Project
The Research Challenge
It was time of the week to work on a UX challenge and here I was again looking for something interesting to grab and use it as an opportunity to explore a different side of a UX designer.
Luckily, I found an exciting project, from a French startup ,where I had to wear a UX Researcher and Strategist hat and begin this new journey this time focusing on a new industry i.e. Fashion and a new user i.e. a Trend Analyst.
*The names, data and information has been modified here to protect the company’s intellectual property.
What is the Product?
‘MyTrendTech’ is a SAAS product that, with the help of AI technology, offers a trend and demand forecast for fashion items in order for the user to plan and produce their merchandise accurately. The product is comprised of several features that help users have an impactful experience but for this particular challenge we will only focus on three features focusing on three user scenarios that are crucial for a Trend Analyst’s job.
Product Metrics Analysis
Users were using the feature Trend Collection in every session but that doesn’t mean they were able to utilize this feature to its maximum.
Users were spending more time in Trend Collection as compared to other features but that doesn’t mean users were finding all the useful information in Trend Collection and the other features were not required.
My Responsibility as a UX Researcher
Conduct a UX Audit of the current product features and identify the UX problems.
UX AUDIT
Step 1
Stakeholder Interview
In order to start with the process of UX Audit, it is important to understand the Client’s objectives, goals and their perception towards the user role in their product. To get that information, I immediately scheduled a stakeholder interview with a list of questions that could help define THREE MAIN AREAS of this project from the client’s point of view.
Stakeholder Interview Questions
What is the purpose of MyTrendTech?
Why do you think there is a need of MyTrendTech?
Who are your primary end-users?
What is the work flow of your end user?
Why do you think the users will be willing to use MyTrendTech?
What are the main actions you expect users to be able to take when using MyTrendTech?
What is the best part of MyTrendTech according to your user? Why?
What is the least useful part of MyTrendTech according to the user? Why?
Initial Findings
Initial Findings Analysis
With the help of the stakeholder interview I was able to deifne the product itself, the user and how their work flow fits in with the provided features.
In an ideal situation the overall work flow, as shown through 4 steps, would be completed with the first two steps being fulfilled with the feature Trend Collection, the 3rd step require Trend Information and the final step fulfilled by Merchandise Plan.
But as discussed in the product metrics analysis, this was not the case. The users were using Trend Collection as the initial step but after spending 15 mins / session, they would immediately move to the Merchandise Plan feature which was supposed to be utilized in the last step of the work flow. Also not many users were spending sufficient time on the features and it was not clear if the users were satisfied after using Trend Collection or those 15 mins were spent in frustration leading to the end of session or merely spending 5 more mins on the other features.
The assumptions made by the Product team were also questioning the correct use of Trend Collection and Merchandise Plan features.
At this point I had several questions regarding each assumption as shown below:
It is very important to validate every information from the source before moving to the analysis based on the assumptions. Which is why even though the assumptions provided by the company were considered important enough to act on them, I had to confirm the reason behind each assumption and validate the data on which those assumptions were based.
Apart from these findings I also got to know that based on these assumptions the Product Manager is already planning to start working on a solution that included a new feature - the Insights Dashboard, addressing a new use scenario.
My Responsibility as a UX Strategist
Define a strategic plan of action for the new feature "Insights dashboard” that can be implemented in order to develop a solution.
UX AUDIT
Step 2
User In-depth Interview
I highlighted the areas that needed more research and analysis in the form of questions and from there I moved to the next step of the UX Audit process which was to conduct an existing User’s in-depth interview and understand the entire product and its features from their point of view.
With that approach in mind, I prepared a set of questions for the users and requested an interview schedule with one of them.
User Interview Questions
What is the process of Fashion trend forecasting?
What is your role in this process?
What do you think MyTrendTech is for?
Why do you think there is a need of MyTrendTech?
What do you expect to achieve from using MyTrendTech?
What do you think Merchandise Plan is for? Why would you use it?
What do you look for in Trend Collection?
What do you look for in Trend Information?
What are the challenges you face when using MyTrendTech?
While the user interview helped validate the initial findings regarding the user work flow and the accurate use of all the features during the work process, it also provided one very important piece of information i.e. USER’S FEEDBACK for the product data. This information led to another set of questions which required the use of another research technique in order to answer them.
Due to the limitation of timeline I decided to conduct an observational analysis of one of the screen recordings showcasing a user session provided by the company. This recording was without an audio as well as an unmoderated user session. Even though a moderated user session would have been much more useful, this observational analysis also helped a lot in identifying the UX problems and their analysis.
USER FLOW
The entire session was carefully scrutinized and every single user action was recorded in the form a user flow diagram as shown below:
From this flow I was able to evaluate a lot of information regarding the user behavior towards the product features.
Some observations gathered from this diagram were:
User spent more time in Merchandise Plan and Trend Information rather than Trend Collection (not supporting the product metrics)
User accessed the Trend Information feature through Merchandise Plan and not through Trend Collection.
UX AUDIT
Step 3
UX Audit Questions
Whenever I conduct a UX Audit, I keep three main questions in mind that must be answered before I can move towards a heuristic evaluation of the screens. These questions are:
What is the objective of this feature?
Who is the user of this feature?
How the feature is being used by its user?
The answers to these questions help identify the exact purpose of the feature and how the user perceived it as well as used it. The gap between the original definition of the feature and the user perception helps provide a path when analyzing the screens and defining UX problems.
While analyzing the user session I was able to answer these questions for every feature and develop a thorough understanding of the user’s expectation vs user’s action.
User Flow Analysis
He / She was not a first time user of the product
The user’s main focus was to analyse trends in fabrics & colors
The user spent more time on Merchandise Plan than on any other feature
The user wanted to study very specific trend details of fabrics and colors
The user didn’t utilise Trend Collection to its best
The user also misused Merchandise Plan
Merchandise Plan had a user friendly navigation to find what exactly he/she was looking for
This analysis helped validate the assumptions mentioned in the beginning. (Initial findings from the Stakeholder’s interview)
"The Merchandise Plan feature is being misused by clients."
"The Trend Collection is not personalized enough. Clients have a hard time finding what they're looking for."
UX AUDIT
Step 4
Heuristic Evaluation
By following the 10 commandments of Heuristic Evaluation, I was able to highlight the smaller as well as bigger Issues in terms of the design layout in the following areas :
Visibility of System Status
User Control and Freedom
Error Prevention
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
Recognition Beats Recall
Consistency and Standards
Some of the insights helped later in finding the solution. They were as follow:
Limited ways to personalize the Trend Collection data especially if the user wants to look for something particular in depth.
Merchandise Plan is not being used accurately. Users search for desired fabrics and colors over there to view the details.
Lack of clear terminology being used.
The information / help section is not provided for all features and statistics in order to help user understand them better.
UX Strategy Plan
7 Step Action Plan
In order to develop a successful strategic plan, I follow a seven step process and define the key insights and solutions that will help provide a more impactful user experience in the end. It is as follows:
Have a clear vision for why they want to build a feature in the first place
Identify a problem that can get solved with the help of this feature
Have a clear perception of how our users will interact with this feature
Determine how to differentiate from the competition
Identify the solutions to the problems
Set goals with the team to accomplish those solutions
Keep iterating with the help of user feedback
UX Strategy Plan
Step 1
To begin the process, my first step was to clarify the reason behind having this action plan in the first place. In order to do so I built a set of questions that were ready to go to the Product Manager in the form of an interview.
Product Manager Interview Questions
What is the purpose of this new feature?
Why do you think there is a need of this feature?
What is the end goal that you want to achieve from this feature?
Which part of the user work flow will be catered by this feature?
What data findings you have that validates the importance of adding this feature?
What user problems will it resolve once added to MyTrendTech?
Who are the key competitors to consider when introducing this feature?
The Key Insights from the Interview
To give user the freedom to personalize the trend data and its analysis
To provide insights more quickly as well as in depth for the user to develop strong predictions
The insights from this interview as well as the UX audit analysis helped develop a strong user hypothesis.
UX Strategy Plan
Step 2
With the help of those insights I developed a usage scenario hypothesis that could be further validated through user research.
Usage Scenario Hypothesis
AS A USER
I want to compare and analyze specific trends in depth in order to develop a detailed predictive analysis report for my team.
The Key assumptions to accomplish this usage scenario
User wants more control over the product
User wants to use every feature in a more personalized way
User wants to learn about specific trends more efficiently
User wants a comparative analysis of the preferred trends
These assumptions were ready to get validated through user research process.
UX Strategy Plan
Step 3
In order to validate if this hypothesis was correct or not, an in-depth user interview was conducted from the provided list of key users of the product by the company.
User Interview Questions
What do you expect to achieve from this feature?
What do you look for when forecasting trends?
What elements are the most important to you when analyzing trends?
What information do you add in your predictive analysis report?
Where will you need this feature when developing detailed reports?
What information do you expect to have from the section ‘your personalized dashboard’?
How would you use ‘Insights Dashboard’ during your work flow?
The Key Insights from the Interview
To give user the freedom to narrow down their trend research and gather trend data more quickly
To give user more access to in-depth analysis of specific trends he/she is focusing on
The insights from this interview helped validate the usage scenario hypothesis.
UX Strategy Plan
Step 4
Once the user hypothesis was validated, the next step was to do a competitive analysis which can be provided by the marketing team to better understand where does the product gets placed in the competitor analysis chart.
Competitive Analysis
An overview of the competitors:
Trend analysts
Forecasting agencies
Other forecasting platforms
The Key Insights from the Competitive analysis
Helped highlighting the existing gaps and building opportunities to fill those gaps.
Not many softwares are available to give personalized trend forecasting and collection planning with the help of AI in such short time span.
The insights from this competitive analysis helped provide a key advantage to our solution.
UX Strategy Plan
Step 5
At this point I was ready to define the key problems and their key solutions for the three features of the product. These problems as well as solutions helped develop a new feature “Insights Dashboard” and where should it be placed in user work flow process.
UX Problem
Trend Collection — For quickly nourishing fashion teams with trends that shouldn't be missed for next collections.
The user needs more freedom to personalize the trend data and use the limited work time on the exact trends they are focusing on.
This means making the Trend Collection more efficient for the user when finding the desired trend analysis.
UX Solution
Add more filters to the feature so that the user can immediately narrow down the Trend Collection to find the exact trends they want to analyze.
UX Problem
Trend Information - For deep-diving into predictive trend data and providing teams with strong arguments for collection decisions.
This feature is good when the user requires trend details for a particular product.
In order to provide a deep prediction analysis as well as strong arguments that could help finalize the collection plan, a Comparative study is crucial for the user.
This is where the feature is not addressing the usage scenario completely.
UX Solution
The Insights Dashboard is a feature where the user can compare the specific trends in context with their different versions, styles, fabrics, color tones, seasons, regions, segments etc.
They can extract strong predictive analysis reports from the provided comparative data analysis and can decide which product should be added to the collection plan.
Merchandise Plan should be connected to this feature so that the user can immediately view the recommended quantities of that particular trend in order to finalize the collection mix.
UX Strategy Plan
Step 6
Now that the key problems and solutions were in front of us, it was time to start the implementation process and for that the very first step is to conduct a team collaboration session.
Team Collaboration
Product Manager -
Discuss the final findings.
Go through the problems and the solutions.
Finalize the solutions and decide the development timeline.
Trend Analyst -
Discuss the data insights that will be shown on the Dashboard.
Discuss how the data analysis will be showcased in the Insights Dashboard.
Over all a deeper understanding of the trends insights and what should be presented to the user.
UI & UX Designers -
Along with the UI designer, build wireframes / mockups of the new feature as well as the suggested solutions from the UX audit analysis.
Prepare the prototype for testing.
Customer Success Team -
Schedule our key users for a moderated test and feedback session.
UX Strategy Plan
Step 7
With a clear Features Board for the product ‘MyTrendTech’ and once the team roles are defined as well as the required timeline to implement the solutions, it was time to design the first version of the mockup and get it ready to be tested.
Wireframes of the Solution
I designed the wireframes showcasing the flow of the new feature ‘Insights Dashboard’ as well as iterated the design layout and functionality of the previous features to over all improve the user experience.
More filters were added in Trend Collection that could provide user with more control over the trend data they wanted to analyse
From there it led them to the Insights Dashboard where they could conduct an extensive comparative analysis of the desired trends and develop a prediction report for their team members.
Access to Merchandise Plan was given in Insights Dashboard for the user to immediately study the suggested quantities of the particular trend before considering them in the report analysis.
Once the wireframes were finalized, they were handed over to the UI designer of the company to develop a prototype version for further user testing.
*In order to protect the company’s intellectual property, the wireframes as well as the prototype cannot be shown here.
Takeaways
This project was an amazing challenge as well as an opportunity for me to grow more as a UX designer. It was also very exciting to work for a different industry and a different user profile. As I am passionate about fashion I was keen to learn more about this role and its connection with the product. The company was very supportive when providing more information in order to support my research and strategy plan.
With more given time I would like to conduct more extensive research on a large number of users to gather more data and validate information with strong facts. I would also like to do moderated user testing where I can observe users interacting with the product and ask questions that are needed to develop an improved solution.