Cause-Cart
Cause-Cart is on a mission to be the top socially and environmentally focused e-commerce site for people who want an easy to do good when shopping online. Cause-Cart strives to curate a shopping experience where the customers are truly excited about the products they’re buying and equally excited about the social impact they are making.
Background
I worked on a 4-person team of UX researchers to evaluate the usability of Cause-Cart’s website and provide recommendations for improvement. We pinpointed areas of concern, focused on user objectives, and conducted comprehensive usability testing with 8 participants. Our discoveries illuminated potential areas for Cause-Cart to refine their existing website, aiming for an optimal user experience. The research culminated in a findings and recommendations report where I shared my findings and provided recommendations accompanied by corresponding prototypes.
Problem
Shoppers are inundated with websites that offer thousands of products and same day delivery and make it easy to buy, with just one click. However, many lack the ethics and sustainability that today’s socially conscious consumers are looking for. Cause-Cart was created to meet this hole in e-commerce by making it easy for shoppers to do good with each purchase by sourcing ethical and sustainable goods that have a positive social impact. As an 100% online business, Cause-Cart wanted to identify the ways they could revamp their current website to enhance user experience, establishing repeat shoppers who are aligned with Cause-Carts missions to do good with each purchase.
Identifying the Users
Cause-Cart has two primary user groups:
Ethically-minded GenZ looking to discover new and exciting brands/products that align with their values and ethically-minded Millennial and GenX looking to make simple and convenient purchases.
Cause-Carts primary users want to make a positive impact with the dollars they spend. They align strongly with social, political and environmental causes that contribute to collective well-being.
Heuristic Analysis
Evaluation
To begin our evaluation of Cause-Cart’s website, our team conducted individual usability analyses. I used Jakob Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics for user interface design for my evaluation. We then came back together to review our independent findings as a group to solidify research goals for user testing.
View my Heuristic Analysis.
Usability Testing
After we solidified our evaluation goals, my team developed a shared script for our usability testing phase of Cause-Cart’s website. We individually tested the scripts with one user to uncover areas for improvement before moving to our final round of user evaluations as a group. In total, our team conducted 8 user evaluations using the Think-Aloud Protocol with participants who identified as primary users.
View our Usability Evaluation Script.
Evaluation Goals
Evaluate the level of understanding a user has about Cause-Cart’s missions and goals.
Evaluate the level of trust the consumer has with Cause-Cart as a sustainable/ethical e-commerce marketplace.
Gain insights on why a consumer would shop at Cause-Cart apart from other ecommerce sites.
Discover the potential paths users take to browse the site for a product or cause, and their associated pain points or opportunities.
Identify pain points with the check out process.
Synthesis
As a group, we created an Affinity Diagram on Figjam where we organized our user evaluations data, discussed our findings and themes across the testing. Individually, we identified the key findings and supporting statistical data.
Findings & Recommendations
Cause-Cart’s website drew users in with their cause driven shopping experience. With 7 of the 8 users from the evaluations reporting they could see themselves using the website. However, there were key findings that provided insight into how Cause-Cart can build upon their strong foundation to engage users in a meaningful online shopping experience where users can make an impact in the areas they feel most connected.
Positive FindingsPrototyping
I created low fidelity prototypes of the recommendations for Cause-Carts website, to help illustrate the growth opportunities the website has to best meet user goals.
Key Findings & Recommendations
The three key findings that were revealed during our user test evaluations:
Centralize Cause-Cart’s value proposition
Streamline user checkout process for all users
Consistency in product and cause details
View my Findings & Recommendations Report for Cause-Cart.
Reflections
Teamwork makes the dream work
Having a team to work with on my first group project with a real life client, Cause-Cart, was everything. Being able to talk through each phrase of our planning, research, and synthesis with 3 other UX researchers illuminated the strengths we each bring the the table and how important it is to effectively and regularly communicate with everyone involved on a project. Writing our script was when I felt like our team really started to flow - everyone was eager to take on any portion of the script and the support and creativity that came out of that time kept us motivated as we moved into user testing. After 8 user tests, our team had lots of information to dissect. Being new to UX, the synthesis phase feels a little overwhelming to me and I leaned on team for support and encouragement. Moving forward, I will remember that even if I am working with a team or not, I have the support I need to tackle any challenge in the UX process.