Entrust Shipping and Packing Supplies
Entrust Shipping and Packing Supplies provides small businesses with bulk purchasing of shipping and packing materials. They provide everything from boxes to labels.
I was brought on as a designer and researcher in order to improve the conversion rate and the browsing experience.
Unpacking the Data
I started with a meeting with my project manager to go over the things we already knew. This helped scope down the project to the most important issues regarding conversions.
These insights tell me two things:
Customers either aren't finding what they need or they don't realize it is what they need.
Users don't feel confident in their purchase or that there might be too much friction in the checkout process.
This helped me determine where to best put my energy. Focusing on the browsing and checkout experiences will have the greatest impact for increasing conversion and building user trust.
Looking Inside the Box
Looking at that data, I researched common user paths with the product manager and we created some theories as to causes and solutions. We also did a heuristic analysis to validate any assumptions. We started with the initial browsing path.
No way to look for specific criteria
Product page has limited information
No clear product use case
No way to compare various products
Negative space makes it difficult to compare and view information (which may have lead to users opening multiple screens)
Hypothesis:
If users are able to determine which box is best based on the relative features, then they will open fewer product pages and feel more confident in making a purchase decision.
Entrust’s Original Product Page
Entrust’s Original Registration Page
Then, we moved onto the checkout process.
Users must create an account in order to checkout
The registration page is a brand new page within the checkout process, making the process feel longer
Entrust stakeholders are resistant to add a guest checkout
Cart/checkout summary lacks a lot of product information
Hypothesis:
If users can use guest checkout or have a more streamlined registration process, then they will be less likely to abandon their cart.
Question 1:
How Might We clarify the browsing experience and lead users to the product that meets their needs.
Question 2:
How Might We encourage users to create an account, but still allow them to feel valued if they choose note to?
Looking Outside the Box
Once I had a better understanding of the issues, I did some competitive analysis with other shipping and packing suppliers that also cater to small businesses and are of a similar size to Entrust.
I broke that down into an affinity map in order to see what similar websites did well and to discover possible solutions that would work for Entrust.
Who is Responsible for Shipping and Handling?
I created some key user stories to make sure the solutions would still be aimed at target users and to help the team stay focused throughout the process.
Connecting the Pieces
I matched possible solutions with the user stories to find the best possible solutions.
With the solutions chosen, I created user flows so I could eliminate any unnecessary steps and make the process as quick as possible. This also helped fit the various pieces together to find the place where they would make the biggest impact.
Adding Product to Cart
Checkout Process
These are the most efficient user flows. Additional pages, such as a comparison chart and checkout confirmation page still needed to be tested with users. But these were the foundations that everything is built off of.
Building the Box
With the user flows in place, I was able to begin fitting the solutions into wire frames.
The 4 main pages I focused on were the landing page, the browsing page, individual product pages, and the new checkout modal.
For product browsing, it was all about easy discovery and clarity of product use.
With checkout, the focus was on user control.
Does It Hold Up?
I held unmoderated user testing on Maze.co to test the usability with as many people as possible and really test the limits. We were able to test 9 people using the unmoderated study.
I not only wanted to test the usability of what was being planned, but also wanted to see if the new features I added enhanced the experience or detracted from it.
The usability test gave great insights into what needed to be enhanced and what needed to be corrected. In an attempt to keep the negative space, it eliminated many of the visual indicators that told users they could scroll. I needed to make sure to add that back into the designs. For the checkout process, 40% of the initial testers used the guest checkout. This created a strong case for the need for a guest checkout.
The comparison chart and general search bar were beneficial enough to bring into the hi fidelity designs.
Life is Like a Box of Chocolates: The Box Needs to Look Good
These new hi fidelity screens put a stronger emphasis on the general search feature. To further strengthen that efficiency, the general search bar became more prominent. It also allowed for a more visual representation of product organization.
The focus with the initial hi fidelity designs was to make sure the visual cue matched the written cues.
Entrust wanted to maintain their current branding, but they were interested in bending their style guide if it meant helping their conversions.
Entrust’s Original Branding
The style guide changes I made were centered on increasing product information and increasing the visual awareness of products.
Here are some of the key screen in the new high fidelity designs.
Yeah, But Does It Stack Up?
Once they were created, we brought the screens back to the users. For this round, we held unmoderated user testing for 10 people and then selected 5 of those users to get more in depth with 1-on-1 user interviews.
What’s in the Box?
The biggest frustration from users came from the hero image of the product browsing page.
Users felt that the “Box Finder” and “Box Comparison Guide” were confusing.
The initial idea was to give as many forms of product validation as possible, but I was wrong and it ended up confusing more users than helping.
The Solution:
Focus on the feature that helps the most.
User testing showed that the type of box was more frequently looked up first rather than box sizes.
There is a size search once users find the right product.
Pack it Up and Ship it Out
Only minor changes were need for the final round of designs. Adding color to highlight features, continuing to find a better balance of negative.
Using these, I presented the designs to the stakeholders at Entrust to get approval. With the data backing it, stakeholders agreed to try using guest checkout. We implemented the changes and the site went live.
The Wrap Up
Entrust has seen their conversion increase dramatically since implementing guest checkout. Currently, they are collecting user feedback for the other changes, but it has been mostly positive.
Lessons Learned:
Data is very helpful in not only making design decisions, but encouraging stakeholders in trying out new solutions.
You can have too many solutions, which will only confuse users.
It’s important to remember the external factors facing users. A busy small business owner cares more about simple efficiency than fancy designs (at least with this website).