User Testing — Macy’s Own Your Style Hub
The Design Research Team at Macy’s was created to do pre-kickoff research and information gathering to present to the teams that would be involved in the upcoming project. As a Specialist on the Design Research Team, I had a diverse range of responsibilities: process development, data analytics, competitor research, rapid testing, content audits, wireframes, prototyping, interviews and user testing. Every project brought new challenges and new opportunities. Here are some examples of the types of projects we guided from kick-off to completion.
User Testing synthesis report excerpt
Usertesting.com session clips
OYS Sitelet Hub User Testing
Stakeholders: Marketing & Merchandising
Problem: Initial performance analytics of the new OYS sitelet indicated some customer friction with page design and UI functionality to educate improvements for future refreshes.
Research Methodology: We performed a comprehensive UX test with over 25 users across devices to uncover the specific pain points in the browsing experience, assess findability of hidden content in UI components and capture overall sentiment about the Own Your Style hub and concept.
Solution: Many consistent sticking points arose across the experience like Shop the Look, 3 Ways to Wear It, quick view, and visual comprehension. We were able to partner with design to add additional icons for improved navigation clarity, a rotating carousel for escalated visibility and simplified text.
Prototypes & comments from user testing
OYS: Lefthand Nav vs Sticky Filters
Stakeholders: Site & Merchant Merchandising
Problem: The OYS trend pages featured 5 sticky filters at the top unlike the rest of MCOM browse that offers a full Left Hand Nav. In order to ensure that customers had sufficient filters, we needed to compare them.
Research Methodology: We conducted a remote user test, involving 20 participants across desktop and mobile in a live testing environment. The user response was overwhelmingly in favor of the lefthand nav. However, one unexpected finding was that the editorial and shoppable images were friction points that frustrated the users.
Solution: Our final recommendation was to bypass the editorial IMP Browse pages and link directly to the MCOM Browse pools.