Ethical Shopping App Case Study

CLIENT Concept, Student project
ROLE UX researcher, Interaction designer, UI designer, Usability testing

Problem

Research process

Secondary research takeaways

My first step was to conduct secondary research by reading through studies already done on the subject. I found out that:

1. The conscious consumer comes from all walks of life, ages, and economic brackets. This meant that my solution would need to target a broad demographic.
   
   
2. "Ethical shopping" means something different from person to person because we all have different interests and values. This meant my solution would need to allow for lots of personalization. 

Competitive analysis takeaways

What competitors do well

• I did an analysis of 3 different competitor apps and all of the apps included a simplified rating system for products/brands. This feature is important because it gives users a quick way to tell if a product is ethically-made, and it removes the stress of having to dig for information. 
  
  

Opportunities for improvement

• A downside to the apps was that each were focused on a specific category (ex. fashion, grocery, ingredient safety), which could be frustrating for someone who wanted information on a variety of products but didn't want to download multiple apps.
  
  
• All of the apps lacked a personalization component where users could be introduced to new products based on their individual tastes, values, and interests. 

Interviews

To supplement my secondary research, I conducted interviews with 9 participants from various age groups, genders, and walks of life. About half were already eco-conscious and the other half were not. 

Interview highlights

"There are always times when convenience wins out over ethical shopping."

• I found that across eco-conscious and non eco-conscious people, convenience, price, or quality will overtake the desire to buy ethically-made.
  
  
• The majority of people said they wanted transparency from companies and that it was something that's currently lacking.
  
  
• People tend to stick to their habits. They may buy ethically once or twice, but then continue in their old ways.

Personas

When I synthesized my research, two different personas emerged. One, is already eco-conscious and is focused on continuing their efforts to buy responsibly-made products. The other does not consider themself eco-conscious, but they are interested in avoiding products that could be harmful. 

Research summary

Transparency        Efficiency        Peace of mind

The personas seem very different, but they actually want similar things. They both want more transparency when they're shopping so that they can easily tell which products are good and bad, they both want to be able to find what they need efficiently, and they both want to feel good about their purchases.

Based off this research,  my solution needed to accomplish at least these 3 things:

1. Evaluate products and brands in a faster and more comprehensive way than competitor apps.
   
   
2. Offer personalized recommendations to users.
   
   
3. Show people their progress and encourage them to keep up good habits.

The solution

1. Setting account preferences

This feature of the app gives users personalized tips and recommendations for ethical products, based on their preferences. By telling the app what they're interested in and what their budgets are, it reduces the amount of time people spend searching for the right products. 

2. Scanning for ratings

As I found out through my competitor research, a rating system helps users quickly distinguish between good and bad products, but I wanted to take it a step further. To increase efficiency even more, I designed this feature to utilize augmented reality. With AR technology, users wouldn't even need to pick up a product to find out how ethical it was. They could go through store aisles, point their camera, and see ratings instantly come up on their screen. They would even be able to compare multiple products on the same shelf, at the same time.

A-rated products would be highlighted with an animated ring to draw the user's attention. By tapping a rating, users could get more in-depth product information, which would help people make not only faster, but more informed decisions.   

3. Searching for products/brands

This is where users will receive recommendations for ethical products, based on their preferences, saved items, and past purchases. They can also search for any products or brands that they're curious about. It's essentially a curated and vetted marketplace for ethically-made products. This feature would be especially helpful for people who prefer to shop online.

4. Uploading receipts

More encouragement

As users buy more ethically, their virtual gardens will become bigger and more beautiful - a fun way to encourage people to keep doing good.

UI decisions

Visually, I wanted the app to feel in-line with the environmentally-friendly and natural products users are looking for. I didn't want it to feel overly polished, so I incorporated hand-drawn watercolor illustrations. To create a natural and soft feeling, I chose more muted earth tones for the color palette. I contrasted these colors with black and white to ensure text visibility. The serif font gives off a serious, trustworthy quality, and I combined it with a modern sans for readability.

User feedback

After 2 rounds of usability testing, users were able to understand the ratings and successfully navigate through all of my tasks, but they identified deeper issues about the desirability of the product.

Specific feedback from persona: Beginner Bob

For users that were new to ethical shopping, they felt the app was too goal-focused and even called the stats “judgy”. They wanted to be able to start small and feel a sense of accomplishment, even if they weren’t making huge levels of impact. 

Specific feedback from persona: Conscious Cate

For users that were already eco-conscious, they appreciated the stats section, but their pain points were centered around specific wording. Because they were well-versed in sustainability/anti-consumption/conscious consumerism they felt certain terms were ambiguous - like “not harmful” or “social ethics”. They also wanted more detail about how ethical ratings were obtained. 

Continuing the project

The entire process took about 3 months to complete, and I found the experience to be really valuable in getting to practice lots of different areas of UX design. If I had more time to take this project further, these are the changes I would make:

• I would redesign the onboarding screens to include questions about whether a user is new or already practicing ethical shopping (and if so, at what level). Knowing their level of eco-consciousness means tips and goals can be tailored to increase engagement.
  
  
• I would put much less emphasis on the stats section, as it’s not a key reason people would come to the app.
  
  
• Instead, I would put more emphasis on the Augmented Reality feature, making it more prominent and eventually adding more capabilities within it. For example,  virtual shopping lists or being able to scan storefronts for ethical information about an entire company. 
  
  
• Lastly, I would add an FAQ section for users that want more in-depth information about details within the app.

Clickable prototype