WEBSITE AUDIT:UX FLOW

The client came to me with the following concerns about their
WooCommerce store.

  1. The checkout cart had flow issues, and users needed clarification about how to check out.

  2. They have a farmers’ market booth and wanted to make their product available online to others outside their area.

  3. They did not have high-quality photos of their packages.

  4. They wanted the website to reflect the branding of their parcels.

From basic WordPress site to a tailored online store

BEFORE

The Process

  1. Streamlined the checkout process and added helper text since there was a pick-up option.

  2. Clarified the copy on their homepage

  3. Took high-quality product images

  4. Changed the layout and design of their website to give the website clarity.

AFTER

Before the website had scanned labels, I took it up a notch by taking these clear, crisp product images

USER RESEARCH:

Solving the right problem

More about Beet + Pear and the prototype in action

Beet & pear Marketplace v1.0 is a new platform that bridges the information gap between small farmers and local consumers.

Methods: Competitive Analysis, User Research, Design Requirements, Card Sorting, User Flow Diagram, User Journeys, Wireframing, Interactive Prototype, and Remote User Testing. 

Tools: Adobe XD, Miro, Optimal Sort, LucidChart, Google Suite

 Problems to solve

  1. Farmers’ markets are nearly invisible; it’s hard to find where/when they are.

  2. Consumers never know, in advance , what they can find at the markets.

  3. Small farmers need to boost their sales and increase exposure.

  4. Farmers’ markets need to optimize their setups for frustrated buyers + sellers.

From unclear to crystal clear in the user journey

Defining Design Requirements The design requirements I created were to help the team stay focused on the high-level requirements throughout the design process.

Defining Design Requirements
The design requirements I created were to help the team stay focused on the high-level requirements throughout the design process.

The Process

Step by Step

  1. Initial customer and farmer research was completed.

  2. This included competitive analysis and defining user requirements.

  3. Next came defining the User Journey for both sets of users: the farmers and the customers.

  4. An initial user survey was created to pinpoint customer pain points, which yielded the following results.

  5. After the survey results came back, it was clear that Maps and Products were the essential filters for shoppers.

  6. Small farmers who need to boost sales through marketing emails can let the shoppers know what's in season, what will be there at the market etc.

  7. Farmers work together to sell seasonal boxes that customers can prepay and pick up. Will help struggling vendors by teaming up with other farmers to offer customers a more comprehensive selection of produce. 

  8. Implementing a service like Square will allow farmers to expedite their inventory needs and process payments. Many vendors widely use it at existing farmers' markets and flea markets.

  9. Next came the features that we had to decide what would be available from the beginning, which led me to create information architecture based on card sorting for the app.  

  10. Lastly, the prototype was tested, and the project is still being iterated on and still in progress before being released.

Dashboards

Below are the user dashboards I created for both sets of users, where I mapped out the application's information architecture.

Farmers Main Dashboard

User Journeys

Below are the user journeys I created for both sets of users.

Beet + Pear Board - Farmers User Journey 1@2x-b.png
Beet + Pear Board - Shopper User Journey 1-b.png

Current Progress

Since there are two sets of users, we realized that we had different problems to solve for each user segment. I dealt more with framing the farmer population and their pain points.

After more research, these are the problems most affecting farmers

  1. Small farmers struggle with tight margins and seek to unlock a new d2c sales channel via an eCommerce marketplace.

  2. Small farmers need help to run their businesses efficiently and increase profit margins with a more sophisticated inventory management system.

  3. Small farmers struggle to be seen by their target market and could benefit from a search tool to increase their visibility, thereby driving more traffic to the farm.

  4. Small farmers have an untapped opportunity to increase revenue by offering their land for event rentals.

  5. Small farmers struggle to understand their customers and market themselves and would benefit from a data-driven marketing agency.