The problem
The shops were closed and there was stock to sell before Christmas. But in testing, half of the people couldn't find the online shop from Shelter's website.
Case study · Shelter
Shelter's online shop
In winter 2020 Shelter's charity shops were closed because of the pandemic, so the online shop needed to bring in more money. I worked with the Income Generation team for four months, first on the Christmas card shop and then on the new second-hand clothing shop.
At a glance
What I did
Looked at the analytics for quick changes before Christmas, reviewed the new second-hand shop, and ran research with shop managers, staff and members of the public.
What changed
“Shop” was added to Shelter's main navigation, as the research recommended. The online shop now brings in additional income for Shelter.
Christmas 2020
The online shop had a lot of stock that the stakeholders needed to promote heavily in the run up to Christmas. This was partly to help plug the gap caused by the closure of physical shops, and partly because some of the stock would be out of date once the new brand came in.
I went through the analytics and site search data to find changes we could make quickly.
122kVisits to the card shop, 1 Oct to 23 Nov 2020
+356%More traffic than the same period in 2019
38%Of pageviews came from paid search
256Site searches for cards or gifts in seven weeks
3 of 4 featured Christmas cards were sold out
We swapped them for cards that were in stock. Longer term, sold-out cards should move to the end of the list automatically.
20% of people on Support us clicked Volunteer next
Most volunteering was paused because of the pandemic, so this was a dead end. I suggested swapping the Volunteer and Online shop cards for now.
Searching “ecards” showed no results
“e card” worked, but “ecards” didn't. I suggested fixing these searches, and showing the online shop first for searches like “Christmas gifts”.
A third of card searches started on Donate pages
People donating were also looking for cards, so I suggested linking to the shop from those pages without distracting from donating.
Reviewing the second-hand shop
Shelter had just launched a second-hand clothing shop online. Before testing it with people, I reviewed it myself so I knew what to look out for.
Two names for the same section
The menu said “Second-hand Store”, but the page and breadcrumb said “Reuse, Restore, Rehome”. Neither mentioned clothes.
368 filter tags
The filter list grew every time a product was added, and the page numbers were hidden, so browsing was hard.
The logo left the shop
The Shelter logo linked to the main website, not the shop homepage, so it was easy to lose your way.
Bugs
You could add more than one of a one-off item. On mobile, the 50% off banner covered the menu and the basket.
Research with 25 people
As Shelter had recently launched the second-hand shop, we wanted to broaden our understanding of how users interact with it. Our main objective was to uncover current pain points and highlight potential areas for improvement.
4Shop managers interviewed, in Horsforth, King's Cross, Wimbledon Village and Edinburgh
6Staff members in moderated usability tests
15Members of the public in unmoderated tests on Userlytics
70%+Of shop visitors were on mobile
What we found
- Half of the people couldn't find the shopHalf of participants were unable to locate the online shop from england.shelter.org.uk. One person found it after 3 minutes and 43 seconds. The site search didn't show it, and people who found “Shop finder” in the footer guessed, correctly, that it was for the high street shops. Most expected to find the shop in the main navigation.
- Wrong filter results made people trust the shop lessFiltering for jumpers also showed cardigans and tank tops. Only two sizes appeared in the size filter, and blue items showed up under green. Some people called the shop “buggy” or thought it was a prototype.
- Most people used mobile, where it was hardest to useIn January 2021 the shop had 10,950 visitors on mobile and 4,513 on desktop. Tasks were harder on mobile, product details were hard to read, and it wasn't clear whether a filter or “add to basket” had worked.
- The best items weren't shown firstProducts appeared in a random order, so ties and pyjamas could be the first thing you saw. People wanted to browse, like they would in a charity shop, so the best items needed to be shown first.
“Just because they are selling second-hand goods doesn’t mean the website has to be second-hand.”
“I don’t think I understand what condition the clothes are in.”
“Customers are looking for a bargain.”
Personas
Eco warrior
Buys second-hand because it is better for the environment. Cares about which brands are sold, how long things last and how far they are shipped.
What would helpMore sustainable packaging.
Bargain hunter
Wants a good deal. Items need to be cheaper than buying them new on the high street.
What would helpShowing price reductions, and explaining that the mailing list gives discount codes.
Fashionista
Looks for designer labels at lower prices, and for vintage and one-off pieces.
What would helpA separate section for designer items, instead of one long list of brands.
We asked people to rank brand, colour, material, price, size, condition and style. Condition was consistently ranked highly, while the others varied.
What I recommended
Quick wins
- Add the online shop to Shelter's site search, and link to it from the homepage and footer
- Add a filter for brand new and never worn items
- Show delivery times and costs before checkout
- Add all sizes, and a photo of the care label
- Set the right tax setting and environmental message by default when shop managers upload items
Longer term
- Add “Shop” to Shelter's main navigation and redesign the shop landing page
- Use set descriptions for condition, because people didn't know what “Used” meant
- Add a “featured” tag so the best items show first
- Show how much of the price goes to helping people
- Create a section for designer items
Shop managers
Shop managers received anywhere from 300 to 500 boxes a week, with little space to sort, photograph or store them. Putting items on Shopify took a long time, and they typed details like condition, tax and the environmental message by hand every time. The shop needed to be easier for them to run, as well as easier to shop from.
The shop today
“Shop” is now in the main navigation of england.shelter.org.uk, and the online shop brings in additional income for Shelter. Scroll inside the frames to see the full pages.
