Does implementing changes recommended as a result of a UX Audit always mean a site overhaul? “It depends” is the first answer that pops into our heads. However, the case we’re about to describe shows that “not always” is an equally valid answer.
Ok, but what does it mean in practice?
Effective e-commerce implementation will not always require significant time and effort. After performing our UX Audits we often recommend changes that require low- or even minimum-effort to implement, yet going through with them may result in significant improvements in performance.
The case in question was chock-full of such low hanging fruits. Thanks to our recommendations, which involved optimizing or adding certain elements to the store, the client reported a 20% increase in the number of sessions ending in transactions!
What kind of audit did we conduct? Why did we choose it? What did we find? Read on to find out 😉
Picking the right kind of audit for each client
Depending on the desired outcome on the site, we conduct one of three kinds of audits: cognitive walkthrough, heuristic audit or a checklist.
We’ve checked the client domain, dealing with sports articles, against the checklist designed by the Baymard Institute. Only 140 certified specialists around the world have access to it - including us.
The checklist-based UX Audit is a method we’ve tried time and again, recommended mostly to e-commerce clients.
What did we check against the checklist?
The Baymard Institute checklist is composed of close to 700 elements! It allows us to perform a thorough check of the following elements of an online store:
- Homepage,
- Product categories,
- Navigation,
- Checkout,
- Shopping cart,
- Product pages,
- Mobile site.
Based on our analysis of the above elements, we’ve provided precise recommendations, whose implementation would bring quick improvements to sales results.
Changes required - nav bar
- Home page present in the menu
Changes required - product pages
- No delivery time information, e.g. “48h delivery”
- No “Free delivery in Poland” information next to the “Add to Cart” button
- Lack of a separate “Recommendations” / “See Also” section with similar products on offer
- No information on savings for products on sale, e.g. “You can save x”
- No section with customer opinions
- No section with photos of users with the products e.g. “Tag us on Instagram #clientname”
Changes required - product pages for out of stock products
Another aspect that would have a significant impact on the results was information on out of stock products. Therefore, we recommended:
- Adding the option of signing up for an email notification once the sold out product is back in stock
- Adding a new order option: the option to order an out of stock product by prolonging the delivery time and informing the user about it, e.g. “We’ll send your order within 4 weeks”
Changes required - footer
While browsing the page with the checklist in hand, we’ve also found improvements to be made to the store’s footer.
Adding available alternative payment methods (Blik, PayPal, etc.) to the footer might sway users who are wary of providing their sensitive card information.
Results of implementing our recommendations
An approx. 20% increase in the number of sessions resulting in a transaction. This is a very large spike, as the number of purchases went up by a fifth, without changes to the amount of traffic being directed to the site.
Initially, 1.36% of all sessions resulted in users adding a product to cart. After implementing our changes, that number went up to 2.49%.
Is there anything else left to fix?
Most definitely! After our changes were introduced, we noticed a dip in the number of sessions with checkout. Before it was 73%, after they fell to 65.97%.
So, did our recommendations hurt the client?
Absolutely not! The decrease in sessions with checkout was a result of an un-optimized cart. During our analysis, the client was yet to implement our recommendations for improving the shopping cart.
To ensure that our recommendations were sound, we planned another check, 2-3 weeks after all the recommendations will have been implemented.
