Creating a Frictionless E-commerce Returns Experience
Mission
I personally experience poor UX while returning e-commerce packages and I was excited to find a solution to this problem. People need a streamlined, simplified method for returning their online purchases and tracking refunds from various retailers. I created a mobile app that provides an easy-to-use interface where you can make quick returns in just a few steps.
The Problem
Shopping online is easy and fun, but when it comes time to return unwanted items, the process is no longer so seamless. E-commerce shoppers struggle to complete online returns because it quickly becomes overwhelming. Each store has different policies that you have to abide by, different ways of dropping returns off to various post offices, and different tracking orders. Some stores graciously provide return labels, while others require you to print them out. Printerless provides a solution to this problem by streamlining all of the different processes and eliminating the need to print labels by generating QR codes.
The Process
DISCOVER
User Needs
To understand how to make returns as effective as possible, I first had to focus the reasons why users are struggling with their returns in the first place and why it quickly becomes a stressful and last minute situation. The user needs to: return packages, receive refunds, understand the return policies, remember to actually make the returns, remember which location to drop their returns, reduce the time it takes to make returns, and most importantly have a positive and stress-free shopping experience.
Competitors
To kick off my research, I analyzed the main competitors to help me understand what creative solutions could be implemented and improved for my app. While the competitors offered a lot of useful features, I noticed some gaps that I aimed to fill, with the main one being that none of the competitors offered full scale return solutions.
research
Screener Survey
9 questions, 30 participants, 24 hours
In order to capture the right participants for user interviews, I first conducted a screener survey analyzing the behaviors of 30 potential candidates. I was able to refine my list and narrow down six people who represented my audience.
User Interviews
After six user interviews, I had 3 main takeaways:
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Printing Labels costs time and money
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Reminders about returns would be helpful
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Searching through past emails to find return instructions feels like a lot of work
“If I could get notified that I had a week left to return my package and where to return it, that would be so helpful!”
User Interview
“USPS doesn’t have printers. So I have to first go to a printshop to print the label, pay, and then head to the post office.”
User Interview
"It's a pain to figure out the returns process for each package. Sometimes I get confused about which package I'm returning where."
User Interview
DEFINE
AFFINITY map
While creating my affinity map, I began to recognize some patterns.
User journey map
User persona
Meet Marcy and Shannon
After conducting interviews and understanding the users flow, two key personas emerged. (One), the busy mother with a full time job who shops online for her kids and for herself, and (two), the social millennial who is an avid online shopper and purchases with the intent of returning a portion of her items.
DEVELOP
The Minimum Viable Product:
Printerless will aim to make users feel secure in their return strategy by reminding them when a return window is approaching, eliminating the need to print labels, and tracking their refunds. This will include:
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QR codes in place of printable labels
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Updates on number of days left until return date
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Refund tracker
Information architecture:
Site map and user flows
I designed a user flow to represent the most common red routes that a user would take while interacting with the product.
DELIVER
Low Fidelity wireframes
Mid Fidelity wireframes
USABility testing
I went into the usability testing wanting to know the following:
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Will users be able to sign into the app?
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Will users be able to successfully complete a return or exchange of an online purchase?
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Is the information on the overview page cognitive overload or confusing in any way?
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Can users navigate to the QR code tab and will they know where and when to put it into action?
After conducting usability tests, it was clear that the Overview page needed some iterations. Users wanted a more personalized overview page with details from their previous returns. Instead of having to go to the In Progress tab to view returns in progress, I added that information to the overview page for easy access. This helps users stay on top of their returns.
Visual design
High fidelity wireframes
