Project 2: Website Conversion

We conducted 60-minute video interviews, structured as follows:

• First 15 minutes: Usability test—observing the user navigate the shopping experience while thinking aloud.

• Last 45 minutes: Question-and-answer segment to gather qualitative insights into their decision-making process.

Full list of questions and responses can be found here. 

Why 1-on-1 User Interviews?

Shopping is often a personal experience, making individual interviews the most effective method for capturing user-specific insights. Unlike focus groups or panels, 1-on-1 interviews:

• Encourage honest, uninfluenced responses, as participants might hesitate to share personal behaviors in a group setting.

• Allow for direct observation of user behavior through usability testing, helping us identify pain points and bottlenecks naturally.

• Provide real-time explanations for user actions, complementing quantitative data such as website heatmaps.

• Offer a flexible and deep-dive approach, where follow-up questions can be tailored to each participant’s unique shopping experience.

SAMPLING

We used a stratified sampling approach to ensure diverse and representative participant selection. This method balances random selection for generalizability with segmentation based on meaningful user characteristics.

Strata Considerations

Users were grouped based on:

• Age, Occupation, and Hobby – To explore how lifestyle influences shopping behavior.

• Shopping Category Interests – Instead of collecting personal data, we can classify users based on the product categories they browse, helping us understand personas like business shoppers, sports enthusiasts, or trendsetters.

• Device Type – Mobile vs. desktop users, to uncover any device-specific friction points.

• New vs. Returning Users – To examine whether familiarity with the site affects cart abandonment rates.

How We Found Our Sample

To ensure we recruit relevant participants, we used multiple recruitment methods:

1. Behavior-Based Selection – Targeted users who have added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase, identified through website analytics.

2. Email Invitations – Send personalized emails to users who abandoned their carts, offering an incentive (e.g., discount code or gift card) to participate in a short interview.

3. Exit Surveys – Captured feedback from users who abandon their carts in real time and invite them for follow-up interviews.

4. Social Media & Online Communities – Reached out to engaged users through forums, review sites, and social media groups related to online shopping.

By combining stratified sampling with behavior-based selection and targeted outreach, we ensured a diverse and relevant participant pool that provided valuable insights into the cart abandonment issue.

Based on the 1-on-1 interviews conducted with users who abandoned their carts, we uncovered the following insights:

1. Frustration & Confusion in the Shopping Process

A majority of users reported frustration at multiple points during their shopping journey:

• Checkout inefficiencies (34%) – Users were frustrated by lengthy checkout processes, hidden fees, and lack of a progress tracker.

• Fit uncertainty & lack of product details (28%) – Many shoppers abandoned their carts due to inadequate size guides, missing material descriptions, and the inability to see real-life images.

• Technical issues (21%) – Problems like slow website performance, freezing on mobile devices, and form errors contributed significantly to frustration.

• Lack of trust (17%) – Unclear return policies, hidden shipping costs, and security concerns caused hesitation.

2. Psychological Barriers Leading to Cart Abandonment

Users experienced hesitation due to:

• Decision fatigue (32%) – Many reported being overwhelmed by the number of options, leading to abandonment.

• Impulse hesitation (27%) – Users initially wanted to purchase, but second-guessed their decision due to unclear discounts or uncertain quality.

• External distractions (18%) – Some users mentioned getting interrupted or simply losing interest mid-shopping.

3. Comparative Shopping & Pricing Sensitivity

• 56% of users checked other websites before abandoning their cart, primarily comparing prices, shipping costs, and return policies.

• 41% of users left after finding a better deal elsewhere.

• 30% of users were willing to pay more for faster shipping, but couldn’t easily compare shipping times on StepUp’s site.