UX Audit | Duration: 3 months | E-Commerce
OTTO.de assigned us—a team of two Senior UX Designers— the task of auditing the website.
The three months long project was carried out in close collaboration with the upper management of the company. This case study illustrates the process followed by us. The findings of the study are however classified.
OTTO’s Goal
Inspiring and guiding all users onsite (store & app) through a modern, clear and approachable text, image and design language. Along the journey, needs should be aroused and product ideas conveyed that ultimately result in a purchase decision. Compliance with marketing standards and a uniform corporate design should lead to a journey without breaks in the user experience between the off- and onsite experience and avoid confusion along the journey to the purchase decision.
Key Design Intervention: Personalization Testing
Websites today are deeply personalized, drawing from vast data sources—cookies, tracking, Dynamic Yield, Google Cloud, account data, and more(third party integrations). Our UX check tested this personalization. Instead of just analyzing a static site, we reproduced persona behavior to see how well the website adapted in real-time. We observed the shifting experience, uncovering how personalization kicked in, where it excelled, and where it fell short. By exploring how the website shifted we uncovered how real returning users experience the website.
Methods we used for the UX Audit
Expert check
User journeys with a focus on personalization
User journeys across the "top categories"
10 Heuristics evaluation
Competition analysis
Evaluation of brand identity and "look and feel”
Expert Check: How well does the platform work as a store?
Holistic view under the following criteria and questions:
Are the standards for good usability and interaction principles adhered to?
Does the site meet expectations? Are users sufficiently guided and can they quickly find their way to their destination?
Is the relevant/purchase-critical information quickly accessible to users?
What is the cognitive load on users?
Are customers sufficiently inspired in the store and on the app?
Is the path to the product and the purchase decision quick and easy?
Is all relevant information quickly accessible and easy to grasp?
User Journeys
Journey A: Follows the journey through ‘Search’ function through to purchase.
Journey B: Targeted via categories/menu (PLP, PDP, Home, Checkout)
Journey C: Random Browsing through theme pages or sales with Homescreen as starting point. (Christmas/Sale)!
Illustrative Pain Point: Navigation (Journey B)
Images offer no added value for orientation and are often inappropriate & irritating
Top categories are not in focus
Sorting of the categories seems arbitrary
The subcategories are often inappropriate/wrong
Overall seems very chaotic.
There is no visual hierarchy. Everything is screaming for attention with the result that nothing seems to get the attention. (for example for sale)
Too long click paths to the product (4 steps to get to Men’s shirts through Category Menu)
It is unclear what is behind "Discover clothes"? Poor content design.
Desktop: The top categories are unnecessarily large, the dots take up unnecessary space. The presentation in two lines makes quick orientation difficult.cMenu items are hidden when “hovering”. Overall, this display is unsuitable for the web
Personalization: Testing personalization in the user journey
How does the website react to different user behaviour(see Personas) or target groups and how does it change in response?
What effect does it have on the displayed recommendation? Like Similar Products, or Products you may like or Products for you.
Do displayed categories such as "Discover home textiles", "Discover furniture" change with different users?
Are preferences and personal data taken into account to make shopping easier for users and to support them (preferred brands, clothing size, etc.)?
Personas
We used the website with the same frequency and in the same way as the personas to simulate how the website personalizes itself. For instance
Checking Content standards and Product Presentation in the top categories
The 10 Top performing and business relevant Product Categories were analysed for this check. The focus here was on the content standards defined by Otto, such as image presentation and position (clipping, white background, aerial view/side view etc.) and compliance with them.
Is the presentation clear and therefore easy to compare and evaluate?
Where does a deviation from the defined standards make sense, and why?
Where does the deviation from the standards disrupt the journey and irritate or frustrate users and can lead to bounces?
In which categories do the most frequent deviations occur?
Should position 1(first image in the gallery) be the cut-out for all areas/features of the journey(PDP, PLP, Recommendation sliders)?
Competition Analysis
Competition Analysis is done not only with ‘Everything Store’ like Amazon and Aldi but also product speficic competitors
Furniture: Westwing, XXXLutz
Clothes: About You, Zalando, s.Oliver
Technology: Saturn, Media Markt
Home furnishings: h&m, Westwing, Amazon
Sports goods: Decathlon, Sportscheck
Heuristic Evaluation
The following elements were evaluated based on Nielsen and Norman’s 10 Heuristic Principles.
Product Detailed Page
Product Listing Page
Cart & Checkout
Homepage
Account
Wishlist
Presentation of Results and Conclusion
Owing to the nature of this study, the conclusion and final review with it’s findings and recommendations are confidential. The process above is shared for the viewer to understand the methodology. We arrived at the methodology as a work in progress, it was constantly changed according to the feedback and discussions we did with the management.