RESEARCH

Before getting started, I made a list of the assumptions I had that I used to help create a starting point for my research. I made these assumptions by briefly speaking to a few coworkers, fellow students, friends, and family. This is not formally part of my research and is only used to create less bias when creating my research goals.

• Understand the market and identify our competitor’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Identify our target audience.
• Understand our target audience’s expectations in an e-commerce experience.
• Identify what influences our audience’s buying decisions.
• Identify what motivates/prevents our audience from purchasing eco-friendly products.
• Identify what information on eco-friendly products our audience need/want/lack to make informed buying decisions.

My goal in completing this survey is to help identify my target audience, understand what prevents buyers from purchasing eco-friendly products, prove or discredit previous assumptions, have a better idea of what to pay attention to during the competitive analysis, and have a clearer understanding of the problem moving forward.

Quantitative INSIGHTS

• 58%  Do not consider a product’s environmental impact to be a deciding factor when making a purchase.
• 72%  Are not aware of eco-friendly product options.
• 83%  Would consider buying eco-friendly products if they were easier to access.

Qualitative INSIGHTS

• Participants prioritize different information about the product when making a buying decision.
• Participants aren’t sure where they would look to find eco-friendly products.
• Eco-friendly products need to be better products for participants to consider buying them.
• Participants would like to see donations to non-profits.

FINDINGS

Deciding the Target audience

Through this survey, I discovered that there are two groups of buyers. One group are buyers who prioritize the eco-friendly nature of a product (charitable buyers) when making a buying decision. The other group are buyers who prioritize the quality/aspects of a product (Practical buyers) when making a buying decision.  Moving forward with my research I chose to focus on the buyers who are not currently buying eco-friendly products and who prioritize a product’s quality and aspects. I identify this audience as “PRACTICAL BUYERS”.  I chose this group of people since they are the buyers who are currently not buying eco-friendly products.

My goal in completing a competitive analysis is to identify Direct Competitors and review their platforms to find their strengths and weaknesses. I am finding these by looking at their layout and navigation, what key and custom features they offer, their competitive advantage, reviews, and what information they offer on the product’s impact and quality.

Strengths

• Partners with sustainable and eco-friendly products/companies.
• Navigation is easy to use.
• Has a good variation of products.
• Users can shop by values.
• Offers interest-free payment options.
• Responsive Customer Service.
• Lists eco-friendly features of products.
• Customizable Navigation bars.
• Can create product subscriptions.

Weaknesses

• Main shopping page is not the landing page of the website.
• The information is overwhelming on the main shopping page.
• Products feel random and unorganized without customizing your search bars.
• Products do not have ratings on quality, durability, price, etc only overall ratings.
• Only explains how products are better for the environment not how the products are better than competitors.
• Doesn’t show/measure the scale of a product’s positive environmental impact.

Strengths

• All products are disposable.
• All products are compostable and/or biodegradable.
• Explains what features products have to make them eco-friendly.
• Can buy products in bulk.
• Has multiple options for each category.
• Customizable search bars.
• Has responsive customer service.
• Offers free samples.

Weaknesses

• Navigation and layout are overwhelming, unorganized, and can be simplified.
• Does not have product reviews/ratings.
• Products do not have ratings on quality, durability, price, etc.
• Only explains how products are better for the environment not how the products are better than competitors.
• Doesn’t show/measure the scale of a product’s positive environmental impact.

Strengths

• All products are disposable.
• All products are compostable.
• Website is organized well for the amount of information and features.
• Website feels very professional.
• Has a blog feature with relevant articles.
• Has/shows impact projects.
• Can buy products in bulk.
• Customizable search bars.
• Has multiple options for each category.

Weaknesses

• Navigation is linked to other websites and is confusing to navigate.
• Does not have product reviews/ratings.
• Products do not have ratings on quality, durability, price, etc.
• Only explains how products are better for the environment not how the products are better than competitors.
• Doesn’t show/measure the scale of a product’s positive environmental impact.

INSIGHTS

• Most of the information practical buyers prioritize when making a buying decision is not provided on eco-friendly products.
• Competitors only provide information on what qualifies the product as being an eco-friendly product.
• There are very few if any customer ratings/reviews on eco-friendly products being provided.
• No product comparisons to other products or traditional products.
• Provides no information or details relating to the product’s quality.
• Not showing the scale of the product’s environmental impact or anything that proves that using the product is helping the environment.
• None of the competitors use a mobile application.

I conducted user interviews to gain a more in-depth understanding of my target audience (Practical Buyers), their buying decisions, the information they need/want on eco-friendly products, what would motivate them to buy these products, and what makes finding/accessing these products difficult.

I conducted a total of 6 interviews with “PRACTICAL BUYERS”, all of which participated in the initial survey.

INSIGHTS

• Practical buyers don’t consider a product’s environmental impact to be a deciding factor when making a purchase.
• Practical buyers won’t buy eco-friendly products only because they are better for the environment.
• Eco-friendly products need to be good products for practical buyers to consider buying them.
• Practical Buyers don’t trust that eco-friendly products are truly making a difference to the environment.
• Practical buyers won’t spend time or effort searching for eco-friendly products.
• Practical buyers want a buying experience that is quick and easy.
• Practical buyers relate a quick and easy experience to using phone apps to make purchases.
• Practical buyers don’t like searching for the information they need on products to make a purchase decision.
• Practical buyers want to see support for non-profits but will only donate if the non-profit is something they think is important.

Information on ECO-FRIENDLY products that practical buyers NEED and want

• Product comparisons on price, ratings, quality, durability, and environmental impact.
• Product review ratings on quality, price, safety, usability, satisfaction, materials, and longevity.
• Pros/Cons of the product.
• Proof/more information that the impact of buying the eco-friendly product is real, and what it is preventing/saving.

DEFINE & IDEATE

Building off of what I have learned about my target audience from my survey and user interviews, I was able to create a persona that accurately represents the Practical Buyer’s goals, needs, frustrations, and pain points.  I created this persona to help guide me in my process and to make sure my design decisions are centered on my Target Audience (the Practical Buyer).

I would rather buy a product that helps the environment, but it has to be a good product, and it’s not my priority.

Jane is a professional living in Dallas TX.  She has been working in marketing for the past seven years and loves her job as well as the people she has met there. She is hard-working and has a go-getter personality. Outside of work, her days are filled with friends and family. She enjoys shopping but rarely ever has time and ends up spending what little she has shopping online.  She shops online using apps like Amazon and Shein because it is easy and convenient. She does not prioritize buying products that are eco-friendly but would consider it if the product is the better product and meets all of her standards.

GOALS

• Easily find/discover eco-friendly products.
• Confident she is buying good quality products that have a positive environmental impact.
• Quick and easy buying experience.

Needs

• Know where to find eco-friendly products.
• Know what product options are available.
• Have quick/easy access to these products and the information she needs on them to make an informed buying decision.
• Be confident she is buying a good product.
• Be confident using/buying these products makes a difference to the environment.

Frustrations / PAIN POINTS

• Doesn’t know what eco-friendly products are available.
• Has to spend a lot of time and effort searching for eco-friendly products.
• Can’t find the information she needs on eco-friendly products to know if they are good quality and if they truly help the environment.

After discovering who I am designing for, I took what I learned from my research to identify the main problems I will be solving moving forward. I did this by using the Key insights and the needs of our Practical Buyer (Jane) to help me create HMW problem statements. These HMW statements will help me identify opportunities and brainstorm possible solutions for these problems.

Using each HMW problem statement, I completed a design sprint exercise to help me generate solutions. First I completed a mind mapping exercise giving myself 10 minutes for each HWM statement to help ideate as many solutions as possible. After choosing one or two solutions from each mind map, I completed crazy 8’s exercises to help me generate ways these solutions could be designed and implemented.
Below I provided a few of the design sprints I completed to help show the context of my process.

Mind Mapping

CRAZY 8's

Selected Solutions for the HMW problem Statements

After deciding on the solutions I will be working on moving forward, I created a sitemap to help me visualize how my product will be laid out and Function. This helps me by ensuring I am implementing all solutions as well as a helpful guide when I move into creating my low-fidelity wireframes and prototype.

PROTOTYPING

After understanding the basic structure of my product through the site map and using everything I have learned up to this point, I was able to create wireframes that helped me have a better understanding and clarify how the visual aspect of the product will be designed. This will help solidify how different functions and features will connect and will help me create the paths one would take when using this product. I have attached a few screens from the wireframes I created to help give more context to my process.

After creating the wireframes, I needed to move on to building the prototype that will showcase all elements of this product. But, to do this I need to have a clear visual design system and branding to help keep everything similar and consistent. I chose bright and inviting colors and chose fonts that are easy to read since the app is information heavy and I wanted to make sure everything was easy to read and easy to navigate.

Once I had completed the wireframes and visual branding I was able to create my High Fidelity Prototype. This combines all of the research and design decisions I have completed during these eight weeks. Feel free to click through it and review my work!

REFLECTIONS & NEXT STEPS

I have learned many things during the eight weeks I have worked on this project. Ranging from my design thinking to my research practices. But something that I believe is the most valuable lesson to take away from this experience is that how you approach a task or a problem can and does make a world of a difference to the outcome. For example, when I first started conducting my user interviews I approached the interview and the user in a way where I was only looking for their answer to the questions I was asking, which caused them to respond with short direct answers. But, after taking a step back and reassessing the purpose of the interviews, did I realize I was approaching them in a way that limited what I could learn from them. Once discovered this I started approaching the user and these interviews very differently. Instead of just looking for the answers to only the questions I was asking, I also started looking for their experiences and approached them in a way to start a conversation which lead to longer, more in-depth responses to these questions. By doing this I was able to learn more about who they are, their habits, and the reasoning behind choices they made that I would have missed if I continued to use the same approach I started with.

• Rounds of Usability Testing and product revisions.
• Further research into the Impact Tracking feature.
• Build the features that are lower on the product’s priority list.
• Retest > Ideate > Prototype > Repeat

VIEW MY OTHER WORK

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