Empathize
Research allows me to understand users' goals, frustrations, and hopes; and integrate these with the brand's missions and values.
Research Goals
- Discover users' frustrations and expectations within the current website
- Learn about users' motivations and journeys when visiting the website
- Discover commonalities across users who purchase luxury products
- Discover Chanel's goals and core values
Methodologies
- Primary Research (Interviews, Surveys)
- Secondary Research (UX Audit, Brand Research)
Brief Recognition of Possible Research Issues
There is a wide variety of shopper personalities when it comes to luxury purchases. I will not be able to correctly represent all of them without direct access to company data.
Brand Research
Since Chanel is different than most shopping brands being luxury, I wanted to learn more about Chanel's mission and their goals as a brand so I could make revisions while keeping their mission in mind.
About Chanel
Chanel has been around for over a century and is considered one of the world’s most luxury brands. According to Kantar Brands, Chanel comes 3rd behind Louis Vuitton (1) and Hermes (2).
Chanel's Competitors
Researching into competitors of Chanel allowed me to gain insight on luxury presentation and commonalities across luxury brands. I found that Jean Paul Gaulthier and Dior both had Haute Couture sections, so I noted this may be important for fashion brands.
Vision Statement
- Timeless and sophisticated
- Fashion to be functional
- Simplicity over opulence
- Fashion is not gender focused, and can be manipulated and molded to break through gender boundaries
Site Map
I created a sitemap to get a better grasp on the navigation of the website. I also noted repetition and commonalities across the tabs to organize the website structure.
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UX Audit
User Surveys
Given to 15 participants, the survey helped me get an overview of the user journey of shoppers and how they categorize certain things when shopping for luxury items.
Key Findings
Of these 15 participants, containing a mix of frequent buyers, occasional shoppers, and browsers, it was found that:
Over half of the buyers typically just browse when shopping for a luxury item
Most agree that Chanel is popular for their bags, fragrance, and jewelry and have/know someone with these items
Over 50% of the participants agreed that fine jewelry, watches, costume jewelry, handbags, eyewear, and small leather goods are considered accessories
Conclusion
Through these statistics, it's found that bags, fragrance, and jewelry are the most popular and sought for products from Chanel. While two of these fall into an accessory, because of their popularity, they should have their own section.
User Interviews
I interviewed 5 participants who have experience online shopping to better understand their thought process while browsing the website. I gave each participant 6 tasks and had them say their thoughts out loud as they navigated the page.
Key Findings
- Many users became frustrated and resorted to the search button
- Most users had trouble looking for items that fell under the fashion category
- Most users could not navigate the pages after pressing on their desired category
- It took longer than necessary looking for the services Chanel has to offer
Synthesize
Based on the results of my research, I put together some key problems to focus on that were reoccuring amongst users.
Key Problems
Many important categories were found under the "Fashion" tab which many users took a while to find
Display of pages (such as clothings and handbag pages) were difficult to browse
- Users had difficulty finding items on these pages
Focusing on Chanel's Brand
I wanted to focus on integrating my user findings with the brand's core values. Due to the brand being luxury and having values catered to a specific audience, I aimed to retain the brand's mission while making revisions.
Design
Sitemap Revision
I decided to rearrange the sitemap for easier navigation. Some of the main decisions I made were:
- Keeping "Haute Couture" for its significance in luxury fashion
- Combining high jewelry, costume jewelry, and fine jewelry under a general "Jewelry" section
- Giving handbags its own section as my users agreed that this was the most popular product
- Arranging items into an accessory section
Revised Sitemap
Category Page for Handbags
Reflections
I believe the bulk of this project helped me improve my research and integration skills. Although I did not have direct access to company data and customers, I was able to compensate by discovering as much about the brand as possible so I could represent them better.
