Amazon Wishlist case study
Background
During my UX bootcamp, our cohort was given the assignment to either design a new app or to find a way to improve upon an already existing company’s feature. Our team worked together in the research and design with one of us being a project manager to practice an agile scrum project.
3 Person Team
- Project manager
- UX Designers
- UX Researchers
Role
- Researcher
- UX Designer
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Tools
- XD
- Miro
- Trello
- InVision
The Process
1
2
3
4
5
Research
Define
Ideate
Test
Develop
Research
We began by conducting a survey to 11 participants where we discovered that multiple users search for gifts in Amazon for their convenience. We decided to focus on Amazon and thus followed with 5 interviews with current Amazon users to determine their patterns and their pains with finding a meaningful gift for a loved one when having to shop online and sometimes mailing it to them.
From our interviews:
Over 27% of our interviewees use Amazon every other day; over 63% use it at least once a month.
100% of our interviewees did not know about or use the current Amazon gift guide.
Recommendations are too generic.
Define
Problem
Shopping for gifts online can be a frustrating experience in time and inspiration efficiency. How might we improve the experience of users looking for a thoughtful gift and provide an enjoyable gift shopping experience by providing more personalized product recommendations?
How might we... inspire the gifting experience for people who want their recipient to really enjoy and use what they are getting?
Meet James:
User persona, James, was created based on the answers of our 5 interviews and survey.
User Journey
Continuing to use the collected research, our group created a journey map to clearly lay out how the user might interact with this feature, and thus create a more intuitive user experience.
Above: User journey map
Core Features
Users take a short quiz to find interests and recommend things based on their answers
Amazon provides recommendations based on the giftee's interests to friends
Users can send gifts to loved ones to their preferred address
Ideate
Paper Prototype
We began our process by sketching what our implementation might look like, taking into consideration Amazon's branding and mobile layout.
We then continued by creating a mid-fidelity clickable prototype using Adobe XD. To allow for improvement, we asked 3 current Amazon users to complete 3 tasks within the prototype.
Test
Usability Testing
This phase was vital for us to improve this design. We were able to refine what users found useful and what could be improved upon after guiding them to complete some scenario-based tasks that encompassed the primary features of this design. The results of the usability testing were recorded to analyze with the group later on.
Key Feedback
Positive
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Able to complete tasks quickly
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Users really enjoyed this idea and felt it benefited them
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Appreciated that the friend's address could remain private
Negative
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Include back buttons to allow for user error
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Alter wording to streamline the user's thought process
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Flow could be smoother after adding friends
Develop
Usability Testing
Our group made improvements based on the testing we conducted as well as reached out to our TAs from our bootcamp for guidance and additional feedback. We created a high-fidelity version of our feature on the Amazon app.
Final Product
Video Walkthrough
This is the final product after the iterations with the user in mind; this aligned to the objectives we had set and showcases the core features. We were able to stay within Amazon's style and brand so that it is seamlessly integrated.
Takeaways
Challenges
My biggest challenge was integrating our design to Amazon's well established style and branding. I researched how the brand would phrase and promote features and other branches within the app prior to deciding how to phrase our screens. We didn't have to spend time deciding on a style guide, but struggled at first finding the exact colors that would match the brand and recreating buttons and finding the fonts the app was currently using.
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We also had to take into consideration the needs of Amazon as a corporation and thus provide a marketing perspective so that users would be willing to use this feature and grow the business.
For the Future
We would like to continue testing our final mobile design to see if any changes need to be made as well as working to fully flesh out the desktop version. We also hope to incorporate actual statistics that showcase how this feature is used and gather data on where it can be further improved.
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From this project, it brought into perspective the role that we, as UX designers, have of bridging the gap between stakeholders and users. We had to not only think of the users’ wants and needs but the needs of the organization as well.
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