The Challenge

Design, prototype, and test a basic single educational marketplace as a solution meeting customer needs to discover and procure our next-generation courseware and educational materials.

The Problem

• Customers have to first search using their preferred search engine for the specific site relating to their areas of interest.

• The usual methods for the preliminary searches were Google and Yahoo.

• To explore other disciplines and products, customers would have to start a new search from the beginning.

• Search results would be displayed along with our competitor's sites, granting customers other publisher options.

• Multiple marketplaces do not take advantage of strong SEO, placing us lower down the results lists of most search inquiries.

Getting Started

Defining and exploring the common structure of basic eCommerce search engines.

Preliminary Research

• Analysis of common search engines and online catalogs including Google, Amazon, Barne & Nobel, and Chegg.

• I acquired and studied Baymard Reports for reference: E-Commerce Search Usability and Best Practices.

• I conducted a full audit of all current storefronts to determine the workforce, LEO, and the ROI to maintain the individual sites.

Results

• All eCommerce platforms all shared the same basic page elements. These included a search bar, filtering, Search Results Pages (SERPs), Product Detail Pages (PDPs), and a distinct Call to Action (the big “buy” button).

• Innovation thinking will lead the design, but we do not need to reinvent the wheel on the ubiquitous search experience users encounter daily.

• The Storefronts team consisted of a Product Owner, 7 Project managers, 4 front-end developers (in-house), and an off-shore development team.

Testing

Validating the design decisions and proving the hypothesis for a single educational marketplace.

Interviews and Task-Based Testing.

• 5 Educators were presented with the basic page layouts.

• Interview questions included:

  • What are the page elements that are most important in driving adoption confidence?

  • Does the experience meet their expectations for an educational marketplace?

• Subjects were given the simple task of finding a specific product and asked to use the system to locate that product.

• Observations included:

  • Basic search methods - Preference of using the search bar vs. navigation.

  • Search results display - Does the information in the display lists supply enough information to accurately locate the specific product?

  • Product Detail Page (PDP) - Does the Overview, Table of Contents, and Author details supply enough information to consider adoption of the product?

• A System Usability Scale (SUS) rating was collected.

Results

• The subjects unanimously voiced the system met their expectations and needs for search and discovery.

• The three top areas of page element importance were Product titles, ISBN, and Student cost.

• There were different opinions on the hierarchal stacking of the Product information as to Description, TOC, and Author bios.

• 90% of instructors found the system simple, friendly, and familiar.

• Seach vs. Navigation capabilities varied. Interestingly, Math and Science preferred the search bar, Humanities and Professional Trades preferred browsing.

• Many voiced they didn’t know Pearson had such a wide variety of products.

• The preferred stacking order of the Overview, Table of Contents, and Author details on the PDPs also varied.

• Unanimously, the most important page elements to drive adoption were Product Image, Title, ISBN, and Student cost.

• SUS ratings received an average of 9 (second highest) amongst all participants.

Challenges

• The current system used legacy technology that would need to re-built from top to bottom.

• All Product line owners were not on board with offering other content alongside their own. They felt it would affect their bottom line.