E-commerce Global Header Research

Overview:

Best Buy was interested in redesigning and reorganizing features on its global header. Before any changes were made, we wanted to assess the current state of the header.

Key Goals:

Evaluate the usability of the website header, including menu navigation
Compare other retailers’ global headers to understand the competitive landscape

My Role:

I led the research for the global header. The research plan included three phases of research, which addressed the global header from three different methodological viewpoints. I also supervised an assistant researcher who contributed to this project.

What I did:

Analyzed 6 competitors’ websites

Ran 12 targeted usability tests on mobile & desktop views

Collected data from over 90 users

Conducted 5 card sorts with a total of 200 cards

I worked out project plans with project managers and assistants.

I analyzed the aggregate card sort data.

I used UserTesting.com to create focused usability tests.

Business Impacts:

The research on the global header provided a baseline for the current state of the global header and provided a foundation for the future changes on the header going forward.

Research also uncovered some key trouble spots in both the navigation and layout that caused users difficulties. With the findings from the research, we convinced leadership to move forward on specific website changes.

Outcomes & Assets:

Because the global header is such an essential part of the website, I wanted to make sure that the documents provided to the product and design teams would be useful and accessible. I opted for multiple small ongoing research briefs in addition to a large final report to communicate findings. Some of the assets I created were:

Cumulative research report that combined all data
Weekly research update reports
Card sort analysis report
Competitive analysis report

Project Challenges:

A challenge for this project was trying to figure out the best way to capture usability for a feature that is omnipresent but used for only 3 – 5 seconds at a time.

Because of the challenges associated with doing usability testing on the header, I opted to do several short-targeted tests with each focused on a different area of the header.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse