How I Revamped SOLEOADO's Marketplace: Streamlining the Artistic Shopping Experience

Usability Tests

I then used these user flows to inform the tasks I would ask users to complete to test the current website as-is. I created and deployed a participant screener survey to find relevant participants based off of Soleoado’s target audience and conducted usability tests with 5 participants to unveil areas for improvement within the company website.

Here are the objectives of the test:

• Can users easily find the information they need?
• Can users easily find Soleoado’s products?
• Can users make informed purchase decisions?
• Is the user interface smooth, and the checkout process fast and easy?
• What errors occurred for users?

Define

After conducting the usability tests, I synthesized the data by creating an affinity map. The affinity map helped me group similar ideas into categories to better understand overarching issues and concerns.

Here is the affinity map:

Based on the data I gathered from the website usability test, several key points emerged:

• 🧭  Category Navigation: Users expressed a preference for having clearer categories or filters in the “Shop All” menu, allowing them to easily locate specific products such as t-shirts or tote bags.
• 🔍  Locating Prints and Print Information: Users experienced difficulty locating art prints of original artwork they initially found on the company Instagram page. Searches of specific art prints yielded no results for some while others expressed it being difficult to scroll through all prints. Users indicated an interest in knowing more details about the prints available for purchase, such as the size of the original artwork.
• ⏰  Timeframe for Order Fulfillment: Users expressed concern about not knowing the timeframe for receiving items made on demand.
• 💰 Payment Options: There was some confusion about the unfamiliar Woopay payment option. Users appreciated the availability of payment options like Klarna but expressed a preference for more familiar methods like PayPal or Apple Pay.
• 👀  Improvements in Shop Policies Visibility: Users encountered difficulties in finding relevant shop policy information (ie: users tried to go to ‘FAQs’ before finding relevant information under ‘Important Information’ but totally missed the ‘Returns Policy’), suggesting a need for clearer information architecture.

Based off these key discoveries, I made a list of issues and recommendations and prioritized them based on how critical they were to users being able to complete their desired tasks. Here is that list:

Then, I incorporated these recommendations into wireframes I created using Figma. Because the website already existed, I simply used a plugin to convert the site webpages into wireframes that I could edit. I then turned these wireframes into a prototype and conducted a second round of usability tests to evaluate the effectiveness of my design changes. After the second round of tests, I created another affinity map to make sense of the data:

Here are the key discoveries that emerged from this set of data:

1. 🧭 Navigation Preferences: Users typically prefer to search for items by name and piece rather than scrolling through categories. While users were eventually able to find the search bar, a more obvious search bar option would enhance the user experience.
2. 🌈 Product Selection: Users sometimes attempted to add products to the cart before selecting color options, indicating a need for clearer prompts for mandatory selections before adding to the cart.
3. ✍️ Product Details and Reviews: Users find it helpful to have detailed product dimensions and appreciate the presence of reviews to aid in decision-making.
4. 🌱 Customization and Eco-friendliness: Users appreciate features like production time estimates for made-to-order items and information about weight limits, indicating a preference for customizable and eco-friendly products.
5. 🛒 Checkout Process: Overall, users found the checkout process to be easy and straightforward, particularly appreciating the availability of payment options like PayPal, Klarna, and Google Pay.
6. ❔ Accessing Shop Information: Users typically navigated to 'FAQs' instead of 'Important Information' to find additional shop information, suggesting the need for improved information architecture.
7. 👍 User Interface Feedback: Users generally found the website interface simple, clean, and intuitive to use, indicating overall satisfaction with the site’s design and functionality.

Solution

Here is the final solution:

Note: Prints are sold through a separate site which is why this page looks different from the rest.