To understand how users actually use the platform, we conducted user interviews and usability tests with 2 customers and users of Zara's website. We asked some context questions, some questions about their habits when using Zara's website or other fashion e-commerces, and then gave them some tasks and we talked about them.
To understand how users actually use the platform, we conducted user interviews and usability tests with 2 customers and users of Zara's website. We asked some context questions, some questions about their habits when using Zara's website or other fashion e-commerces, and then gave them some tasks and we talked about them.
Interview questions
- Which apps or websites do you use most?
- How often do you do online shopping?
- What is your usual process of choosing something to buy on Zara's website? How long does it normally take to make that choice?
- What is your biggest issue in choosing something to buy on Zara's website? How do you usually solve this?
- What other eCommerce websites do you normally use? What do you like or dislike most about them?
User interviews results
Name
Profile
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Female, 28, dentist
Whatsapp, Spotify, Instagram
Once a month
She usually opens the website and checks out the latest collection. Then, she either navigates by category or uses the Search bar.
She feels the website is beautiful, but navigation is confusing. Going back and forth (for example, from the product page back to the category) is a big issue.
Amazon, Renner, Dafiti. She doesn't like Amazon's interface that much, but it's easy to navigate. She likes that Dafiti and Renner have a lot of filters for the products.
Female, 55, public servant
Whatsapp, Instagram
Twice a month
Usually opens the website and does a direct search, when she knows what she wants. When she doesn't, she starts by looking at the items on sale and then explores other categories. It usually takes her 30-40 minutes.
She thinks that navigating on the website is hard and has given up on buying a few times because of that. However, she tries to solve the difficulties by using the search bar.
Renner, Constance, Submarino. She likes that they are intuitive, and make it easy to find what she looks for.
- Find a red dress for around R$250 (~ £33 or U$46) that carries your size.
- Add it to your cart twice, like you want one for yourself and one as a gift to someone else.
- Next find a pair of earring that will match (price is up to you).
- Add them to your cart.
- Remove one dress from your cart.
- Checkout.
Usability test results
Name
Profile
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Tasks 4 and 5
Task 6
Notes
Female, 28, dentist
She opened the website and looked in the menu for 'dresses'. She scrolled down a bit but didn't see a red dress, so she went to the filters and chose this specific colour and also selected her size. She scrolled down again, looking at the photos, and saw some options out of the price range. Then she chose a dress and clicked on it to look at the photos and description.
She selected her size and clicked on 'add to basket', then 'go to basket' and from there clicked on '+' to add another one.
From the basket, she didn't know how to go back to the categories. So she clicked on the logo and went back to the home screen, opened the menu and clicked 'accessories'. From the top menu, she chose the 'belts' subcategory. She said the way this menu is presented is confusing because the 'filters' option appears to be part of the menu when it doesn't. Then she scrolled down and selected an option to analyse and looked for the dimensions, but there weren't any. She feels it's important information for many types of products. She then chose a product followed the same previous steps to add it to the cart.
She clicked on 'cart' at the upper right corner and then 'go to basket' to open it. Then she selected '-' to remove one of the dresses.
From her shopping bag, she clicked on 'continue' and entered her login details. Then she chose the delivery option, which was faster than store pick-up and also free, and went to the payment stage.
She noticed that category pages on the website have highlights that don't seem to make sense. There's a featured item and then a description of the product category, which feels odd to her. She said readability for some of the prices on the category page is bad.
Female, 55, public servant
She opened the website, went straight to the search bar and typed in 'red dress'. There were a lot of results, so she tried using filters to select the price closest to the budget. However, there was no such filter, so she filtered by characteristics until she found something she liked and opened the product page. From there, she checked out the photos and description.
She selected her size and clicked on 'add to basket', then 'go to basket' and from there clicked on '+' to add another one.
From the basket, she felt confused on how to go back to the categories. So she clicked on the logo and went back to the home screen, where she spent some time looking for the menu. When she found it, she didn't know how to get to the second level of the menu and felt the categories on the first level were confusing. She gave up and tried searching for 'earrings'. She used the filters again and noticed this time there was a price filter. Then she followed basically the same steps as before to add the product to basket.
She clicked on 'cart' at the upper right corner and then 'go to basket' to open it. Then she selected '-' to remove one of the dresses.
From her shopping bag, she clicked on 'continue' and entered her login details. However, she left a space after her email and the error message was vague, so she looked for some documentation. She felt this was very confusing, so she just tried going back and typing in everything again and this time succeeded. So she chose the delivery option, which was faster than store pick-up and also free, and then went to the payment stage.
From her general impressions and observations, she felt very confused with the menu and said the names of the categories are vague and the grouping does not make sense. She also noted some of the options and text are too small to read.
When clicking on a product, she tried to swipe left to look at the photos, but that changes the product. After a lot of trial and error, she discovered that she needed to swipe up, but the circles that indicate this only appear after you swipe. She also missed some filters options on some product categories.
User interviews results
Name
Profile
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Female, 28, dentist
Whatsapp, Spotify, Instagram
Once a month
She usually opens the website and checks out the latest collection. Then, she either navigates by category or uses the Search bar.
She feels the website is beautiful, but navigation is confusing. Going back and forth (for example, from the product page back to the category) is a big issue.
Amazon, Renner, Dafiti. She doesn't like Amazon's interface that much, but it's easy to navigate. She likes that Dafiti and Renner have a lot of filters for the products.
Female, 55, public servant
Whatsapp, Instagram
Twice a month
Usually opens the website and does a direct search, when she knows what she wants. When she doesn't, she starts by looking at the items on sale and then explores other categories. It usually takes her 30-40 minutes.
She thinks that navigating on the website is hard and has given up on buying a few times because of that. However, she tries to solve the difficulties by using the search bar.
Renner, Constance, Submarino. She likes that they are intuitive, and make it easy to find what she looks for.
Usability test results
Name
Profile
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Task 4 and 5
Task 6
Notes
Female, 28, dentist
She opened the website and looked in the menu for 'dresses'. She scrolled down a bit but didn't see a red dress, so she went to the filters and chose this specific colour and also selected her size. She scrolled down again, looking at the photos, and saw some options out of the price range. Then she chose a dress and clicked on it to look at the photos and description.
She selected her size and clicked on 'add to basket', then 'go to basket' and from there clicked on '+' to add another one.
From the basket, she didn't know how to go back to the categories. So she clicked on the logo and went back to the home screen, opened the menu and clicked 'accessories'. From the top menu, she chose the 'belts' subcategory. She said the way this menu is presented is confusing because the 'filters' option appears to be part of the menu when it doesn't. Then she scrolled down and selected an option to analyse and looked for the dimensions, but there weren't any. She feels it's important information for many types of products. She then chose a product followed the same previous steps to add it to the cart.
She clicked on 'cart' at the upper right corner and then 'go to basket' to open it. Then she selected '-' to remove one of the dresses.
From her shopping bag, she clicked on 'continue' and entered her login details. Then she chose the delivery option, which was faster than store pick-up and also free, and went to the payment stage.
She noticed that category pages on the website have highlights that don't seem to make sense. There's a featured item and then a description of the product category, which feels odd to her. She said readability for some of the prices on the category page is bad.
Female, 55, public servant
She opened the website, went straight to the search bar and typed in 'red dress'. There were a lot of results, so she tried using filters to select the price closest to the budget. However, there was no such filter, so she filtered by characteristics until she found something she liked and opened the product page. From there, she checked out the photos and description.
She selected her size and clicked on 'add to basket', then 'go to basket' and from there clicked on '+' to add another one.
From the basket, she felt confused on how to go back to the categories. So she clicked on the logo and went back to the home screen, where she spent some time looking for the menu. When she found it, she didn't know how to get to the second level of the menu and felt the categories on the first level were confusing. She gave up and tried searching for 'earrings'. She used the filters again and noticed this time there was a price filter. Then she followed basically the same steps as before to add the product to basket.
She clicked on 'cart' at the upper right corner and then 'go to basket' to open it. Then she selected '-' to remove one of the dresses.
From her shopping bag, she clicked on 'continue' and entered her login details. However, she left a space after her email and the error message was vague, so she looked for some documentation. She felt this was very confusing, so she just tried going back and typing in everything again and this time succeeded. So she chose the delivery option, which was faster than store pick-up and also free, and then went to the payment stage.
From her general impressions and observations, she felt very confused with the menu and said the names of the categories are vague and the grouping does not make sense. She also noted some of the options and text are too small to read.
When clicking on a product, she tried to swipe left to look at the photos, but that changes the product. After a lot of trial and error, she discovered that she needed to swipe up, but the circles that indicate this only appear after you swipe. She also missed some filters options on some product categories.
