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Nordstrom Usability Study

Participants' perception on the 'Currently Loving' Carousel and User Generated Content

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Our Client & Collaborators


Nordstrom Homepage & Styling UX Research and Design Teams​
Nordstrom-logo.png

Project Overview

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We set out to understand the value of User Generated Content (UGC) and the relevancy of the 'Currently Loving' section on Nordstrom.com's homepage.​

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Roles & Responsibilities

 

As Team Lead and UX Researcher, I conducted the following: â€‹

  • Managed ongoing progress with project deliverables

  • Managed ongoing communication and collaboration with the client

  • Collaborated and developed usability session goals, scripts, and tasks

  • Recruited usability session participants

  • Conducted data analysis

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Duration

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3 Months

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Deliverables

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A Usability Study Kit that can be used by the Nordstrom Stylists and Homepage UX Designers.

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Team

 

Project was completed in a team of 4 in partnership with Nordstrom's UX Researchers and in association with the University of Washington department of Human Centered Design and Engineering.​

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Tools & Software

 

Figjam, Google Docs, Zoom, Nordstrom.com​

Project Process

Define

Introduction to Currently Loving 

Research Questions

Methodology

Usability Sessions

Summary of key takeaways and recommendations​

Severity Ratings

Successes

What went well

Opportunities

The Value of User Generated Content (UGC) 

Discoverability

Transparency

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Impact

Study Impact

Next Steps

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What is 'Currently Loving'?

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Nordstrom.com features a carousel that showcases Instagram posts that have tagged items linked to its product page. This feature is intended to continually understand the value of UGC on customers' shopping behavior, as well as understand how they would want to interact with this type of content.

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Enlarged image of the Currently Loving carousel from Nordstrom.com. Pictured are four Instagram images of women in Nordstrom apparel. On each side of the images are white arrows.

Research Questions

1. What’s the value of user generated content (UGC) on customers’ shopping behavior?

2. What are strengths and weaknesses of the current presentation of the 'Currently Loving' section?

3. What opportunities are there to make the ‘Currently Loving’ section more valuable to the customer in their shopping journey?

4. How do participants report the ‘Currently Loving’ section affects their interest in purchasing?

5. How much do customers trust the UGC in the ‘Currently Loving’ section?

6. What is the perceived relationship between the initial Instagram post and the product page?

7. Are participants able to locate all products on a single post and add them to their bag?

8. Are participants able to use the carousel easily?

Methodology

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6​ Usability Sessions

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Each session was a remote moderated 60 minute interview and usability test via Zoom. Participants were recruited using a screener survey. In order to be selected as a participant, the user had to have some, if not all of the following characteristics:

  • A desire to seek inspiration when shopping for looks.

  • Is familiar with User Generated Content, such as social media posts. 

  • Wants to shop for cohesive looks with ease of access. 

  • Is familiar with shopping online for clothing and accessory items.

  • Likely uses Instagram or similar platforms at least once a week. Preferably, participants use these platforms to follow people and/or brands, and/or browse for clothing/accessory inspiration.

Summary​

 

Key Takeaways

  • The relatability of UGC is important to participants and can affect if they decide to purchase a product or not

  • Participants were not able to discover the ‘Currently Loving’ carousel on their own

  • Participants wanted more transparency on the carousel posts about the products

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Recommendations

  • Consider showing less curated, more relatable and casual UGC to encourage interactions with customers

  • Consider alternate placement of the ‘Currently Loving’ section to increase engagement

  • Consider including more information about the product on the carousel post (ie. out of stock info, price, option to see similar items)

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Severity Ratings

All findings are defined with a severity rating from the following table. The following aligns with severity criteria used internally at Nordstrom. 

The severity rating levels are defined as: 

HIGH

Prevents completion of task 

MEDIUM

Could cause significant delay, frustration, or added task time

LOW

Has minor effect on usability/user experience

OPPORTUNITY

Points to future enhancements

Image of a Currently Loving Instagram post. Image shows a woman in a black baseball hat and a camel long coat. There are circled numbers on each clothing item and item descriptions on the right side of the photo.

Findings & Recommendations

From our usability studies, we compiled repeated themes that our participants noted or exhibited. The following sections include findings, recommendations, and supporting information.

Successes

Opportunities

Background image of close up of Instagram posts in a carousel
The Value of User Generated Content (UGC) 

Participants value UGC and it may persuade them to purchase a product

OPPORTUNITY

General Findings

  • Participants valued seeing products styled on both models (editorial) and from UGC 

  • UGC presented in the 'Currently Loving' carousel is more relatable because it features “normal” body types

    • However, it still felt staged/curated

  • Participants are more likely to purchase a product if they see it on someone they respect

  • Participants placed a heavy emphasis on product reviews 

  • All female, 5 out of 6, participants noted that UGC has convinced them to purchase an item

  • 4 out of 6 participants noted it would be nice to see more “Real people’s” posts and that the carousel appeared curated, sometimes on the verge of looking like an ad

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“Seeing it on someone else or someone you respect will make me more interested in buying it.” - P3

Recommendation

Participants put a strong emphasis on relatability and the desire to see themselves within UGC. The more they can relate to user-generated-content, the more likely they are to consider purchasing a product. Our recommendation is to show less curated, more relatable UGC to encourage interactions with customers.

Background imahe of the top featured image on the Nordstrom website that says Spring 2023 Look
Discoverability

6 out of 6 participants did not discover the Currently Loving section, when asked to explore the Homepage

MEDIUM

General Findings

  • 6 out of 6 participants did not discover the 'Currently Loving' section when asked to look for inspiration and places where people put their outfits together. Instead, participants clicked on a tab at the top that they identified with (ie, Women, Men, Young Adult) [A] to start their search. 

  • 2 out of 6 participants noted that they would have wanted it closer to the top to see what's trending

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“[When asked how easy it was to find the Currently Loving section] Somewhat easy but mostly because I was given the title to look for it” -P2

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“[Referring to seeking inspiration for a brunch look] I would honestly go up to find by department primarily…I’m bigger, so I would go to the plus-size section to know that it is in my size.” - P2

Nordstrom Homepage with a red box around the top navigation bar that includes Women, Men, Kids, Young Adult tabs

A

Recommendation

Consider incorporating the Currently Loving section or tagged Instagram posts into pages within each department, rather than only on the homepage. 

Background image of black sandals
Transparency / Product Inventory Accuracy

Participants wished there was more information on the post modal, such as price, color options, or if it was out of stock.

MEDIUM

General Findings

  • 2 out of 6 participants discovered the item on the model did not match the item in the post [A]

  • 3 out of 6 participants discovered that the item shown in the post did not match the item in the product details page [B]

  • 4 out of 6 participants found items out of stock when clicking into the product details page [C]

  • 4 out of 6 participants noted that they would resort to Googling a product when an item was out of stock and/or not sold by Nordstrom [D]

A

B

C

D

“This scarf is not the same as this scarf. I think that’s one thing I don’t like about the goals of these things. I clicked into the scarf to get the exact one on the model”  - P5

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​“There’s probably a million different gold hoop earrings, just show me a pair that’s not sold out.” - P3

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“If my heart was really set on something, I would like to know when it would be back in stock so I can buy it later” - P4

Recommendations

  • Provide suggestions for similar items when items are out of stock or not sold by Nordstrom

  • Provide notification features for customers when items are back in stock ​

  • Keep the  posts up to date in tandem with current inventory

    • 3 out of 6 participants would have liked to know that an item was out of stock before they clicked into the product details page.  

    • 2 out of 6 participants noted that they would have liked to know the price of an item before they clicked into the product details page. 

    • 2 out of 6 participants noted that they would have wanted sold out items removed from a post, instead of leading them to a sold out product page

Impact
Stakeholders were receptive to recommendations and are excited to implement the findings 
Study Impact

The findings and recommendations were presented to Nordstrom's Styling, Homepage, and Research teams. 

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Stakeholders expressed that they were excited to make improvements and that the findings presented will benefit upcoming projects. Our team intends to check back in with our client after some time is given to testing out the recommendations. 

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Background image of a model in an oversized shirt outfit
Next Steps / Reflection

 

More Research to Inform Decisions​

OPPORTUNITY

Next Steps and Areas to Further Research

  • Understand where the ‘Currently Loving’ content can be of most use and value to the customer

  • 1 out of 6 participants exhibited finding inspiration in how a product was styled on a model in its product details page. We observed her take a decent amount of time to search for items that matched what the model was wearing. So in this scenario, having the tagged feature from the currently loving post may have helped her find what she was looking for more efficiently.

    • Research how strengths of the ‘Currently Loving’ posts can expand past this feature and be of value in other areas of the site, such as on a product’s page

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"I really like how this model is wearing it, so I think I would feel inspired to kind of wear it similar to how the model is wearing it." - P5
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