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Boosting shoppers' confidence in their decisions to drive higher conversion rates.
INTRODUCTION
House2Home is an e-commerce site specializing in home decor and accessories, with surveys indicating that a large number of their customers have recently moved into new homes.
PROBLEM
House2Home customers lack confidence when purchasing multiple decor items for their new space, resulting in lower conversion rates.
SOLUTION
House2Home sees a valuable prospect in offering home decor "starter kits" that enable customers to effortlessly style their new space.
MY ROLE
UX designer | Researcher
PROJECT TYPE
Design sprint
5 days
PROJECT DURATION
READ TIME
5 Mins
OPPURTUNITY
How might we empower customers to make confident decor choices for their new home with House2Home's "starter kit" items?
To address this, I conducted a five-day Design Sprint using the GV (Google Ventures) methodology.
MY HYPOTHESIS
Offering starter kits would improve conversion rates by reducing cart abandonment and maximizing the chances of turning website visitors into paying customers.
MONDAY (Understand)
Digging into previous research
Company research provided by House2Home included customer surveys and interview notes.
To fully understand the problem, I used these to craft the user persona: Rabecca
Rabecca | 24 years old | lives in Chicago
Behaviour
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Recent college graduate
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First studio apartment
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Excited to decorate
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Researches on Pinterest
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Overwhelmed by shopping
Frustrations
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Knows desired "looks"
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Unsure of what to buy
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Likes items but unsure if they’ll match
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Hesitant to buy without certainty
Goals
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Wants a quick apartment facelift
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Doesn’t want to shop for many items
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Seeks few items on a budget to achieve the look
Focusing on solving Rabecca's pain points, it became clear that House2Home's proposed "starter kits" would help her achieve her goal of getting professional interior design assistance.
Journey Map
In order to visualize a journey to take Rabecca to her goal I created a task map
TUESDAY (Sketch)
Focusing on the solutions
I spent the second day seeking inspiration through lightning demos, brainstormed solutions via Crazy 8s, and sketched out possible solutions.
HOUZZ
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Good display of organizing categories and filters on one page.
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Displays photos with tagged items for quick view options.
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Product page lists several individual items with options and pricing along the bottom for easy view, but does not have a bundle or budget option.
HUTCH
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Transforms your space with expert redesigns.
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Users upload photos of their space, and within 24 hours, Hutch provides a customized design by a professional interior designer.
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The app offers a seamless shopping experience where users can purchase the furniture and decor items used in their design.
HOME DESIGN 3D
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Home Design 3D allows users to decorate their space using realistic 3D graphics.
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The app provides a perfect bridge between design ideas and visualization, helping users bring their concepts to life.
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Users can create and customize their interiors with ease, seeing real-time changes in a 3D environment.
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A tutorial is available to help users get started and make the most of the app's features.
Home Design 3D Screen
Users can arrange furniture in a virtual room using a 3D tool.
Sketching Different Examples
( Crazy 8's)
Based on my user journey map, I identified the critical steps as highlighting the "Shop Starter Kits CTA" and showcasing products in virtual room setups to help users visualize items in context. I then used the Crazy 8s method to brainstorm 8 design variations.
Why I chose this solution ?
Placing the "Starter Kit" option next to sales and new products captures users' attention and offers a dedicated section that clearly explains what a starter kit is.
Crazy *8's to highlight Starter kits on the website
Why I chose this solution ?
Allowing users to select different virtual rooms shows how products look in various settings beyond just their space.
Also allowing users to place individual items from the kit offers more flexibility.
Crazy *8's to showcase products in virtual room
WEDNESDAY(Decide)
Deciding on the conversion task flow
After choosing the critical screens to base my design around, I finally began narrowing down the task flow by hand to visualize the entire conversion process beginning to end.
The taskflow I chose would allow users to:
→ Answer questions about their space to view kits based on the answers, or opt to skip.
→ Browse through various "starter kits" or filter options such as style, color, room size, and price range to
narrow down choices.
→ Click on the starter kit and view products in the virtual room or add them to your cart.
1. Landing page
2. Questionare
3. Starter kits collection
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4. Product page
5. Virtual room
6. Add to cart
End of converstion
THURSDAY(Prototype)
Designing in High Fi
I transferred my ideas directly into high fidelity, finalizing my screen iterations below.
Landing Page
Clear call to action button
The Starter Kit is placed with New Arrivals and Sales for easy access and to highlight key offerings.
Questionare
The questionnaire helps us offer personalized decor recommendations.
Starter kits
To make it easier for Rebecca, our user persona, to find the perfect kit, I added a filter option in addition to the questionnaire. This feature streamlines the process, cutting through the overwhelm of endless online choices!
Product page
The items included in the
bohemian style starter kit is on display in an elegant product image
Customers can choose to purchase individual items from the starter kit
A consistent button design helps users identify CTA here
Virtual room
Step into our virtual room and choose a setup that suits your space! Add curated items from the starter kit to envision how they’ll look in their own space
Three distinct virtual rooms displayed, each featuring a unique design and size.
Checkout
FRIDAY(Test)
User Testing
I conducted virtual moderated usability testing with Springboard UX designers, gathering feedback on my prototype. After making UI updates, I interviewed people at a local Panera, where the UI received positive feedback, but valuable UX issues were identified.
"Answering questions at the beginning, customized the whole products page as per my liking. It is a time saver for sure" - Jennifer ( participant)
The top issues identified by the users
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Uncertainty about whether users can alter their preferences later.
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Confusion about whether individual products can be purchased from the kit
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Lack of clarity on what actions to take when first entering the virtual room.
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Users also wanted an option to move thing around the virtual room.
To address these issues I would:
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I’d add a prompt with the "skip" option, letting users know they can change their reference later in settings.
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Use hover text to clarify if the item can be bought individually, or add "Can be bought individually" next to "Kit includes."
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Display a clear introduction screen that provides an overview of the next steps or a brief tutorial on how to navigate the room.
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Increase interactivity in the virtual room by allowing users to organize items based on their preferences.
Key Take away's
• Contextualizing the Home Kits in detail is essential for the user
• Don’t sacrifice clarity for aesthetic design. Remain usable first and foremost!
Learnings
After completing my first Google Spring project in 5 days, I’ve learned to trust my instincts and value small victories. I realized that due to time and engineering constraints, creating the perfect product wasn’t possible. Prioritizing tasks and managing time was key, and I’m proud to have delivered an MVP that met expectations.