Welcome back! It’s In Case of Inspiration from Five & Done — a series of Case Study Projects and stories that provide insight into ideas we believe are better digital experiences and solutions. Each Case Study experiments with new tools and methods for building emotionally evocative stories and experiences.
In this Case Study, you’ll get a hot take from us, see a problem we identified through some user research, and then get a peek at a solution we came up with.
Let’s get after it.
Hot Take.
Everything that made e-commerce so great is why it sucks now.
I grew up watching the internet grow up. I printed maps off of MapQuest. I buffered Netflix ‘Instant Play’ movies hours before we wanted to watch them. I had an Amazon account with free Prime membership before it became paid.
E-Commerce has come a looong way since then. But at the same time, it hasn’t. Until influencers. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll come back to that. Let an old man reminisce a bit longer, won’t ya? (Ed. He’s only 30.) So yeah, being able to buy things online was practically magic. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” said Arthur C. Clarke
You didn’t have to drive around store-to-store checking for a product you wanted. Magic.
You weren’t limited by whatever your local brick-and-mortar store had in stock. Magic.
Heck, you weren’t limited by whether a store existed in your town or not. Magic.
But the world was a lot smaller then. To put things in perspective, when Amazon Prime first launched in 2004, there were only 1 million eligible Prime products. Fast forward nine years to 2013, and there were 20 million eligible Prime products [1]. In 2023, that number has grown to over 100 million [2]. In just 20 years, we saw the number of products available on Amazon grow over 100X. And that’s to say nothing of all the direct-to-consumer brands, marketplaces (e.g. Etsy), and social media shops.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t need THAT many options to find what I’m looking for.
But maybe that’s just me?
Getting Some Answers.
To find if it was just me, or if others felt the same way, we interviewed 4 people from our team. We prompted them to “tell me about a time when you had a difficult experience shopping online” and sat back to listen.
Hoo boy did we go down some rabbit holes! We heard about everything from trying to buy a new toolbox, to buying a kid’s first bike, to finding a ‘fit for the office holiday party.
As it goes, people aren’t single dimensioned, and had opinions all across the spectrum.
I’d rather pull my hair out one strand at a time than go shopping in person.
BUT ALSO…
There are so many websites, and I don’t know which ones are good, which are legit, which work for me…it can be really frustrating.
In summary, we heard that people love the breadth of options and convenience of shopping from home/phone/work/toilet, but are overwhelmed by the same breadth of options and inability to evaluate the product from home/phone/work/toilet.
Humans, man. Who let us evolve to have opinions beyond the best kind of banana?
But hey, our interviewees did validate that e-commerce is both benefited by and kneecapped by its value proposition of options and convenience.
Smart Cookies.
If you’re in the technology space like we are, you probably think this section is gonna be about web cookies, or something like that. Sorrrrrry, I’m actually talking about the four employees we interviewed. They’re smart cookies. They all have ways of cutting through the noise to find the product they finally end up buying.
Here’s what they said:
An influencer can be like a best friend you can just call.
When a product is on an influencer’s Linktree, I can trust that it’s something she’s actually wearing out of the house.
I get really detail oriented and dig through reviews like crazy. I will scroll through pages and pages until I feel satisfied.
It’s nice that there are people out there who look into products for people who aren’t experts.
I told you we’d come back to influencers, didn’t I?
Overwhelmingly, we heard our shoppers say that they go to lengths to seek out trustworthy recommendations from trusted sources such as friends, blogs, and influencers.
But it’s not just our shoppers who say that.
Forrester’s August 2023 Consumer Pulse Survey says that, “For Gen Z youth, nearly half say that online influencers/creators are the primary way they discover new products or brands.”
(Ed. Pause for dramatic effect and personal reflection here.)
The Problem.
The Problem: Trusted sources aren’t on hand where you’re shopping.
To solve this problem, we directed our design efforts around three guiding insights distilled from our interviews:
- Affiliated social proof builds trust with new shoppers.
- Third-party content is more useful than branded content.
- Ruling a product out is just as valuable as ruling it in.
A Solution.
We conceptualized a solution with an imaginary online bike shop called “Five & Ride”. Inside of this fake store, we re-imagined four key areas of the e-commerce experience to bring those insights to life.
- Bring Your Affiliates In-Store.
- Demonstrate Social Proof ASAP.
- Let Product Pages Become Conversation Places.
- Connect Your World To Your Shopper’s World.
1: Bring Your Affiliates In-Store.
Our Riders.
Brands work hard to curate their Affiliates and Brand Ambassadors. Why not feature them and their recommendations in store? It’s no secret that influencers have transformed the way we shop, so let’s embrace that.
Shoppers say, “[they] take the need for true research out of it.”
Filter By Expertise.
Most brands have product offerings in many categories, but most Affiliates and Brand Ambassadors have a niche they specialize in. Let’s allow a shopper to identify and relate to Brand Ambassadors in the niche they are specifically interested in.
Rider Highlights.
Do you read the blurb and quotes on the back of a book before buying it? We imagine bringing that to products online. As a shopper is browsing the Affiliates (or Riders) page of a site, this feature helps demonstrate the Affiliate’s area of expertise and preferences.
Shoppers say, “yes, there are biases, but if [all the affiliates] are recommending it, it’s probably worth it’s salt”
2: Demonstrate Social Proof ASAP.
Categorical Social Proof.
We heard shoppers say it’s risky to trust new brands, and it’s easier to stay loyal to brands they already know and have a history with. But, a recommendation from a trusted source can build trust immediately. By demonstrating this social proof at the category level, e.g. Mountain Bikes, we’re giving the shopper the ability to browse products with a sense of trust and confidence.
Product Cards.
Designed to inspire confidence while browsing, the product card surfaces Shopper Engagement, Customer Satisfaction, and Social Proof. These elements are designed to facilitate easier browsing and clicks down the funnel to the product page with greater confidence that the product will fit your needs.
Shoppers say, “[I scroll] hoping that something will spark a little hope in me.”
Social Proof Filters.
Because Social Proof is such a confidence builder for shoppers, we’re giving shoppers the ability to view only products that are recommended by Brand Ambassadors.
3: Let Product Pages Become Conversation Places.
Product Forum.
For all shoppers, there will be a time when you’re shopping for something for the first time. And at that time, you need advice and education. Shoppers struggle to trust the advice from a brand, because it has an inherent bias toward their own products. This is why we imagine a Discord, or Stack Overflow, like forum for shoppers to ask and answer questions, view community content, and gain confidence in their research journey.
Shoppers say, “I want to make sure I’m not settling.”
“For You” Message Tags.
Messages by people you follow, are connected with, or are brand ambassadors will pin to the top of the message thread. These are the most relevant to the shopper and should provide the most valuable context and content.
Shoppers say, “I want to make sure I’m investing my money in things that aren’t sh*tty.”
Social Media Connections.
Seeing real people with the real product feels more trustworthy and authentic than branded content. This connection to social media apps, such as Instagram and TikTok, accelerates the amount of organic content that would normally make it onto a Product Page.
Shoppers say, “I really lean on reviews…[even though] it’s so hit or miss.”
4: Connect Your World To Your Shopper’s World
Social Connections.
Shoppers are able to follow purchases of their personal connections, not just the Brand Ambassadors, when they connect a social media account. This connection enables social media posts to be shared from the social app to a Product Thread.
Followed Profiles.
Shoppers can manage who they follow at this store. They are able to follow Brand Ambassadors and connections from linked social media accounts.
Previously Viewed.
Window shoppers tend to put items in a cart and sit on it, but not everybody does that. With a clear viewable history, shoppers can easily revisit products they’ve engaged with. Additional to items left in cart, items from a shopper’s history becomes another dynamic email campaign touchpoint.
Fin!
So, what do you think? Would you want to see this where you shop?
When we demo’d this concept to our team, we saw a split of who wished it existed and who didn’t really care for it.
It came down to a mindset split. For people who already seek out recommendations and reviews, this felt like a big, desirable step forward. For people who didn’t already rely on recommendations, this didn’t do much for them.
And you know what? That’s perfect. There’s never a one-size-fits all solution. “People do not want all-purpose; they want high-tech specificity” says James Dyson.
He’s dead right.
At the end of the day, as designers and builders of products, our core goal is to help people do what they’re already trying to do (or want to do) better.
Sometimes it’s more abstract, sometimes it’s more obvious. Every time we’re gonna bring something thought-provoking to the table.
P.S. — This blog is not the best place to experience this concept. It just doesn’t facilitate great image experiences. To really experience this concept in full, pop out to this mini-site we built for it!
P.S.S.— here’s an index to other articles in this series.
- Nella: From AI to ZZZ
- Putting The Proof Into The (E-Commerce) Pudding
- Build-A-Bronco: Finding The Right Look
…and much more to come!
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