Another exercise that helps discover attributes that pull retailers into the consideration set for a given product type involves filling out a table with a list of the attributes most likely to differentiate retailers in that category and ask customers to rate several retailers on these attributes. As a simple example, you could ask customers to fill out an evaluation of retailer attributes using the following worksheet. (SA: Strongly agree; A: Agree; N: Neutral; D: Disagree; SD: Strongly disagree)
- Convenient
- Simple
- Cost saving
- Easy to find products/services
- Easy to check out
- Easy to get details
- Provides help when needed
- Has the products or services I’m looking for
- Great customer service
- Great online experience
Based on these ratings, the user experience design strategy should include guidance about how to achieve differentiation for a given user type using design components. Most retailers have much more detailed quantitative data about differentiators, but they are usually aggregated such that its difficult to target these findings to a given type of customer or persona. This kind of module helps bridge that gap, although a follow-up quantitative exercise may be needed to drive out more comprehensive findings that are representative or validated to the extent needed to guide user experience design of a high-traffic web site.
Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts
Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts
Uncategorized
customer interviews, e-commerce, e-retail, selection set, user research
To understand the competitive set of each participant, ask them to list the competitive sources of products or information related to the topic you are researching. Ask them to describe:
- The relative value of each source
- Likes and dislikes of each source
- Successful and unsuccessful interactions with competitive sources
- Experience using similar or competitive web sites
- Rating of your site vs. competitive sites based on specific criteria
As a result of the competitive set module, you should have obtained:
- List of competitive sites
- Positive and negative aspects of competition
- Ratings to compare across participants
- Competitive benchmark in terms of design and/or functionality
- Opportunities to reach parity or superiority
Sample script:
- When did you first start planning your last stay in a vacation resort?
- When you started planning, which companies were you considering staying with?
- Why did you include each of these?
- Which companies did you leave out of this list? Why?
- Are there any companies that you wish you would have included in this process? If yes, which one(s)?
- Are there any companies you wish you would have left out of this process? If yes, which one(s)?
- Which web sites did you visit?
- Which web sites did you know about but not visit? Why?
Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts
Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (www.usography.com)
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts
Uncategorized
customer interviews, e-commerce, e-retail design strategy, selection set, user research