Arkhem Bikes
Desktop E-Commerce Bike Shop
Researched, designed, and prototyped a desktop e-commerce website by improving the browsing experience when exploring bike types as well as simplified the checkout experience to increase conversion rates.
The Problem
This fictional bike shop analyzed that the majority of their customers abandon their cart upon checking out with an item, and about 50% of those who browse end up abandoning the site overall. The hypothesis for this behavior is that the browsing experience is overwhelming and informative, whilst the checkout flow’s sign in requirements creates too much friction which discourages users from completing the conversion.
The purpose of this project is to improve the browsing experience and checkout experience of this e-commerce website, which will allow users to feel confident in their purchase.
After getting some understanding of the bike e-commerce space,I explored several bike online shops to see how they accomplished the same tasks such as navigation, IA, and checkout, as well as looked at other large purchase websites such as Sennheiser, known to be an expert in their field for audio tech.
I explored the checkout processes of several e-commerce websites including Amazon, Target, Trekbikes, and Canyon.
To explore what current users are using to buy bikes online, I looked on Trekbikes.com and discovered several important e-commerce requirements, including the option for direct-to-home vs local bike shop deliveries.
Discover
The goal for the discovery phase of this capstone is to discover what bike lovers are looking for and need when choosing a bike. It is important to do both secondary and primary research because this topic is very industry specific, with a lot of important terms, biking styles, opinions, and navigation.
My hypothesis:
Users are unable to complete the checkout because there is friction at the checkout flow where customers have to log in in order to continue.
Deliverable: Add lazy registration option
My hypothesis:
Users are dissatisfied with the lack of detail on the current website.
Goal: Find out what makes a good browsing experience - the user should feel delighted, informed, and certain about their product choice.
Secondary Research
Because of my lack of background in this industry, I scheduled in the first many hours to do secondary research which helped me nail down the important components of the bike, what users are talking about today, and the many options that are available to those buying from top retailers.
Internet Search
I found that doing a simple search query brings up millions of helpful links and social media content about how to choose a bike, which brands are best, and what to look for. I also did some looking into the stats of e-commerce bike buying, which brought up that it is a rising trend, especially for e-bikes.
By looking through multiple “how to choose a bike” blog posts and websites, I discovered a list of the main factors of finding a bike:
Where do you want to ride
Users first must asked the WHERE (i.e. What types of terrain, flat vs hilly)
How do you want to ride
Users then are asked the HOW(i.e. how long are you riding? Are you racing or riding casually?)
What fits your body and lifestyle?
Users must then know the WHAT, meaning the FIT.
This involves going on test rides or measuring your in-seam and height and going to a size chart to determine your size.
In surveys, I discovered that if you’re making a large bike purchase, you go to a local bike shop to get your fitting done by an expert and ride some bikes beforehand.
Not only that, but you need to account for
Extras
Users then might want to know about mounting, best practices, maintenance tips, and other nice-to-haves.
Some other useful stats I found were about how E-bikes might make a good first product for the e-commerce website.
Industry Leaders
Primary Research
Having learned a bit about the general state of oversaturation amongst church buildings in the neighborhood, I knew I needed to actually speak to those who work in church offices and those who rent those spaces. This would help me get both qualitative and quantitative data about the target users who I will be designing for.
Surveys
Using my network of renters, I surveyed 9 administrators/staff/pastors and 26 renters. I also reached out to local churches via their websites to see what their customer service was like and to get connected with the staff.
This was a big challenge, because the church staff were generally unavailable, unwilling to talk, or nonexistent.
Some key insights were:
Price, Type of bike, Comfort, Material are the most important thing to users.
Most people learn online about bikes through search queries and forums, but most definitely will go to see an expert before purchasing.
Interviewing Cyclists and big-purchase shoppers
Research Synthesis
Wireframing
Prototyping
Conclusion
“The cost to keep the facilities going, and Pastor salaries and music program exceeded what the congregation could bring in” - Rich, Union Church of Cupertino
Sitemapping and Information Architecture
Brand, Components, and Hi-Fi Screens
User Testing
For this project, it was difficult to manage the scope of the problems these renters and managers face day-to-day.
There were times that I knew the MVP is only one tiny component of the work flow the managers attend to when in the office, and also that most of them use a desktop for their tasks is not lost on me.
The future goals for this project are to continue to add some core features for the venue managers that would enhance customizability, and provide actual functionality to its screens. Most disappointed were some of them when “learn more” was not available.
Some key features that are necessary for this product to move to its next stage are:
A screen that allows users to edit their event details, especially on the review & continue page
Add features to the approval process, which was too simplistic - dive deeper into payments and fees and rental-dependent prices change.
Add features that allow customers to be able to change their rental without fear
This problem is a big one that is being worked on by larger teams such as Church Management Systems, and I will continue to follow the trajectory of their progress, and if smaller churches are unable to afford such sophisticated systems, Steward would be a massive asset to their list of free apps.
UX Research - What I learned
Researching an industry I am unfamiliar with is an important acknowledgement - there is a learning curve, which was aided most by speaking to people and going on reddit which took time before I could even learn what to ask
General knowledge of the rental industry as a whole
How do they categorize/define size, quality, success, behavior, support etc.
Denomination matters - The Church of Latter Day Saints and the Catholic Church both have their own giant network of community/financial support, even for things like key management, which is not widely available to other denominations (?)
Size matters - large +1,000 churches have the money and staff and may be able to afford CRMs and ChMSs; the local churches I interviewed had no such tech and were independently run
What is the lingo that this industry uses to get their job done
Tech - what is the tech called that is available and what is the business side of it? What do you need to do
Survey questions I wish I had asked:
How big is your congregation?
How many buildings do you have?
What software do you use to manage your church?