Project Overview
Role: Co-Product Designer
Team: 2 Designers
Scope: 3-Month Web App Concept
Tools: Figma, Google Forms
Background
E-Commerce brands struggle with conversion due to product uncertainty, especially in the beauty industry. We conceptually came up with a solution to help online shoppers feel more confident in their purchase through a virtual shade-matching web experience under Rare Beauty's brand. By creating separate journeys depending on experience of the shopper and leveraging peer community proof over gimmicky AI/VR tools, we addressed online purchase hesitation to increase sales.
My Contribution
Contributed to research and brainstorms.
Designed the entry landing page that lets users self-select their flow based on experience level.
Conceived and designed the feature allowing users to input shades from other brands they already own.
Research and Ideation
Exploratory research via mixed-method surveys and interviews with 13 target makeup shoppers.
One-size fits-all fails: We uncovered that there were shoppers of different experience levels: the experienced and those who were new to the makeup world (the beginners). We found that experienced shoppers did not want a long quiz and to waste their time, while beginner shoppers asked for more education and guidance.
Suggestion by user: "Maybe something where you can compare it to the shades you already own. Lets say you have a mac in shade x, they can take that and tell you ur shade for rare beauty."
Convenience paradox: We found that the current landscape of virtual services such as booking a consultation, AR/VR try-on, and quizzes were proving mixed results about their conversion rates. This can lead to isolation and analytical fatigue as shoppers are left on their own to take a risk, leading to lack of confidence in purchase.
User quote: "I have tried virtual try-ons but the shade always seems off than the real product. Also if I move around, the shade changes making me more confused as to what it will look like."
Solution
Created a dual path for beginner and experienced shoppers, where beginners can take a quiz and experience shoppers can instantly get their match from the shade matching database.
Addressed lack of trust in virtual services by adding a community portion to increase purchases through social proof, adding a human element to the purchase decisions.
Usability Testing & Iteration
Tested full prototype with 2 users, removing the 'Continue' button to enable auto-advancing selections, which reduced step-level interaction cost:
Final Walkthrough
Impact
Though this design was not actually implemented, we would have measured impact in the following way if it were through A/B testing.
Conversion rate: We would track how many users buy makeup using this redesign and determine if there was an increase.
We would also evaluate Drop-off rate to evaluate if users left during the quiz as this feature was critical for the average makeup shopper's exploration of a product.
Key Reflections
Adding the latest technology doesn't necesarily translate to conversion, potentially causing the business to invest in expenses it doesn't need. Instead we sought to leverage Rare Beauty's preexisting market differentiator: community.
Design is Not a Checklist: Moving away from a rigid linear process allowed us to adjust features (pivoting away from AR/VR toward community validation) based on real user sentiment.