Encouraging Informed Purchasing with Reviews

Capitalizing on social proof and advanced filtering to improve the user experience.

UX/UI Design • Visual Design

UX/UI Design • Visual Design

UX/UI Design • Visual Design

2023

2023

2023

My Role

My Role

My Role

UX Design,
User Research

Tools

Tools

Tools

Sketch

Timeline

Timeline

Timeline

2 weeks

Context

Context

Context

Social proof is so integral to woom's success that customers have created their own networks where they can buy, sell, trade, and seek advice from other customers.

After merging the US and European websites into one global site with localization in 2022, reviews were unable to be migrated and required a re-build. In 2023, we were tasked with improving and re-integrating the review experience to provide social proof that helps users make efficient purchasing decisions with confidence.

As the designer for this project, I collaborated with the Head of Global Digital Marketing, Global Art Director, and development team, conducting research and executing high fidelity mockups.

Video

Video

Video

Product Detail Page Reviews

Product Detail Page Reviews

Product Detail Page Reviews

Video

Video

Video

Contextual Review Form

Contextual Review Form

Contextual Review Form

Skip the small talk

Skip the small talk

Skip the small talk

See the Solution

See the Solution

See the Solution

The Problem

The Problem

The Problem

01. Lacking Context and User Control

Our previous solution lacked additional context that could foster trust like rating summaries, names of products being reviewed, and relevant details about the reviewer.

02. Wide range of users

Especially during gifting seasons, woom sees a wide range of users including grandparents, other family members, and friends that need flexible and familiar experiences to make large purchases condifently.

Challenge

Challenge

Challenge

Implement reviews that are easy to use across a wide range of users, providing social proof that helps users make efficient purchasing decisions with confidence.

Primary Research

Primary Research

Primary Research

A competitive audit of 4 retailers was conducted to confirm industry standards and strategize features of our MVP.

Specialized Reviews
YETI Reviews

01

/04

Specialized

Direct

Specialized is a retailer of high-quality bikes whose interface seem to reflect this with an innovative layout, but offer very basic review features only.

Names of reviewers are listed at the bottom of the review which differs from industry standards and limited user control is offered using basic sorting options. Summarized star ratings feel deceptive without reflecting partial stars with a 3.5 star rating appear as 4 stars, skewing bad reviews to appear more positive than they truly are.

Specialized Reviews

01

/04

Specialized

Direct

Specialized is a retailer of high-quality bikes whose interface seem to reflect this with an innovative layout, but offer very basic review features only.

Names of reviewers are listed at the bottom of the review which differs from industry standards and limited user control is offered using basic sorting options. Summarized star ratings feel deceptive without reflecting partial stars with a 3.5 star rating appear as 4 stars, skewing bad reviews to appear more positive than they truly are.

Specialized Reviews

01

/04

Specialized

Direct

Specialized is a retailer of high-quality bikes whose interface seem to reflect this with an innovative layout, but offer very basic review features only.

Names of reviewers are listed at the bottom of the review which differs from industry standards and limited user control is offered using basic sorting options. Summarized star ratings feel deceptive without reflecting partial stars with a 3.5 star rating appear as 4 stars, skewing bad reviews to appear more positive than they truly are.

Secondary Research

Secondary Research

Secondary Research

Additional secondary research from trusted industry experts served as a north star for the project.

Nielson Norman group explains that users generally expect and appreciate reviews on product pages which are sortable and filterable by rating.

If executed with high usability, users thought that photo or video reviews and advanced filtering were nice to have.

Product Page Importance
Review Summary Importance

01

/04

Reviews should be prioritized on Product Detail Pages

"UX Guidelines for Ecommerce Product Pages" -Sherwin, 2019

Product Page Importance

01

/04

Reviews should be prioritized on Product Detail Pages

"UX Guidelines for Ecommerce Product Pages" -Sherwin, 2019

Product Page Importance

01

/04

Reviews should be prioritized on Product Detail Pages

"UX Guidelines for Ecommerce Product Pages" -Sherwin, 2019

The Solution

The Solution

The Solution

Building on existing reviews

The final solution built upon our previous experience adding advanced filtering, verification, and photo reviews for a more informative and efficient user experience.

Third party software integration meant reviews aligned industry standards while incorporating nice-to-have features and maintaining a trustworthy native experience consistent with the rest of the site.

Image

Image

Image

Familiar Patterns

Familiar Patterns

Familiar Patterns

Familiar patterns made reviews easy to refine and analyze

Users can locate transparent positive and negative reviews by sorting by most recent, highest rating, reviews with photos, featured reviews, and most helpful while interactive summaries allow users to filter by rating.

New smart tags and filters extract key words from captured reviews and user inputs for more accurate, brand-relevant searches.

Since most users capture photos on mobile devices, expanded photo review modals prioritize vertical orientations, with smaller images fitting to the parent container.

Image

Image

Image

Scannable Summaries

Scannable Summaries

Scannable Summaries

Chunking and progressive disclosure improve scannability

By chunking key controls and important metrics at the top of both the review module and individual reviews, users are able to evaluate content more efficiently.

Results are limited to 5 reviews per page on product detail pages to avoid overwhelming users with excessive lengthy customer reviews.

Image

Image

Image

Building Trust

Building Trust

Building Trust

Building trust and authenticity through social proof

Verifications ensure content is accurate and reflective of real experiences, while recommendation status confirms that expectations are met.

Users can vote for helpful reviews and infer social proof from what other customers are considering while making their own purchasing decisions.

Confirmation messages provide visibility of system status with continuous and open communication.

Image

Image

Image

User Context

User Context

User Context

User context ensures richer reviews

By completing a short survey, reviewers provide important user context like rider age, skill level, and even locality.

Photos add visual context that convey product use, child’s size and even confirming assumptions about product quality.

With reviews launching as a new feature to certain regions, some markets lack local reviews. Locality allows us to extend context to markets in the early stages of review collection without syndicating from dealers.

Product names confirm relevance of reviews when placed outside of product detail pages and provide system visibility.

Image

Image

Image

Flexible Processes

Flexible Processes

Flexible Processes

Meeting the needs of new and returning users with flexible processes

Paginated navigation was implemented to provide user control and allow users to freely navigate based on their needs without frustration or increased cognitive load.

Hyperlinked star ratings accelerate processes for experienced users from product landing pages and overview pages while revealing social proof earlier in the consumer journey for new users.

The Results

The Results

The Results

Project Status

Due to our limited timeline, reviews have yet to include smart tags and advanced filtering.

Reviews were rolled out during the holiday season and many shoppers were expected to review once their child began using the product in the new year.

By early 2024 users are utilizing new features, rating existing reviews and utilizing image uploads. Users engaged with 3 of the 5 most recent reviews for the top-selling The woom 1 PLUS ORIGINAL, totaling 71 users with around 4% of all product reviews coming from our re-launch.

Qualitative research would be the most accurate way to determines how influential consumers rate reviews in their purchasing decisions. Clustering themes would help us understand what particular factors helped customers most while measuring time on task could be used to measure any improved efficiency..