.jpg)
Enhance Shopping for Clothes Online
User Research: Interviews and Diary study
Project Overview
Academic project for
User-centered Information System Design at the University of Toronto
Duration
September - December 2021
Activities
Secondary Research
Study Design
Interview
Diary study
Qualitative analysis
Quantitative analysis
Design recommendations
Team members
Ofunne Olele
Andy Pham
Maddie Osei
Deliverables
Written report | Poster | Video
Project Goals
Understand how users navigate while shopping for clothes online and provide design guidelines to improve the process.
Problem Statement
Shoppers have a difficult time choosing the best clothing online
This was supported by the fact that “the internet-shopping boom has spawned an excess-stuff economy [where] having many options is particularly confounding” (Mull, 2019). Choice fatigue makes customers quite exhausted when they have to shop online. The project-level research questions from this problem statement were inspired by learning about online shopping behavior and the decision-making process.
Research questions
Learning about online shopping behavior and the decision-making process
-
What factors affect consumer preferences while shopping for clothes online?
-
What factors increase customer satisfaction for a successful online shopping experience?
-
What does it mean to choose suitable clothing online?
Target users
Young Professionals
Ages of 21-32
Living in GTA
Local to Canadian market
Study 1: Interview
This first research question will reveal if there are more complex or specific considerations made when consumers decide how they shop online. We discovered that, by understanding consumers’ preferences, we are able to see through their wants and needs. Therefore, We used the semi-structured interview study to thoroughly investigate how people make decisions to shop online for clothes.
Young Professionals
16 Participants 9M|7F
Interview sessions
30 minutes
Goals
Understand needs, wants and factors that affect customer decision
Data Analysis
The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. As a team, we used an affinity diagram and grouped similar ideas that were expressed together. Afterward, we came up with a theme for each of the grouped ideas. Secondly, a cultural model was created with themes of affinity diagram which informed the various influences, and the breakdowns.
Identifying themes and patterns in interview
.jpg)
The cultural work model developed based on the analysis
Study 2: Diary Study
For the second study, our team decided to create new goals based on what we had not learnt yet from the first round of interviews. The goals of the diary study were more focused on obtaining answers on participants' practices when they shop online, participants' behaviours with online window shopping, as well as cross-checking different platforms for any product information before buying clothes.
Young Professionals
4 Participants 3M|1F
Diary study
7 days | 1time in a day
Goals
-
Existing practice
-
Collect behavioral data
Data Analysis
The qualitative data were analyzed using an affinity diagram as a team. We wanted to analyze the data from all diary studies at a high level as accomplished by the affinity diagram, but use another method to investigate specific details. Therefore, focusing on a single participant’s sequence made the revealed breakdowns clear. This will help future steps when we investigate design guidelines to improve customer satisfaction when online shopping.
.jpg)
Identifying themes and patterns
.jpg)
Sequence Model to understand the participant steps
Research Insights
From the synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data we were able to understand customers' motivations, existing practice, and expectations.
Motivators
Using the affinity map we were able to identify the motivators for shopping online
Convenience
The main advantage of online shopping is the time saved thanks to the features of digital platforms.
Window shopping
A pattern from this theme was the observation that window shopping happens repeatedly in short periods of time.
Existing Practice
Using the affinity map we were able to identify the current practice of customer behaviour while shopping online
Seek out information
When items of clothing have the potential to be bought, they will be compared among each other referencing the different information that is available to compare.
Shopping habits
The shopping habits are directly influenced by the schedule of the shopper.
Expectations
Using the affinity map we were able to identify the customers expectation of being informed
Trust
Participants expect to be trusted about what they are presented with before they purchase.
Commitment of money
In an attempt to secure the best deal, participants compared prices with websites selling the same product.
Design Recommendation
With the data collected from the exploratory research, we turned our findings into five actionable recommendations for future product designers.
Present product options within a specified budget
In both the interviews and diary studies, participants voiced that maintaining a budget is a key part of clothing shopping decision making. Limiting selections to align with a set budget helps alleviate the fatigue in making choices.
Users should be allowed to personalize their style preferences
Personalization removes substitutional steps in the decision making process. It simplifies the path to discovering, choosing, and paying for clothing.
Learning about the process of clothing manufacturing could be more accessible and transparent
Being unsure of the manufacturing process of prospective clothes contributes to having difficulty making a choice. Therefore, consumers should be informed about the source of their clothing to make an appropriate decision based on their ethical or sustainable standards.
Provide a feature to compare items through multiple characteristics
Participants in each study prioritized different sets of characteristics when choosing clothes. What was similar was their instinct to compare and contrast items within the website. Through this feature, users can make a decision between possible options without spending the time and energy to consult a different platform or search engine.
Study Limitations
Remote research
Both the research steps were conducted remotely which restricted us to standardize the user’s environment through video conferencing platforms.
All the group members conducted interviews remotely and individually which increased the question order and response biases.
User recruitment
All the research participants were recruited by the word of mouth among friends and family, which reduced our pool of participants.
Learnings: What did we learn?
Listening is a fine art
I learned the art of listening while conducting user interviews and understand the importance of listening and addressing their voice during user research.
Importance of the process
While trying to validate our hypothesis, we used two research methods to understand the user needs. Converting the resulting insights into design recommendations was a challenging experience. In this process, I learned that every step is critical because the slightest deflection could change the result. Therefore, selecting user groups, formulating research questions, and other steps were executed very consciously.