Research

*Recommendations section omitted for client.

The client redesigned their website to leverage the post-Covid e-commerce trends in the food industry. The focus on modern web design trends for the new website aligned with the trends, the company's new brand image and their business strategy, but insights from users were not collected prior to its launch. As a result, many customers relied on the the customer care team for assistance with their online orders.

To help reduce the resources spent on website troubleshooting, I was tasked to understand user friction points. The research objectives were to uncover opportunities to improve the usability of the product results page and to understand how users interact with both the mobile website and desktop website. 

Prior to developing the research plan, I interviewed several stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding on the impact of the new website and their expectations of the UX study.  After client approved the research plan, I went ahead to preparing a moderator guide and a discussion guide for 24 usability sessions. 

Recent studies showed that 90% of buyers reported the experience a company provides matters as much as its products or services, specifically 88% of customers expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives due to COVID-19. With heightened consumer expectations, Country Life Natural Foods decided to prioritize user experience to reduce customer churn and increase customer satisfaction.

50% of the participants were customers. They were recruited primarily through email and texts. An invitation to join the study was also posted on the client's website. Participants were screened and scheduled within a few hours of initial contact, either by me or the customer care team. Once a session was confirmed, participants were sent a Zoom link and reminders were sent a day before the scheduled session. Demographics of participants are listed below:

Participants

• 24 remote 1:1 sessions via zoom

• 12 participants are customers 

• 12 participants have never heard of Country Life Natural Foods 

• Ages between 22-75 years old

• 14 women, 12 men

• 11 Millennials, 7 Gen X, 6 Boomer

• Across 9 states 

• Used food e-commerce websites at least once in the last 12 months

Session goals, participant rights, and consent were discussed at the beginning of each session. Upon receiving consent, participants were invited to join a 45 mins-1 hour user testing and user interview session. While the usability test assessed user behavior to uncover any problems in the user journey, the user interview focused on participants beliefs and perceptions of the site. Utilizing both research methods allowed for a more comprehensive analysis of the user experience
by examining both participants’ behavior and sentiment. After the sessions, I organized my notes and rewatched recordings to uncover possible themes. Recommendations were then created based on the  data from both usability tests and user interviews.  

The data presented to my client, the CEO of CLNF as well as the development team, focused on user friction points and the emotions the users experienced. The collected data inspired a meaningful conversation on UX research, feedback from the customer care team and customer needs. At the end of the meeting, the CEO and the development team agreed to make the revisions in the following week.