My Custom bakes
UX research and Strategy
Overview
My Custom Bakes (MCB) is an e-commerce web-based application built for cottage bakers to sell variable-priced goods to their customers.
What Was My Role?
I consulted for MCB, focusing on user research, to provide strategy for the team moving forward, as they plan to start charging customers in the fall of 2022.
I created a prioritization plan for their upcoming changes and feature additions. To accomplish this I performed user research, did a Kano analysis, prototyped a redesigned onboarding process, and completed usability tests on the prototype.
What Did I Deliver?
By cutting through the noise of their copious amounts of user feedback, I gave MCB a clear prioritization moving forward: focus on redesigning their onboarding process first, then add two key features (email customization and a contacts page) for users.
ROLE
UX Researcher
UX Designer
UX Strategist
Consultant
METHODS USED
Stakeholder interview
Heuristic analysis
Contextual inquiry
Directed storytelling
Usability testing
Prototyping
Wireframing
Kano survey and analysis
Personas
User journey map
TOOLS
Figma
Zoom
Powerpoint
Google Suite
Otter.ai
Pen and paper
DELIVERABLES
Personas
Prototype Package
The Challenge
My Custom Bakes is a start-up founded by Lisa He, a well-known figure within the cottage baking community. MCB allows bakers to sell variable-priced goods, like decorative sugar cookies, through a quote-to-order process. By streamlining the customer ordering and communication process, they have built a sizable user base. They plan to begin charging for this platform in the fall of 2022.
Because they have an active and vocal user base, they need help prioritizing the many features they could choose to build out.
My Custom Bake’s Homepage
Lisa He
I started my process with a stakeholder interview with Lisa
My Approach
Through numerous forms of research, including contextual analysis, usability testing, and Kano surveys, I created four different categories of users, each with their own unique needs.
Primary Users
New bakers
Established bakers using other platforms (such as Wix or Squarespace)
Bakers already using MCB
Secondary Users
The bakers’ customers
Due to the limited time span of this project, I chose to focus only on the 3 primary users.
Excerpt from my Findings and Recommendations report, visualizing MCB’s user groups
Persona: Christine. Christine belongs to User Group 1
Persona: Megan. Megan belongs to User Group 2
Research
I conducted 6 interviews initially: 3 users not on MCB were asked about their e-commerce tools, and usability tests were performed on the site as it is currently.
3 users were already on MCB. I performed contextual inquiries to see how they use the app.
Based on these interviews, my heuristic analysis, and stakeholder priorities, I created a list of 10 potential features, and performed a Kano survey on existing users.
Conducting Zoom interviews
Contextual inquiry and usability testing in a baker’s home baking area. Paw Patrol on in the background to distract the children.
Results
Two things were immediately clear to me:
Existing users (user group 3) love this app, and already view it as the answer to many of their business problems. They are very loyal to MCB and to Lisa.
New users of the app (user groups 1 and 2), however, find the onboarding process overly long, and difficult.
Based on these findings, I suggested prioritizing redesigning the onboarding process first.
Excerpts from my presentation with user quotes
A user journey map for Christine and Megan
My solution
My redesigned onboarding condensed the process from six screens to one, reducing the barrier to entry for new users. I also created an interactive prototype in Figma, with a tutorial of the dashboard and how to use it.
The old onboarding process (six screens)…
…vs the new onboarding process (one screen).
Second round Usability tests
I performed usability tests on the same two users who found the existing onboarding process frustrating. They agreed that the new process was much easier to understand, and they enjoyed knowing how many steps were left in the tutorial, and that they could exit it.
I believe that by implementing these changes, MCB could highly increase the number of users on the platform before they initiate the price increase, thereby increasing their revenue. A win for the users AND for the stakeholders!
Kano Analysis
Based on my Kano analysis, I discovered two high priority new features for existing users of the app:
A “Customer” section, to hold customer information for bakers to retain and market to their customers.
Adjustments to order “statuses” which make it more clear when customers are being notified and when they’re not, as well as an additional feature for bakers to be able to customize the messages being sent to customers.
The Kano analysis also revealed that, while some other planned features were attractive to users (such as a baker marketplace), they should not be as highly prioritized, because users indicated that they could live without them.
A number of users wished for clearer customer communication, and disliked it in its current state.
90% of users expressed a wish for a customer database, through which to save customer info and create email marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
My Custom Bakes is already doing a lot right. By implementing my research-based recommendations, they can increase the size of their satisfied user base, and continue to retain the loyalty of their existing base.
Many cottage bakers are single-person teams working out of their home kitchens. MCB provides a truly great service, by allowing bakers to focus more on what they love (the baking), and less on what they don’t: customer communication, fulfillment, tracking, etc.
It was a joy to work with Lisa on this project and explore a unique order flow within the world of e-commerce. I’m excited to see the positive impact my work has on these small businesses.
Presenting my research and designs