Below is a user experience focused project that specializing in design and prototype testing for Petco's navigation system. It is focused on
e-commerce, services, and digital innovation
Evaluative research goals:
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How do we make Petco more favorable in the Pet Market?
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How can we innovate Petco's existing digital platform into a more user friendly one?
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What is the current online experience of Petco's navigation menu? How can we improve it?
Qualitative Methods used in this Project
Competitive analysis, Heuristic evaluation for dog grooming services, and User testing (remote, unmoderated) via usertesting.com were used to test the qualitative data in this project.
Quantitative Methods
Open card sort via Optimal Workshop, Tree testing via Maze.co, User testing via Maze.co, and Five-second test/First Impression test via Maze.co were used to evaluate the quantitative portion of this project. (i.e. to test user efficiency)
Analysis
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Affinity diagramming via Mural
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Qualitative coding for user testing
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Tree pathways for tree testing
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Dendrogram for open card sort (displayed above)
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Heat maps for quant. user tests
Crucial Insights
Petco's website is not optimized for e-commerce. The largest issue that users came across was the scroll feature; users had to scroll a substantial amount before being able to access information that they needed. It is also seen that there is an improper use of white space on the website, which made it easier for users to stop scrolling and leave the product page; In return, making purchases became more difficult and less intuitive.
Another finding was how Petco's navigation system appeared overwhelming. A majority of the users found it difficult to navigate the website because different users expected to find 1 item in multiple categories. For instance, puppy milk was thought to be found in both puppy food and wet food. We then found out that there is only one specific path to find one item instead of having several multiple paths.
Product Impact:
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Redesign of the navigation system informed by open card sort and tree testing resulted in a 24% increase in favorable impressions.
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Quantitative and qualitative user testing feedback for the newly redesigned navigation menu indicated that users were less overwhelmed and felt that the menu was more comfortable to look and easier to use.
Customer Impact:
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Qualitative data based on user testing has helped inform how to redesign the navigation system and product pages
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Reducing white space on the product page has helped users acquire product information faster to make better-informed product purchases.
Original Petco Navigation Menu:
Redesigned Petco navigation menu:
Original Petco Product Page
Redesigned Petco Product Page
