Project Goal
Connect buyers and sellers through Shopee Live to make shopping online more easy, accessible and enjoyable
My Tasks
User Research,
UX/ UI Design,
Low and High Fi Prototyping,
Rapid User Testing
Team & Roles
2 Product Designer,
1 Product Manager
Duration
Research and Ideation : 4 days
Prototyping and Testing: 6 days
Product Finalisation: 1 day
6 Dec 20- 16 Dec 20
The Problem
Shopee’s existing local consumers in Singapore are not able to engage well with sellers through Shopee Live as the engagement is limited by the limited functionality provided by the live streaming page. There is untapped potential with the existing live medium that prevents Shopee from effectively connecting the right consumers with the right sellers and products in the most accessible, easy, and enjoyable manner.
User Research
1. Shopee Live Testing Findings
In order to understand the user’s experience first-hand, our team watched Shopee Live for 30 minutes a day for 3 days. We observed how the sellers and viewers interacted, as well as interacted with the hosts ourselves. We also took down notes of the number of viewers in the live stream every 10 minutes. Furthermore, we also purchased goods through Shopee Live to better understand the user’s purchasing journey through Shopee Live.
We also hosted Shopee Live ourselves, and talked to real time viewers to not only better understand the seller’s perspective, but also talked to real viewers of Shopee Live to understand their viewing habits and experience. We hosted a total of 3 Shopee live streams.
Shopee Live Testing Sessions
As a Viewer
1.
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Interactive and engaging events in live stream attract viewers the most.
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e.g. Games, lucky draws, auctions, vouchers
2.
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Interactions in the chat very messy and difficult to navigate due to the large volume of spam from viewers (for giveaways and games)
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Questions about products not seen and neglected by host.
3.
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Purchasing items through Shopee Live was confusing as instructions were either unclear or uninformed.
4.
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Shopee coins do not make viewers feel rewarded for watching - not an effective incentive
As a Host
1.
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Functionalities available to Shopee Live Streamers very limited and difficult to use or understand
2.
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Asked viewers about their views, but not fruitful, many quickly entered and left the channel.
2. Alternative Streaming Platforms Testing Findings
In order to compare the Shopee Live experience with other similar platforms, we also tested alternative live streaming platforms in Singapore. This included general live streaming platforms such as Twitch, Instagram and Bigo, as well as ecommerce live streaming platforms in Lazada, Taobao,Facebook and Shopavision.
We watched 30 minutes of live streams on each platform to gain a gist of how live streams work on these platforms and how they compare to Shopee’s experience. We later focused more on the ecommerce streaming platforms as we found that the user experience between general live streaming and ecommerce platforms to be very different. This was done for 2 days.
1.
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Features wise, Shopee
was at a disadvantage as other ecommerce platforms provided more features to both buyers and sellers to mediate their interactions. -
e.g. Taobao allow users to replay the explanation of the product during the live stream.
2.
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Other platforms also provided clear information to users about upcoming discounts and events, as well as how to checkout. Additionally they provide also better check-in rewards for viewers of live streams to motivate them to stay.
3.
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Other platforms also have issues of spam comments from viewers due to lucky draws and product enquiries
3. Semi-Structured Interviews
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 6 users of Shopee, consisting of 4 users who watch Shopee Live and 2 users who do not watch Shopee Live. All users use the Shopee Singapore app.
General Consumption Patterns
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Our users’ age ranges from 23-35.
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All 6 users watch and purchase products from ecommerce live streams on multiple channels.
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4 users watch Shopee Live as well, but only 2 users watch it regularly (more than 3 times a week).
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The average time spent on one live stream is about 37 minutes for our users.
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All our users indicated that they channel surf (browsing through several live streams) before settling on one that interests them.
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Users indicated that they usually have a product in mind when looking through ecommerce live streams.
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Other streaming platforms that they watch include Lazada, Facebook and Twitch.
Motivations
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4 out of 6 users watch live streams mainly for entertainment and e-commerce but only 2 actively look for e-commerce live streams to watch
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2 users indicated that they follow specific ecommerce streamers who sell products that they are interested in because the streamers are “funny and engaging” and that they “make the live stream fun”.
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All 4 Shopee Live users watch Shopee Live for exclusive discounts and additional product information.
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All 4 users also indicated that they perceive the information provided in Shopee Live to be more reliable then ordinary listings due to its unproduced and unedited nature.
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Most users found the game shows and auctions in particular fun and engaging, with 4 users indicating that they enhance the shopping experience on Shopee. 2 users highlighted that gamification was an important aspect that made watching Shopee Live fun.
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Overall, all Shopee Live users indicated that they watched more Shopee Live streams during promotions.
Pain Points
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4 out of 6 users agreed that the interaction between the host and viewers is messy and convoluted, making it difficult to identify important or relevant information such as instructions, or even questions and comments from other viewers in the chat due to the excessive spam comments.
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Participants mentioned the lack of multitasking features. They felt that their viewing experience was disrupted whenever they checked out a product in the middle of a livestream.
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They find it frustrating and time consuming that they have to watch the livestream for hours in order to obtain discounts or vouchers from the shop.
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They feel less motivated to watch non-official livestreams as they tend to be “amateurish” and “boring”, which is one of the reasons why our participants mostly watch Shopee Live only during special events or sales seasons.
4. Design Objective
Based on the research findings, our design solution should focus on 3 tasks - providing structure to key interactions (commenting and purchasing products) between host and viewers through design, better integrate the Shopee Live user journey with the main user flow, and create an interactive rewards system to encourage viewership of Shopee Live.
5. User Persona
Ideation and Design
Initial Design Proposal
Using our research findings, we started ideating potential solutions to our user's problems and evaluating the feasibility of each solution.
1.
Providing Structure to Key Interactions
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Question & Answer Feature to facilitate interactions between users and sellers
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Event Indicators in Chat Section to indicate when an event has started or ended (e.g. Lucky draws)
2.
Interactive Rewards System
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VIP Rewards System to motivate users to spend more/ spend more time
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Stickers motivate users to engage with sellers and other viewers more (especially if it is exclusive)
3.
Integrating Shopee Live into Shopee Main Buying Journey
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Live Stream Screen Minimisation to allow users to shop while they watch Shopee Live.
Prototyping and Testing
Figma Prototyping
We used Figma to create prototypes in preparation for our user testing.
GIF1.1 Figma Prototype
User Testing Set-up
We conducted 2 pilot testing amongst ourselves and 4 user testing with Shopee users (2 Shopee Live users and 2 non-users) using our initial prototype. The user tests were done individually with each user over google meet. We got the user to share their device screen and gave them tasks to complete on the prototype such as asking a question or going to the product listing. We then asked them to voice out any difficulties they have with the product and how they feel about the different features and any changes theyrecommend.
Pilot Testing Results
Results
Changes Made
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Found that that there were too many steps for the seller to answer a question.
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Answering questions unintuitive and disruptive to the live streamer.
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Found that when users tried to answer a question using the chat bar, the design was confusing and misleading,
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Found that there was no way to exit Q&A mode,
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Found that the copy on the minimised screen when there is a voucher available for collection to be misleading.
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We changed the method of answering the question for sellers, reducing the number of steps from 7 to 3.
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We changed the design of chat to make asking questions for viewers more intuitive and accessible.
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Added an exit button to the seller’s view for Q and A mode
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Edited the placement and the copy of the notification on the minimised screen
User Testing Results
Plus Points
Pain Points
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Overall, many found the new features to be useful and intuitive.
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One user (used Shopee Live before) highlighted that he found stickers to be very important to him and sees it as a great addition to the product.
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Another user (used Shopee Live before) also highlighted the usefulness of the Q&A feature as she found that it “makes asking questions and seeing answers so much easier”. The same user also highlighted that she really liked the addition of the VIP membership feature. She compared it to her beautyholics membership and said that it is great as she would definitely appreciate the VIP membership.
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This was supported by another user (non-Shopee Live user) as he said that this gamifies his shopping experience and it makes Shopee Live feel very fun and engaging.
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In addition, another user tester (non-Shopee Live user), highlighted that being able to minimise screen would definitely encourage her to use Shopee Live more. “I watch Facebook Live all the time, and on Lazada. But I don't watch it on Shopee as it always prevents me from browsing products. I’ve waited for this feature for so long.”
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Several users pointed out issues in design that made the Shopee Live Feature confusing and unclear, or difficult to navigate.
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One Shopee user found it strange that she could not add questions from the question page and did not know any other way to ask a question that was obvious to her.
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Another Shopee user indicated that the play buttons on the answers in the comments were confusing. “What are they used for? I can’t tell why it needs a video with a question” It was only after he went to the seller’s view on Shopee did he understand why there was a play button.
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One user highlighted that the “recording saved” text was unclear and too small and that the differentiation between questions that have yet to be answered and questions that were already answered were too subtle
Revisions and Improvements
Taking into account the feedback of participants, we made revisions to our app accordingly:
1.
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Changed the look of our question cards for easier differentiation between questions that were not answered and questions that were answered
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Also solves the issue of “recording saved” being unclear.
2.
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Included text to explain what the play button was for in the answer bubble in the chat
3.
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Added a plus button on the question list for users to add their questions from there.
Final Product
Final Product Design
Our final product design prototype can be accessed on Figma here. The viewers perspective can be viewed by clicking on the Shopee Live button, whereas the sellers perspective can be accessed by clicking the "Me" button at the bottom of the screen, and clicking on "Live Streaming" (this is how we access these features on the actual app as well).
We received a certificate of participation for this design.
GIF1.2 Shopee Live Viewers' Perspective
GIF1.3 Shopee Live Sellers' Perspective
Learning Points
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After taking part in this challenge, I learnt the importance of prioritizing features in UX Design. We found that because we tried to include too many features into our design , we ended up not having enough time to refine the designs, resulting in a very messy user experience. It also introduced increased complexity in our design, which we did not have time to deal with in the short 2 weeks that we were given. By focusing our design and research into only one or two important features first, we can simplify and refine our UX design, while also making it easier for us and others to understand our design decisions.
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I also learnt the importance of copy in UX design. As seen above, many users were often confused or misled by our design due to poor copy, resulting in them having difficulty navigating our product. Apart from placement of features, copy also play a critical role in communicating designs to users (especially so if users have never used any such product before). They teach users how to interact with an element properly and enhances the overall user experience. As such, a good UX design needs to not only be intuitive, but also have copy that is clear and concise where required.