gift for someone else.

Zwende decided to reevaluate their mobile gifting experience in order to create an overall better retail experience and eliminate drop off.

The solution

I reviewed the research and identified UX opportunities that then I recommended to the Zwende team. The products available on Zwende and created two distinct information architectural systems that enabled users to view as many relevant options as possible when shopping.

1. The Shopping “Quiz” - where users are prompted to select who the gift is for (her, him, the artist, etc.)

2. The Shopping “Menu” - where users are able to quickly view all options, thus only viewing ones that are relatable.

My Role

I worked on market research, user testing, and design iterations during this feature development.

Tools Used

Goals

User research

Zwende’s objective is to create a seamless shopping experience for customers to find the perfect gift based on personality and preferences. The research goal was to identify target users’ needs and design a unique user experience.

To achieve that goal, the following questions had to be answered:

• How does the target audience currently shop for gifts?

• What are the target audience’s gifting priorities?

• What are instances in which people will shop for gifts?

• Who do customers shop for when gifting?

• What are the most needed features they want in an online retail gifting experience?

Target Audience

• Men and women between the ages of 25-45.

• People with a higher than average income.

marketing research

For this project I researched the ways in which successful online retail shops with products similar to Zwende’s are able to organize their products as well as categories when encouraging shoppers to gift. Having a solid understanding of the online retail space helped me to make informed decisions when rebuilding Zwende’s gifting architecture.

Information Architecture

gifting Sitemap

I combined all of the pre-exiting categories found on Zwende and lumped them into seven succinct buckets in which the most popular products would be found. Additionally I created a category for purchasing gift cards, e-gift cards and corporate gifts.

Exploration

Ideation

Originally the gifting screens had been taken up by a lot of empty space which lead to unnecessary scroll, so when I started sketching I knew I wanted to find a way to implement a design which allowed for users to view all the information necessary without scrolling past the fold.

With all the supporting research shown above, I started to create iterations of hand-drawn sketches before diving into wireframing and prototyping.  These hand-drawn sketches keep me from getting caught up in the details, and give me an opportunity to brainstorm freely. I shared these sketches with users for initial feedback and then iterated them with more polished clickable prototypes.

Wireframes

• I decided to take the current design and scale it down. Originally the gifting experience had included a lot of unnecessary scroll. Research shows that users tend to drop off after x screens.

• Additionally I created two more gifting ‘quizzes’ which were more visually dynamic and playful, which aligned well with Zwende’s branding guideline and overall business goals.

PROTOTYPING

User Test Findings

I conducted three in person moderated tests which focused on a series of tasks the users had to accomplish. (Find a gift for a man who loves travel, find a gift that is blue for a graduation present, etc.)

Users responded well to the new and improved gifting experience with Zwende, and found their experience to be exciting and easy to understand. Each said that they felt they would be more inclined to shop for gift for others, knowing the experience was quick and easy.

“I like having options initially to help refine my search. Sometimes when you shop for someone you know what to get them, like if I know my friend loves stationary I’ll get her that, but sometimes you don’t, so these options are all very helpful.” - Rachel

“When I shop for others I get lost pretty quickly. I know I’ll look at the ‘best seller’s because from that list I know I’ll always get high quality gifts that my friends and family will actually like.” - Kody

The largest issue I found during these tests was that there were no pages to umbrella all of the products that would fit inside of categories such as ‘home’ or ‘accessories.’ My interviews showed that often times people aren’t sure of what to get as a gift yet, and seeing a few different options can help shoppers get on the right track, as well as inspire them to maybe check out gifts they initially hadn’t thought of. With this in mind, I edited the design by adding pages to house all of the products in addition to the more specific pages. After making these changes, users had a much easier time accomplishing the tasks asked of them, and had a better understanding of Zwende’s product line and gifting options.

Next, I went on fixing the issues from the findings by focusing on:

• Creating screens to house all of the categories of gifts with items inside. (i.e. ‘Home Gifts’ which autofills with all of the products that would be considered ‘home,’ such as lamps, candles, tableware, etc.

Learnings

the end

Working with Zwende I got to learn about the many intricacies involved in operating an online retail market place. Working with such a wide inventory of products, I was able to strategically organize each of them into efficient and easy to find groupings. Creating this experience allowed shoppers to view and engage with more products that were relatable to their search criterion. This project also stressed the need for a full understanding of the business goals, and how an effective UX can help achieve them.