Redesigning the post purchase experience

The post-purchase initiative is a year-long project spanning 2024, dedicated to enhancing the customer journey across all three of our brands: Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Horchow.The projected savings resulting from this project are estimated to be between $3.9 - $5.5 million.

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My Role

As the design lead, my responsibilities encompassed all aspects of user experience, from research and user flows to delivery and deployment with our engineering team.

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Tools Used

- Figjam

- Figma

- Wrike

- Jira

- Teams

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Objectives

The primary goal of the post-purchase project is to reduce customer calls to the call center, which currently exceed a 50% call rate. This indicates that every other order prompts a call to the center, with the largest category being inquiries about "where is my order" (WISMO).

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Following a two-day workshop in Dallas, our team identified eight key themes, 63 opportunities, and 21 quick wins to address the call volume, increase customer lifetime value, and empower customers with adequate information.

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The project was divided into two major streams: quick wins and in-depth opportunities. Quick wins were opportunities we identified that had very clearly defined outcome, with less discovery work required. 

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THE QUICK WINS

quick win #1: Redesigning the order history page

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The order history page is pivotal for customers to view, edit, repurchase, or interact with existing orders. Our current experience was clunky and cumbersome. The redesign focused on:

- creating a clear distinction between order details and product information

- Introducing order organization through grouping items together at a shipment level 

- Dynamically showing and hiding relevant CTA’s are every step of the journey 

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We considered several design possibilities for our order history page display. After consulting with the analytics team and other stakeholders, we chose the first option. Although the second option had visual appeal, we lacked crucial data, like heat maps, to assess its suitability for our users. Given that our primary demographic is less tech-savvy, we found that the second option provided a more user-friendly experience by presenting all pertinent information without requiring extra clicks.

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quick win #2: Enhancing order tracking discoverability

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Improving order tracking visibility site-wide was crucial in reducing call volume. By providing easy access to order tracking, customers are empowered to solve their own queries. This involved introducing a new tab in the footer and a dedicated order tracking landing page. A simple, yet unconsidered solution.

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IN-DEPTH OPPORTUNITIES

Redesigning our entire transactional email flow

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The Problem

One of our biggest pain points is that customers often encounter a lack of clarity and ineffective communication in transactional emails, which poses a significant challenge for them. However, we see this as an opportunity to refine our communication within transactional emails, which serve as a crucial connective tissue for engaging with customers. Our goal is to enhance the clarity and relevance of these emails to reduce WISMO-related (Where Is My Order) calls to the call center, thereby enhancing the overall customer experience and fostering increased satisfaction and efficiency.

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Research and Discovery

The research phase commenced by cataloging all the distinct email flows within our current ecosystem. Through collaborative efforts, we engaged with various teams to comprehensively grasp the ecosystem, discerning the timing, purpose, and underlying triggers behind each email dispatch.

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We extended our research efforts through an extensive competitor analysis, delving into industry trends, identifying opportunities, benchmarking against industry standards, and drawing inspiration from emerging practices.

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Empathising with the customer through user journey mapping

After concluding our research, I initiated a thorough customer journey mapping process to empathize with the user. This involved dissecting their emotions at each stage of the post-purchase journey, understanding their needs, and identifying areas where we could enhance our service delivery by providing them with what they require at every step of the journey.

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Key Findings

- We lacked clarity in communicating the purpose behind sending these emails.

- We overwhelmed users with large chunks of text, leading to decreased readability.

- Our information hierarchy was incorrect.

- Users were forced to leave the email context to find solutions to their problems.

- Our unique company offerings were not highlighted effectively.

- The purpose behind sending these emails was not clearly communicated.

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Ideation and Conceptualization

We underwent multiple rounds of iteration to develop the ideal reusable template. Our goal was to craft a template capable of accommodating every stage of the journey across multiple devices, with a focus on enhancing efficiency during the building process and ensuring uniformity throughout. During this design journey, we discovered that transactional emails must adhere to a 25% limit for marketing content, headers, and footers. Consequently, we revamped our header and footer to tackle this challenge.

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Final Deliverables

The updated design effectively tackles WISMO concerns for customers by optimizing copywriting, refining information hierarchy, enhancing data presentation, and integrating self-service functionalities, ultimately improving the overall UX/UI. Additionally, we equipped developers with responsive specifications, a compact component library, and comprehensive guidance on implementing scenario-based changes.

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Results and Impact

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Lessons Learned

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- Designing for diverse scenarios requires careful consideration.

- Balancing business objectives with user needs is crucial.

- Detailed specifications are essential for effective development.

- Strong collaboration with engineers ensures smooth execution.

- Data-driven design and UI techniques are vital for success.

- Designing for reusability enables future iterations and cost savings.

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