House2Home is an e-commerce website that sells home decor items & accessories. The Company's research found that many of their customers have just moved into a new home or apartment and want to buy multiple items to personalize their new place, but they just don’t feel confident doing it on their own. House2Home sees an opportunity to provide their customers with a “starter kit” of items, giving them an easy and confident way to decorate their new place.
This modified Google Ventures Design Sprint project was conducted over the course of 5 days. The goal of the sprint was to design and develop a way to showcase a “starter kit” of products on the website that would allow customers an easy, stylish and affordable way to confidently decorate their new apartment. The hypothesis being it would improve CRO by reducing cart abandonment and maximizing the potential of converting website visitors into paying customers.
help users decorate their apartment on a budget using a “starter kit” of multiple products?
I reviewed the project brief provided by House2Home which included user interview notes and recordings, company research insights, and a persona. My role as the sole UX Designer was to analyze the data, map out an appropriate user flow, design an MVP prototype, and then conduct usability testing.
In order to narrow in on the problem and the user’s pain points and goals, I organized the company's research from 10 customer interviews into an affinity map. I categorized what customers reported as their needs and main motivations when searching for items to decorate their apartment.
After synthesizing the research, I ended the first day by sketching a map of the end-to-end user experience showing how a user might move through the website when purchasing a starter kit.
Next, I searched the web for products, interfaces, and screens that presented solutions that inspired me and that I might want to improve or experiment with. I also did a competitive analysis by looking at solutions competitors have produced to solve a problem similar to the one I am trying to solve.
Referring back to my user journey map, I decided which step (screen) was the most critical for my users based on primary activity, most important for solving the problem, and the most complex. I believe the product filter page fits this criteria the best. Using the Crazy 8s Design Sprint method, I brainstormed 8 variations of the product filter page utilizing the below key categories derived from the Research Key Insights.
I reviewed my sketches based on a user’s ease of selection and chose #1 as the best critical screen idea to move forward with.
Using #1 as the best critical screen sketch, I made a three screen storyboard. This solution sketch consisted of the critical screen along with the before and after screens to show:
These essential steps include:
On Day 3, I created a 7-panel storyboard, similar to a lightweight, sketched wireframe, that included my initial solution sketch to use as a blueprint to build my prototype on Day 4. For the GV Sprint process, I just needed to sketch out the key screens with the interactions that the user will need to have to complete the task. Using my user journey map scenario as my baseline, I created a common path assisting users in selecting a starter kit based on their desired criteria of space, style and budget. The storyboard includes the scenario of how a user might shop the site by browsing looks using filters, selecting a starter kit, reviewing the items in the kit and confidently making a decision to purchase.
The key to a GV Design Sprint prototype is to only build out the bare essentials that I need to test the functionality of my design. Working as fast and lean as I could, I built a “a realistic façade” prototype to test with users. I chose Figma for prototyping because I wanted to use the scrolling and smart animation features to create more realistic interactions. I built 7 main screens in order to test the MVP with users on Day 5, with the most critical page having various filter interactions.
The idea behind a robust filter menu on one page, as opposed to a quiz style questionnaire, is to save time and frustration when starting on a new search. It can all be done without leaving the results page. In this solution, the user can update the filters easily and still cover the same categories of space, style, budget, color and product indirectly through five key drop downs. In addition, the images of starter kits are updated to coincide with the current filter choices. The styled images provide inspiration for the user, giving them a better idea of how to decorate their space as well as allowing them to find their style quickly. They can scroll through the images to get inspired and also save images they like, to refer back to at a later time. Adding tags to the images allows users to review the individual products at a bigger scale and in more detail. On the Starter Kit product page, the thumbnail images can be scrolled through and can be selected as the main image, allowing users to easily identify and review all products within the kit. All of this hopefully results in a better and more confident shopping experience.
The main goals for testing the prototype were:
I conducted 5 moderated usability tests, 1 in person and 4 remote, with participants recruited through friends and colleagues following the “5 Acts” strategy introduced by the GV Sprint. All participants were happy with the overall flow and thought the process was easy. While there were some design problems that proved to distract participants, there were no major failures and all were able to successfully complete the task.
This was super fun! Conducting a modified GV design sprint was valuable in quickly uncovering major problem areas, accelerating possible solutions and validating early ideas in a short amount of time. Though there is value (and enjoyment) in conducting a solo modified design sprint, it’s missing some critical components such as sharing early ideas and making design decisions with feedback from multiple key stakeholders. I look forward to participating in a Design Sprint with a team!
