Problem Statement
People want to purchase handmade clothing and accessories from individuals and small businesses in order to be more sustainable and get unique pieces, but struggle to find an application that accumulates solely handmade sellers
Statistical Research
Interviews
Competitor Review
Value Proposition Canvas
Personas
User Journey Map
Opportunity-Solution Tree
User Story Map
User Stories
Site Map
User Flows
Wireframes
Visual Research
User Testing
Statistical Research & Interviews
Pain Points Identified
People say they would purchase handmade items more often if they were more easily available
There isn’t currently a go-to space for to find handmade sellers
Existing spaces that might offer handmade items as part of their service have issues with large companies and drop shippers posing as small businesses leading to users now struggling to trust them
Importance of clothes fitting was emphasised, and how this can prevent people from purchasing items online due to the hassle of returning.
The largest deterrent from purchasing handmade clothing is the price
Summary of statistical research & interview insights
Competitor Analysis
Pain Points Identified
Depop like system is an endless scroll with no way to categorise
You have to go into your likes and select each liked item individually in order to unlike them (time consuming)
Etsy users want to be able to customise their shop front
Summary of key competitor insights
User Journey Map
Awkwardness of messaging sellers, not knowing what to say, and negotiating prices for handmade items
Pain Points Identified
User Journey Map
Personas
I created 3 buyer personas and 1 seller persona for this project based on the insights I had gained through my research
Personas
Pain points:
Initial pain points I aim to relive with my app
1. Users find the messaging experience to be awkward and difficult to approach
2. Users emphasised the importance of clothes fitting and how this can deter them from ordering online
3. Users named price to be the largest deterrent in purchasing handmade clothing
4. Competitor applications have an endless scroll of liked items and users have to go into each item individually to unlike
User research also revealed an unexpected but interesting pain point:
Opportunity-Solution Tree
Using the discovered pain points from my research I then created an opportunity-solution tree to start considering how to approach solving each of these
User Story Map
I translated these opportunities into features and organised then created a user story map, with the first row being the MVP
User Flow
Wireframes: Low Fidelity
Created in Figma
How I tackled each of the pain points in my app
1. Users find the messaging experience to be awkward and difficult to approach
I addressed this pain point by creating a message suggestion system that would recommend a first message to send the seller, and continue recommending messages throughout the discussion. Initially I thought these messages would be generated and adjusted based on data from the app with frequently asked questions and what messages lead most successfully to sales. Though through user testing, the idea for the message suggestions being able to be pre-filled by sellers with their own FAQs if they would like, and then auto-generated onwards would be a potential extra feature to add.
To address the pain point of negotiating I considered also including an offer system on the app that requires no messaging, this would’ve been in the next design iteration.
2. Users emphasised the importance of clothes fitting and how this can deter them from ordering online
I included an option in the settings to enter your measurements into the app so that, with permission, they could be automatically sent to the seller upon ordering a handmade item.
3. Users named price to be the largest deterrent in purchasing handmade clothing
I included a search filter that would display the average prices for the item you’ve searched, and where you can also set the max price. Being able to see the average price for an item would help the buyer to feel confident that they’re getting a fair price for the item they’re purchasing.
4. Competitor applications have an endless scroll of liked items and users have to go into each item individually to unlike
I added a feature in my favourites tab where you can name and create collections out of your liked items, you can also delete the whole collection and all the items inside of it once you've purchased the one you want and no longer need similar items in your favourites.
5. Searching for gifts effecting users personal recommendations
To fix the issue of gift searches effecting your For You, or not wanting searching for one particular item to change your whole recommended tab, I created a feature called Search Spaces. You can create, name and search within a Space and then will get tailored recommendations on your home page for each of these Spaces. Your search history for each Space will live within the Space, and once you’re done with it you can delete the space to no longer receive recommendations for those types of items.
For example, you can search for earrings for a friend (let’s call her Jas) for her birthday, under a Space you’ve named ‘Jas Bday’, and earrings won’t start appearing in your For You, but you will get tailored recommendations just for Jas on your home page, that will adjust with each search within that Space.
Changes to consider in the future (discovered through user testing)
Search Spaces having it’s own section in the app or bottom bar, to scroll through recommendations for each and edit/delete within that section
Message suggestions being able to be pre-filled by sellers with FAQs if they would like, and then auto-generated onwards
Recent searches and ‘For You <3’ being renamed to clarify they are searches outside of a Space
Develop an offer based system so users don't have to communicate through messages to further solve the pain point of not being comfortable with negotiating prices
Being able to tag your items to help refine searches
Add the ability to customise your shop front, an idea that formed from feedback during competitor analysis for Etsy
Be able to pay for profile boosting and extra features on the app so there are no buyer/seller fees (a feature that is deterring users from Depop, as discovered through interviews and competitor analysis)
Sofia Durnford
Portfolio