Designing for complex customer service in eyewear.
Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash
In this case study
Summary
A local eyewear company* that had begun as an online startup decided to take their service to the next level after years of high growth and opening multiple retail locations. They approached fortyforty labs to map the entirety of their customer experience and identify ways in which they could make radical improvements. One of these avenues for change turned out to be the Point-of-Sales app used by sales staff and opticians; so we set out to redesign it.
*This client work is confidential, limiting some of the work I can display.
My Role
Research
In the research phase, I collaborated with a Senior UX Researcher to execute user research, synthesize insights and make strategic recommendations.
Design
In the design phase, I worked with another UX designer to establish the strategy, functionalities and layout of the new POS app and we joined forces with a UI specialist for the visual layer. I also led presentations and collaborative sessions with the client.
Outcome
Basing themselves on insights from our research, our client launched additional mandates to address specific challenges.
Among these was the redesign of the Point-of-Sales app. The client has recently completed development of the new app and it is currently being deployed across more than thirty stores, after a pilot project period with select retail teams.
They reached out to fortyforty again last year redesign their e-commerce site. The site is currently being developed.
Customer Experience Research
Process
Research Activities
A screenshot taken from a recording of a customer interview for this client.
Retail & Brand
Intercepts and Secret Shopping - We intercepted store customers to obtain spontaneous feedback about their immediate experience. We further evaluated the shopping experience by anonymously visiting stores and placing an order during working hours.
Staff Interviews - We chatted with staff of several stores about issues that surfaced during the purchasing experience - and mapped the flow of typical exchanges between staff and customers.
Large-Scale Survey - We asked past customers for their feedback about the brand, the products themselves and the overall experience of purchasing with our client.
VIP Interviews - We interviewed repeat customers and customers who were top purchasers of specific products to gauge their general eyewear motivations and expectations, brand perception and brand loyalty.
Digital
Analytics - By understanding online user activity such as dropoff and conversion points on the company’s ecommerce site, we were able to get a better understanding of friction points and online barriers to purchase.
Unmoderated Usability Testing - We tested the website with people who had never used it or encountered our client previously, to uncover usability issues, UX pitfalls and first-time customer hesitations.
Customer Support - We sat down with the Customer Support team to review post-purchase problems/frustrations that occur most frequently for customers that have purchased online.
Following research, we communicated our insights with a few key deliverables.
Persona System
Part of our insight synthesis process was surfacing the ways in which customers approach eyewear in general and how this affects the ways in which they interact with our client.
In addition to creating a main persona to reflect the primary customer, we created a modular system that better reflected the diversity of customer behaviours.
Customer Experience Map
This research mandate culminated in the complete mapping of the customer experience across company touchpoints and a summary of challenges and opportunities presented at each stage of their interactions.
Opportunities & Recommendations
By mapping the whole of the customer journey, we were able to identify opportunities where our eyewear client could make significant strides to improve their service and the customer’s overall experience. Along with the map, we delivered strategic recommendations for our client to consider as they planned their next steps.
Strengthen positioning & brand communications
Our client’s brand value was tied to its low prices, which attracted lots of one-off shoppers. We highlighted opportunities to improve communications with the goal of building longer-term customer relationships.
Rethink the e-commerce experience
There were several important conversion obstacles on the website, including parts of the checkout that confused or unintentionally misled customers. We recommended addressing these specifically to facilitate online purchasing.
Improve the post-purchase experience
Lots of customer feedback was related to the clarity and visibility of information once their order was placed. There was often confusion about when orders were expected to be ready or what might be causing delays. We recommended communicating post-purchase information proactively via different channels to maximize reach.
Making customer and staff education a priority
Most customers didn’t know exactly how their prescription and lifestyle could influence their eyewear needs, leading to disappointment when products didn’t line up with their expectations. We emphasized the need for approachable education surrounding vision for customers and staff to avoid misunderstandings and disappointments.
One of the biggest opportunities for improvement was the in-store experience. By observing both customer and staff experiences, we noticed that sales staff struggled to advise customers on their eyewear needs and manage purchases efficiently due to a particular bottleneck: the Point-of-Sales app.
This became our first design mandate.
Product Research & Design
Process
As our initial mandate was focused on broad research, we decided to address the POS app by doing a full design project cycle including another, leaner research and intake phase that was specifically focused on the app.
Detailing in-store service and employee workflows
We mapped customer service from the employee perspective, including staff actions and dialogue, to help us understand when and where the app was (or could be) used.
We also collaborated with the client on a living document that listed the functionalities the iPad currently had, and what it should have moving forward. This document turned into a full- spec document that we delivered at the end of the project.
Summarizing employee challenges
Personas were a reference throughout the project when we needed to consider the roles, tasks and context of the employees for design decisions. These included:
Stylists - who deal with customers most often and have the least amount of vision/eyecare knowledge
Managers - who are responsible for the more complex administrative tasks on top of customer service
Opticians - who are eyecare domain experts and are licensed to perform specific tasks
Designing and testing initial architecture and wireframes
Based on our observations and our interviews with employees and management, we established an initial architecture for the application which we tested with staff using low fidelity wireframes.
Our usability tests focused on validating the sequence and placement of information, as well as making sure new interface sections and labels were understandable for all employees.
Developing visual language & refining flows/logic
While our visual designer worked on establishing a lean and simple visual language, myself and my UX colleague documented flows between various screens of the interface and various navigation and interaction options available at every step.
Key design decisions
While some of the app functionality was recycled from the previous version, we made the decision to include entirely new functionality to address specific challenges with in-store service and eyewear purchasing.
Enabling context switching
We separated features in the app according to two main contexts of use (customer service mode or backstore mode) to better fit employee workflows and mental models and lighten the cognitive load.
Building a customer profile
We addressed a specific bottleneck in the previous app by developing a profile that centralizes all information about any one customer. This lets employees consult all relevant contextual information about a customer when serving them (ex. order history, preference for frames, recommended lens types, etc.)
Managing the order of service
Employees struggled to manage wait times and hand off customers to other team members for different phases of a purchase. To resolve this we proposed a sidebar that could indicate the order in which customers arrived and who served them. We also proposed the ability to enable anonymous customer profiles to collect helpful data.
Creating a custom checkout
We specially designed the app checkout for our client’s in-store sales and ordering process. The checkout took into consideration various standard and non-standard product combinations, dealt with prescriptions and included safety nets to prevent errors while allowing for edge cases and complex situations.
Building inventory management
Although this functionality was not anticipated in the original mandate, our research showed the importance of facilitating the organization of incoming and outgoing merchandise information. This was a particular sticking point for employees who felt they should be able to perform these tasks more quickly so they could focus on service.
Displaying store activity
One of the main challenges in stores was ensuring customer follow-ups across team shifts, especially with part-time employees. We proposed a timeline for individual stores that was a feed of customers served, orders placed and company-wide promos. This made it easier to trace a customer’s purchase and who served them.
Final UI produced by our visual designer
Employee feedback during deployment has so far been very positive
“The new app is way easier to use than the old app; opening orders and viewing customer info like prescriptions and measurements is super convenient and overall the app is faster and more user friendly than the old one.”
“The [search feature] allows clients to use the iPad on their own which is really great for accessibility needs and language barriers.”
“It is a great tool! For product information and having everything at your fingertips, it helps me day to day.”
