Background
The Emerging Markets team serves diverse global markets with varying operational models. In some regions, RS ships directly to customers, while in others, third-party distributors handle deliveries. Due to these unique requirements, a dedicated e-commerce platform was created specifically for Emerging Markets, rather than using the RS group's solution.
Over time, this platform became outdated and difficult to maintain. To address this, the team shifted to a micro-services architecture, developing a new presentation layer and APIs.
After successfully migrating the browsing pages (categories, listings, and product details), the focus shifted to improving the purchasing journey, including the basket and checkout pages with the goal of enhancing overall conversion rates.
My Role
As the Design Lead, I worked closely with the Technical Product Owner, Digital Product Director, and key stakeholders across multiple markets to deliver an effective solution. My core responsibilities included:
Discovery: Mapped the existing customer journey to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Design: Created a prototype to address identified customer problems, ensuring the design effectively solved their challenges and aligned with user needs.
User Testing: Conducted unmoderated testing with customers from key markets to validate prototypes and gather insights.
Development Support: Collaborated with the development team to write and refine user stories, while assisting QA during testing.
Discovery
Keeping research at the forefront of the design process, we carried out the following discovery exercises:
Heuristic Evaluation: Reviewed the current experience, identifying usability and accessibility issues.
Customer Journey Mapping: Worked with the Technical PO, Customer Operations, and Marketing to map the customer journey and identify areas for improvement.
Surveys: Collected insights from distributors on customer feedback and preferences for the new purchasing journey.
These activities highlighted several key challenges:
Unreliable Stock Information and Delivery Times: A widespread issue beyond the scope of our project, which is being addressed by a separate initiative in the business.
Absence of a Quotation Feature: Crucial for B2B customers where price negotiation or approval is common. Currently, quotes are generated manually, with no visibility for customers in their accounts.
Bulk Item Addition: Vital for customers using a Bill of Materials (BOM) to speed up their ordering process.
Confusion over Hazardous Items and Undefined Delivery Costs: When a customer’s order included a hazardous item, the delivery charge was marked as "P.O.A" (Price on Application). The customer could proceed with the order, but the customer operations team would later contact them with the delivery cost. At that point, the customer could either request a refund or proceed by paying over the phone. This process resulted in a poor customer experience and consumed significant time for the customer operations team.
Design
Working with the Technical PO to understand the scope of the project and with stakeholders in the various markets I was able to produce a set of designs capturing an array of scenarios across all 28 websites. Below are a few examples of the designs with justifications.
Testing
To evaluate the user journey, we conducted remote user testing with 10 customers from the USA, our largest market. Participants were asked to add three items to their basket, each with different delivery times, and review their basket to choose between a single package delivery or splitting it into multiple shipments before proceeding to checkout. Overall, the test results were positive, with no significant usability concerns raised, aside from a few minor UI issues that were easily resolved.
Key findings from the testing phase included:
The option to select delivery preferences was valuable to customers, as it resonated with their real-life experiences of ordering items with varying despatch times.
Many participants did not expect to find the delivery preference option in the basket and suggested that it would be more appropriate in the checkout process.
Some customers had difficulty noticing the despatch dates, indicating that the information was too subtle and needed to be more prominent.
Handover and Implementation
After discussing the designs with the technical PO and development team, it was determined that grouping the basket by delivery times and allowing customers to provide their delivery preferences was out of scope for this project. However, it was suggested as a potential follow-up feature.
During the handover phase between design and development, I took a proactive approach to ensure a smooth transition. I began by writing detailed user stories that clearly outlined the design intent and functionality of each feature. Collaborating closely with the development team, I refined these stories, incorporating their feedback and addressing any potential challenges.
Throughout the development process, I remained available to support the team, answering any questions and clarifying design specifications as needed. This open line of communication helped to mitigate misunderstandings and helped to build a collaborative environment.
I supported the testing phase in the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environment, ensuring that the implemented features aligned with the original design vision. By actively engaging in both the development and testing stages, I contributed to delivering a polished final product that met both user needs and project goals.
Outcome
In July 2022, we introduced the new purchasing journey for our export market, and subsequently implemented it in our final market, India, in February 2023.
We have witnessed a significant improvement in our conversion rates by 3%. Furthermore, the NPS survey, administered on the website post-checkout, has yielded positive feedback. This survey has also pinpointed particular areas for improvement, providing us with valuable insights to refine and enrich the basket & checkout experience.
With the forthcoming launch of a new stock service later in 2023, we anticipate resolving the primary customer concerns related to stock availability and delivery times.