MAKING IT LESS COMPLICATED TO FIND TROUSERS THAT FIT
This is a project I worked with on my own during my internship within
H&M Group Business Tech Product Design.
The problem I discovered was that the users find it difficult to know how the trousers will fit around the waist and hips when shopping online. I decided to design a way to make it less complicated to find trousers with a better chance of fitting.
The data from my interviews told me that H&M´s users ask their friends for advice and confirmation when shopping, so my design resulted in a sort-by-reviews filter, giving the opportunity to be shown items based on their fitting preferences.
USER INTERVIEWS.
The majority of H&M users I talked to mentioned they were having difficulties in finding clothes that fit them the way they’d prefer. Bottom items were the most problematic ones.
“There are too many measurements to consider from the chest and down” and
“The size guide asks me to find out things about myself. I want to find out things about the product” were some key findings.
I created a questionnaire for UserZoom to dig deeper, wanting to know how they feel about H&M’s existing size guide, and what they do to solve the size issue themselves.
Out of the quotes from both questionnaire and interview data, I did a thematic analysis, to state the pain-points and create HMW-questions.
USABILITY TESTINGS.
I designed a prototype filter for H&M’s app, where the users could choose their specific measurements for the parts of their body which the garment tended not to fit. I released it for unmoderated usability testing with the aim to understand how in detail they want to match clothes with their measurements.
Insights to iterate from:
– The users should be able to use a sort-by-size filter in a way they’re used to; use Jacob’s law.
– If it doesn’t look like a size guide, it won’t be used as one.
– They shouldn’t have to put away their phone to get any tape measure.
Moving forward knowing:
– They don’t want to put away their phone to get equipment, they just want the products to fit better.
GATHERING MORE INSIGHTS.
Learning that users don’t think that exact defined measurements equals a better fit, I’m starting a new interview session, to ask the users about what they need to do or know before purchasing an item they haven’t tried on. They don’t want to know the measurements of the products, and don’t want to measure themselves. So what triggers their decisions?
Insights to iterate from:
– Customers trust someone who has been in the same position; who has shown interest for the same product and has already tried it on.
– Customers don’t talk about measurements, they talk about the sizes they are in between.
Moving forward knowing:
– Customers usually go for one specific size, and based on the product type they know what to expect from the fit.
TASK-ORIENTED TESTING.
Having decided to design a feature that helps them choose between how the product’s been rated to fit, I released an unmoderated task-oriented usability testing: “You know you’re in between sizes, but you usually go for size 10. Use the filters and answer how it helped you find a pair of trousers with a better chance of fitting.”
How clearly communicated the text is about how this filter may help out, was tested on the users in the final usability test.
I noticed that the users are phrasing the fitting preferences they could chose from differently than what I’ve written. I’m also hearing them talking about style guides, and see they’re starting to look for the sort-by-style filter.
Insights for my fifth and last iteration:
– Too many options of how they’d prefer an item to fit is simply too complicated.
– Call the fitting options the way the users would.
Moving forward knowing:
– It needs to be clear it’s about a fitting preference, and not a style preference.
UX COPY.
How I chose to phrase the size options between the iterations is shown below. They are changed according to how I heard the users talking about fitting preferences.
I changed the questions in the header after having asked users to speak their mind about what they think when they hear these questions.
Insights to iterate from:
“How does this size usually fit you?” – Depends on which brand.
”How do you want it to fit?” – Well, of course.
The copy for the link at the bottom is changed to be a question that doesn’t have an obvious answer.
Insights to iterate from:
“What is the difference?” – I know what the difference between ‘large’ and ‘small’ is.
”Why are we asking this?” – I think I know why.
”What do these mean?” – Sure, let me see some examples.
result.
My fifth iteration gave me this as a result: A sort-by-reviews filter – an opportunity to see items based on customers’ reviews, to better match your fitting preferences.
You can view and click through the prototype here:
https://marvelapp.com/prototype/g3d016h/screen/77543385
You will see that there are two options in finding sizes. Since some of the users chose to go via a product image to choose size, and not by Filter and Sort, I wanted them to still have that option. The same goes for the Standard sizes option – I want the users to still be able to search for products in a way they are used to.