AUGUST 2023
Parachute Home ‘Pair With’ Project
Synopsis: Parachute Home, a luxury soft-goods e-commerce business (best known for its bedding and bath products) is looking for a small but mighty update to their product detail pages (PDPs) to lift the average order value of online shoppers. After a year of customer insight at a Parachute Home location in Nashville, TN, I propose a new step in the user journey: to offer a suggestion.
When working with a customer in-person, I can recommend related products to complete an order. Digitally, I introduce a creative way to personalize the user experience by proposing:
“The product you’re currently viewing ‘pairs with’ this other related product.”
Following rounds of stakeholder feedback & engineer presentations, this final iteration is currently in development with the team and offers the potential to increase sales while advocating for the user.
Chapter 1: Empathize & Define
I conducted a broad investigation to identify a wide range of user problems and wanted to understand the current user experience in order to identify the needs of our users. The following customer insights were the result of a thorough usability study posing open prompts like, “You’re in the market for a new set of sheets, add a complete set of bedding to your cart.” Users were encouraged to narrate their journey.
The most common responses can be summarized into 4 categories:
Navigation
Users find roadblocks in the information architecture & filter functionality.
Terminology
Some users feel discouraged when presented with industry jargon they aren’t familiar with.
Building their Cart
Users want the ability to build out their cart quicker and with more efficiency.
Product Information
Users want to know about the range of products offered and often need more information.
When considering business impact, I zeroed in on “how can you build a cart with more efficiency?” When users were asked follow up questions, I heard the following responses:
“I just wish I could easily add a pillow insert for this pillow cover.”
“I had no idea Parachute sold utility protectors.”
“It could be easier to sell more products as sets.”
“I want to see more products to see what matches.”
How might we help users find related products easier?
How might we present products users might not know we offer?
How might we ensure users the ability to build out a cart quicker?
IN CONCLUSION:
Chapter 2: Ideation
Using the above questions, I grabbed a pen and paper to quickly sketch out some initial ideas.
Idea 1: Quick Add Functionality
Pro: The user would have an opportunity to add a product straight from a category page without having to visit the PDP.
Con: This project would require a lot of time and effort to develop.
Idea 2: Frequently Bought Together
Pro: The user would be able to add pairs of products to their cart quickly and with confidence based on other customer behavior.
Con: This project would require extra research and doesn’t account for size/color customization.
Idea 3: Suggest Related Product
Pro: Users have the opportunity to add a suggested item to their cart during their shopping experience.
Con: None?
This last idea seemed to have some great potential. When considering the idea of suggesting another product, I shift into my merchandising brain- a user should be able to add a pillow insert to their order when purchasing a pillow cover, and think of how the business could be impacted if we offered a pair of matching slippers while a user is shopping for a robe…
In addition to personalizing the shopping experience, preliminary data showed a strong growth probability in suggesting a related product.
Chapter 3: Project Scope & Design Requirements
Task: Design a module for PDP to offer a suggestion.
Specs: This module must live inside the main user flow and must be customizable to work with multiple types of products.
Understanding the Current PDP User Flow:
Project Requirements: Module Title, Product Title, Product Image, Price, Variant Selectors (size and/or color), Product Description.
Pairing Examples: Duvet Insert + Duvet Protector, Quilt + Matching Shams, etc.
Chapter 4: Digital Mock-Ups
In this digital mock up you see the proposed functionality of this module- as a user shops for a quilt, they are presented with the option to add on the matching sham set. The user selects the check box to learn more and to choose their variations.
‘PAIR WITH’ MODULE in mobile view
‘PAIR WITH’ MODULE in desktop view
Chapter 5: Design Specificiations
Chapter 7: Final Iteration
Chapter 8: Testing
