Current Behavior
No visibility to system's real-time status for task processing and decisions
Higher learning cost for new users, undermining conversion
Task processing heavily relies on user's memory
* Tools involved includes: HotJar, Google Analytics, user interviews, etc.
Our research and ideation based on the features and user behavior showed that all tasks on the platform can be concluded as the DER model (Discover, Explore, Resolve). Helping users with the discover part becomes our north star when designing the home page.
Preview a specific function’s status update
Discover more details about the function’s update
Take action or make decision based on the info acquired
Samantha is a subject matter expert who has more than 20 years of experience in e-commerce, running an agency that takes charge of 30+ client's online store. We conducted an interview with her to understand what user needs from a homepage on a e-commerce platform. Takeaways were documented after a 1-hour session with Samantha.
We started by conducting competitive audit over dashboard or homepage on several major seller platforms, focusing on 3 key major competitors: Etsy, Magento, and Shopify; each of them features user groups with distinct needs and proficiency levels.
User expertise
Engagement
Conversion
Summary
Etsy features light-weight, clear action items and ample suggestions.
User expertise
Engagement
Conversion
Summary
Magento's homepage offers clear key data entry points, guiding users to explore further for critical decision-making.
User expertise
Engagement
Conversion
Summary
Shopify's homepage tends to offer basic functionalities and push-type messages, catering to its diverse user base.
* Only key insights are shown for simplicity & confidentiality
We conducted SWOT analysis on major competitor's product and several product prototypes we came up with by combining partial features from multiple products together. From such analysis, we found out features that are must-do, good-to-have, and with potential threats.
Must Do
Features that are industrial-standard or validated in research
Clear action items
Key data insights
Opportunities
Potential opportunities that makes the experience better
Customization for flexibility
Coherent task processing
Potential Threats
Features that are seen in other products nevertheless cause harms
Excessive promotional content
Obscure information hierarchy
Widgets on Home Page
We found out all tasks, panels, insights and suggestions across the platform and curated bunches of widgets that will show up on the home page. These widgets would provide user with visibility for statuses across their platform and lead to decisions and acknowledgement.
Excsell has three main roles of users to serve: affiliate who sells and promote for dropshippers on Excsell, seller who both sells for dropshippers and their own inventory, and suppliers who are the vendors that use Excsell to outsource sellers and expand their sales channels.
The Affiliate, M, 27
An affiliate with a non-primary business; no inventory, only affiliates for suppliers. He is operating a tech-related social media and occasionally selling products.
The Seller, F, 33
A seller who both sells for Excsell suppliers and her own inventory, managing private shopping groups, specializing in snacks and lifestyle goods.
Jackie
The Supplier, F, 36
A dropshipper on Excsell who earns by affiliates and seller who sells for her. She is an importer with a broad range of products, dealing with many affiliates.
* Only lite persona is shown for simplicity
We placed flexibility and handholding on a spectrum, with handholding on the left and flexibility on the right. Sellers and affiliates prefer more handholding for a hassle-free experience, while suppliers lean towards flexibility, seeking customization options for their evolving operational needs. Therefore, we decided that we develop two modes for seller and suppliers.
The design ideation began with storyboards for sellers and suppliers, illustrating their experience from login to using the dashboard as their landing page and taking subsequent actions. User interviews based on our paper prototype further informed our early UX ideation iterations.
The design ideation starts from creating storyboards for sellers and suppliers to show the experience of the users when they log in the platform and start using the dashboard as their landing page, and how they can take actions from there.
Provide an easy mode for a task-focused and hassle-free experience, and an expert mode for flexibility
Prioritization
Insights and operations based on the current store status matter more than actions that moves forward
Sellers prefer a linear story-telling experience and focus a single task at one time
Easy Mode
Focused to serve sellers and affiliates who prefers to have a hassle-free experience operating their store. Widgets are automatically assigned based on the current store status, prioritized as insights > operations = management > suggestion.
Expert Mode
Featuring a customizable layout with complete free choice of of widgets and absolute control of the page layout, allowing users to customize the layout according to their business needs and preferences.
Features a minimalist design and clear information hierarchy, presenting essential information previews and task overview across the platform. Easy mode is targeting small-scale affiliates and sellers, whose tasks are simpler and involves less hassle.
Provides absolute freedom for users to choose and organize widgets from a library, tailoring their homepage for tailored business use.
Usability test has shown that task processing for advanced users with larger customer group would be different than the small-scale sellers. Advanced users such as suppliers won't have issue finding orders, chats, etc. to resolve, but might miss something important in day-to-day operations. We designed an AI-powered action center to help them resolve this problem.
AI powered action center
AI bot reads store operational data and give suggestions.
Adaptive layout to different sizes
All widgets are natively-built to be adaptive to different widget sizes and screen sizes.
To ensure a subsequent task processing experience, we expanded the scope to make the action center a panel that can be accessed anywhere across the platform. When a task is fulfilled, the action center automatically pops up to cross that task from the board, reminding user to proceed with another one.
We curated various widgets that helps user with actions, suggestions, preview of panels and store insights for them to cover all possible use cases. Users may add widgets by tapping on the "Add Widgets" button on the top right corner of the home page.
HotJar recording shown that user spent about 40% less time processing their store operational tasks
Survey among new users showed a 44% increase in satisfaction, emphasizing on clear action items
Significant business growth was observed for efficiency improvement and more attention to insights