Otto.de Search UX Audit

OVERVIEW

Otto is one of the largest e-commerce vendors in Germany, and a major competitor of Amazon. For this project, they were seeking an external audit of their search UX to better position themselves competitively within the market.

The Challenge

Given that most user experience audits occur during a relatively short period of time, there is a limit to how deep of a dive I am able to do when it comes to understanding the specific needs of a client’s users. Additionally, companies such as Otto have robust design teams that have already invested significant time and resources into their own research. The challenge is often how to provide value to those who know their users and their product better than I do.

KICKing THINGS Off

I begin these types of engagements with a series of working sessions with both leadership and the broader design and research teams. We are often brought in by leadership to get an outside perspective, but I want to begin with an understanding of where these teams are in the design process, and more importantly where they feel they can benefit from another perspective.

It is important to acknowledge and anticipate the potential for tension with a team that likely did not request or want outside help. I use these sessions to mitigate this by seeking to understand the teams, their concerns, and present my work as a chance to validate and reinforce some design decisions and challenge others with a new perspective. Communication at this stage is critical to fostering a productive environment that is mutually beneficial.

Research Phase

At this point, I have an understanding of potential pain points from both leadership and the design team. This will serve as an important perspective through the research, but it is also important to approach this process from my own perspective and ensure there is focus on user needs.

From here, I undertake a deep dive into the metrics, reviewing search query logs and other metrics to identify potential problem areas. This quantitative data will serve as a basis to guide me in developing customer scenarios to utilize in my testing.

Heuristic evaluation

Since the timeline did not allow for actual usability testing with customers, I focused my efforts on heuristic and competitive analysis. Using industry best practices, I was able to identify a number of potential issues as a starting point for further research. Heuristics offer a good indication of an area for improvement, but understanding and factoring in the context of why certain decisions were made is important to deliver relevant and actionable findings.

Following the initial heuristic evaluation, I worked with the design team to review initial findings and iterate on potential recommendations based on prior research and additional contextual data.

Outcome

At the completion of the audit, I was able to deliver a final report that included both validation of some of the existing design decisions as well as potential areas for improvement. Working with the design team as partners, I was able to incorporate their thinking and rationale on decisions made, thus delivering a more complete view of their current state versus primary competitors.

Ultimately, I was able to deliver a final report of 25 specific recommendations for improvement, with the buy-in of the design team, many of which I believe will be further evaluated for future inclusion in the application.