Designing for Retail: Eliminating UI for Mobile Optimization
Carrie Whitehead @Whitehead, @ZapposLabs
Zappos Labs: Inspiring the Future of Zappos
Experimenting with new ways for customers to shop, engage and connect online.
Zappos Glance
Stylist pick the best items based around trends and events.
Users discover through stylist picks or through what others are liking.
Glance is the friend you go shopping with.
Solve a Real Customer ProblemGet out of the office and go interact with
your customers.
Solve a Real Customer Problem
Image credit: http://www.websigmas.com/web-tech/usability-testing-to-build-a-performing-website/
Get out and interact with customers in the real world.
Identify and understand your audience – understand their needs.
Experience their behavior first hand.
Validate what you think you should do, and keep doing that as you build your product.
Zappos Glance
Launched a landing page to gauge interest.
Collected email addresses.
Did quick and dirty concept testing to help validate the idea.
Keep it Simple…and delightful, engaging, and useful.
Keep it Simple
Most of your initial audience will be casual users – you have to design for them.
They’ll arrive ready to back out – you have to get them to stop and take notice.
Tell them / show them what it’s all about – get them to convert.
Make it accessible and easy to use in the context of their use.
Keeping it Simple
Initially launched with only must-have features.
We always asked, “What can we take away?”
Adding a new feature can be useful, but it can also clutter up an interface.
Optimize for Mobile
Knew customers would be accessing from desktop, tablet, and mobile.
We designed the site to respond gracefully in all of these scenarios.
Our design and development teams collaborated closely from the beginning.
The team had a shared vision leading to quicker decisions.
Measure, Learn and IterateQuickly seek feedback and improve constantly.
Measure, Learn and Iterate
Just get it out there! Quickly capture user behavior and feedback.
There are many methods of measuring (usability, feedback surveys, A/B testing, surveys, web analytics).
Measuring too many things can be paralyzing. Stick to your core metrics and make decisions.
Listen to your data, but don’t forget to observe your customers.
Measure, Learn and Iterate
Our approach to refreshing the design was iterative to better understand insights.
We regularly look at health reports, initiate A/B tests, and seek user feedback.LAUNCH TODAY
Learn From Wins and Losses
Social Buzz
50/50 A/B Test
2% of people in test group clicked on tab
Those 2% performed well!
BUT, just having the tab there brought the entire group down
Glance
Performing well
Higher average order value
Good engagement
Lessons We Continue to Learn
Solve a real customer problem
Keep it simple and accessible
Measure, learn, and iterate
Thank you!
Carrie Whitehead @Whitehead, @ZapposLabs