Earthed Up
Lowering plastic consumption one sale at a time: A UX Design Case Study.
Earthed Up is designed as a commerce platform, that provides it's shoppers with easy access to plastic free and earth friendly products. Earthed Up also focuses on providing its shoppers with information about how these products are not only better for the environment but also how they are better products than their competitors.
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Now Imagine
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Spending your precious time trying to find these products across multiple different brands and platforms, but you are still unable to find these products and/or the information you need to make an informed purchase.
I know. That doesn't sound fun.
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Why is buying plastic free and earth friendly products important?
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To start, picture the size of Texas....
Now picture Texas as a massive patch of plastic waste floating in the ocean...
Finally picture FIVE of these massive patches....
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I know, it's hard to imagine!
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Whats INSANE is that these massive patches of waste you imagined are real and are floating in our oceans and are growing in size daily.
So, how do you stop this from happening?
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STOP CONSUMING PLASTIC!!
So why are more people not buying Products that are plastic free and earth friendly?
The Problem
Currently shoppers are forced to search a multitude of platforms for information on products that are plastic free and environmentally friendly. Many of these product are made by companies that have their own individual sites/platforms that shoppers can purchase these products from. However, to find and compare these products shoppers need to spend alot of time and effort since there is not currently a single platform our potential users can utilize to find this information. This limits the awareness of these products and makes it difficult for users to know what their options are.
Many shoppers will not put in the time and effort it takes to find these products and end up buying products that are easier to find and purchase even if they are harmful for the environment.
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Which leads us to the question...
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How might we increase the sales of plastic free and environmentally friendly products?
The Solution
My solution to this problem is a platform that provides products from all brands that are plastic free and environmentally friendly. This platform will not only give shoppers easy and quick access to these products but will also bing awareness to products that are plastic free and environmentally friendly.
This solution will lower plastic consumption rates by increasing sales of plastic free and environmentally friendly products.
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Target Audience
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I decided to target shoppers who are not currently influenced by how a product is made, its materials, and the impact it has on the environment when deciding to make a purchase.
I chose this audience because these are the shoppers who are currently not buying products that are plastic free and environmentally friendly.
After the research phase i named this user type as the " Practical Buyer".
Project Information
My Role​
UX Researcher/Designer
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Project Scope
Total Time: 8 Weeks
Research: 5 Weeks
Design: 3 weeks
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Methodology
Desktop Research Competitive Analysis Surveys
User Interviews Affinity Mapping Personas
Journey Mapping Card Sorting Wire Frames
Wire Flows Design System Prototype
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My Process
Research Phase
Design Phase
Research Phase
Competitive Analysis
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I started this phase by completing a competitive analysis on three different competitors Earth Hero, Green Paper Products and World Centric. I wanted to learn about what they are doing to approaching similar problems. I also wanted to get a better idea of what they are not doing. Below are a few of my findings.
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1.) Competitors are not providing their users with information about how the product is better, only how it’s better for the environment.
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2.) Competitors are not focusing on buyers who do not consider a products environmental impact to be a key deciding factor when making a purchase.
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3.) Competitors are not showing the scale of the products environmental impact.
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Survey/Screener
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Next i conducted a survey in which i had 31 participants. This survey acted as a screener to find potential users to participate in my user interviews. When i created the survey i wanted to gain as much information as i could on user buying decisions in relation to plastic free and environmentally friendly products. I created a funnel question that took the participants to one of two sets of questions depending on there answer. Some of the finding are listed below.
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1.) (18 out of 31) 58% of participants ARE NOT influenced by how a product is made, its materials, and the impact it has on the environment.
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2.) (17 out of 18) 94% of those 18 would be motivated to buy products that are plastic neutral and environmentally friendly, If they had a competitive price.
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3.) (8 out of 18) 44% Would Like to see more information on the product, it’s quality and how it’s better than plastic before making a purchase.
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4.) (15 out of 18) 83% consider a products price, quality and product reviews to be most important when deciding to make a purchase.
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User Interviews
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I was able to interview five of the participants from my survey that made it into my target audience. I used zoom for the interview method since we are still in a global pandemic. My findings are listed below.
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1.) Practical Buyers WILL NOT buy a product solely based on its positive environmental impact.
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2.) Practical Buyers WANT to see how the product is better than its plastic competitor. Not just how it is better than the environment.
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3.) Practical Buyers WANT to see ratings on multiple aspects of the product, not just the overall rating.
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4.) Practical Buyers WANT the buying process to be quick and easy.
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5.) Practical Buyers prioritize different information when they are deciding to make a purchase.
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User Persona / Journey Map
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Next i completed a user persona as well as a journey map to help me better understand my users. You can see them below.
Solution Features
Personalized Information Organization
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I learned that each Practical Buyers prioritizes different information when deciding to make a purchase. This feature makes sure the shopper sees the information that is most relevant to them. This saves the user time and makes it easier so that they don't have to search for the information they need. Shoppers would set their preferences in a short onboarding survey when they sign up with Earthed up. The information that is on the product pages will be organized differently depending on how the shopper answers the survey questions.
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Quick View
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I learned that Practical Buyers want the buying process to be quick and easy. This feature allows the shopper to see the products basic information with out going to the product page. This saves the user time by allowing them to quickly leave the quick view feature if they decide that they are not interested in the product.
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More Detailed Information
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I learned that Practical Buyers want to see how the product is better as well as ratings and comparisons to other products. This feature compares the plastic free and earth friendly product to its competitors by showing comparisons of different aspects of the product. This is helpful since i learned in the competitive analysis that the competitors focus mainly on the products environmental impact instead of the product it self.
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Impact Tracker
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I learned that Earthed Up's competitors are not showing the scale o the products environmental impact to their users. This feature keeps track of the Practical Buyers impact that is calculated by the products he/she bought through Earthed up. This is represented in the number of marine life/animals saved when buying/using these products. This helps the buyer visualize the importance of buying plastic free and environmentally friendly products. This feature also keeps track of the amount Earthed up and the buyer have donated to one of the non-profit partners.
Design Phase
Card Sorting​
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I started this phase by completing a card sorting exercise to help me gain a better understanding of how i wanted the products information to be organized and laid out. From this exercise i selected the MVP to focus on first when is stated to create my wireframes and prototype.
You can see the exercise below
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Wire Frames​
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Next I created Wire frames to put the products information architecture in a visible way. This helped me finalize the structure of the information on each page as well as the structure of the navigation. This made starting my prototype much easier since i didn't have to keep making structural updates. You can see the wire frames below.
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Wire Flows​
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Next I created Wire flows to visualize how the pages interact with each other as well as to see a users path through a few different tasks. This helped me hone in on micro interactions and make sure i have all the steps needed to complete the tasks. You can see these below.
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Mood Board and Design Components​
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Next I created a Mood board to help nail down the visual feel and colors i want the product to have. I wanted the product to feel happy and peaceful. I didn't want it to feel cluttered or busy, so i kept an open feel using Helvetica as my font of chose since its a very clean and easy to read font with multiple font weights. You can see the mood board and design components below.
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Prototyping​
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Next I created the prototype for Earthed Up using the Information structure from my wireframes and the visual elements and design from my mood board and design components. You can see a few screens below or you can click the link to go to the prototype.
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Prototype Link Here
Next Steps - Validation Stage
Usability Testing
Test for any usability and structure problems as well as making sure that the products functions and features are in line with the user’s wants, needs and expectations.
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Heuristic Evaluation
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I will use Nelson’s rules to complete the evaluation to find any usability issues and or enhance the usability of the product.
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Further Research
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I would like to go further in-depth in the user’s impact tracker to find out specific information users would want to know as well as how to accurately track and relay this information to them.
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Revisions and Updates
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Update the prototype using any insights or finding found during the usability testing, heuristic evaluation and research.
Reflections
Timeline
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Hard to follow a time line since i didn’t give much breathing room to each task.
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Interviews
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Need to learn how to better organize interview questions to where they spark a longer conversation when the user answers.
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User Persona
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I learned the correct way to create user personas, which made the persona a better tool to have when creating my product.