From Cart to Purchase:
Redesigning the eCommerce Experience to Boost Conversions
Role: User Experience Designer
Background
JCPenney’s 2017 strategic initiative was to finally merge the desktop and mobile web experience into one with the goal of reducing friction for customers while increase conversion in the purchase funnel.
Customer Pain Points
Coupons become invalid after they are applied.
Unclear coupon restrictions when combined with other coupons.
Certain brands do not qualify for coupons.
Confusion around the rules for JCP Rewards and coupons.
Shipping options change to truck delivery unexpectedly.
Free store pickup becomes unavailable without a clear reason.
Start with Data
Site analytics showed dropout rates were highest in the shopping cart and shipping step of the checkout experience. Afterward, we took a closer look at CSAT reviews, customer support comments, and common site error reports to understand why these issues were occurring.
Team Effort
With specific and actionable customer pain points confirmed from several data sources, we were confident in that this is where we wanted to focus our efforts. Our cross-functional pod team made up of UX, engineering, a product owner, a business analyst, a scrum master, and a UX researcher, the team brainstormed several solution proposals that would be feasible and aimed at moving the KPI needle.
Proposed Solutions
Set expectation early in the process by showing coupon restrictions for excluded brands.
Show shipping restrictions for truck delivery products.
When viewing coupons, automatically show the best applicable coupon based on the items in the shopping cart.
Simplify the item price stack to minimize visual noise in the shopping cart.
Use progressive reveal at payment steps when a JCP credit card is detected.
Validation
We worked with other pod teams to define scenarios for the JCP persona and design a usability test that could cover the experience from the landing page to the moment the user hits “Place Order”. The new designs were based on the new design system and proposed UX improvements into a prototype that would validate our hypothesis.
Outcome
Several rounds of Usability Testing were conducted, and iterations were made on the designs. Most were completed in time for the development release trains headed for peak season. Post-peak, the numbers showed we had surpassed a year-end-goal of and increased conversion by 1.34%, achieved a 2% decreased in Checkout drop out, and a 79 CSAT score.