Information Architecture:
The Etsy Registry
scene
As with most solutions, it all started with a problem.
An avid Etsy shopper, I was delighted to learn on wedding-planning forums that Etsy had a bridal registry! That is until I realized that one had to Google "Etsy Registry" to arrive at the correct page, since it was impossible to navigate to from the homepage. To make matters worse, the solution for adding products to your registry was neither clear nor simple (again, Google came to the rescue!). There is a huge market for wedding and shower registries, but currently Etsy is minimizing their market share by not linking to the registry within their site or making the user flow clear.
role
For this 4-week student venture, I researched, analyzed, architected, prototyped, and tested my design solutions.
opportunity
The question I set out to answer was, "how can Etsy make the registry more accessible to its users and grow their market share of the wedding and shower registry industry?”
act 1: user research
To ensure that I was defining the problem correctly, I started with some initial user testing on the existing site. This was extremely basic: I sent the link to Etsy to a handful of friends and showed it to a couple co-workers and asked them if they could find the registry without leaving the Etsy website. The only people who were able to successfully find it did so by searching the help section and following a link from there.
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I moved forward to competitive analysis, confident that the problem was not just user error on my end.
act 2: competitive analysis
Luckily, there are many companies that do online registries really well. I took a look at Macy's, Amazon, and Target to see how they linked to the registry within their sites and how the process worked for adding items. All three companies make it very easy for you to build a registry on both mobile and desktop, though there were a few differences.
Macy's features "Wedding Registry" as one of the navigation links in their header (A), at the end of the line of links and near the horizontal center of the page. If you select this link, it takes you to a landing page (B) where you can create or add items to your registry via a very simple button beside available items (C) (not all items are able to be added). You are not able to add items to the registry from the main homepage, even if you are signed into the site, which seems like a miss from a feature-standpoint.
A
B
C
D
E
Target features registries and lists together, with a "Registries & Lists" link on the navigation bar at all times (D). When you go to an item, there is always a "Registry/List" button available (E), whether or not you are signed in or have created a registry, which allows you to specify where to add the item via a pop-up after you click.
Amazon also features "Registry" as one of the nav links in their header (F), though not as prominently and not if you are signed in. If you are signed in, you need to go to "Accounts & Lists" and select the appropriate registry from the drop-down menu. At that point, you are able to create a registry. After a registry is created, every item has an "add to registry" link below the purchasing buttons (G). If you have not signed in or not created a registry, this link is not visible.
F
G
act 3: design
Looking at how a variety of competitors designed their registry experience gave me an idea as to what customers expect and are familiar with. I sketched out some quick options for adding registry buttons to item pages to gather opinions from potential users. I based these options on the current layout of item pages in Etsy with only slight modifications.
After running my sketches past colleagues, I decided to go move forward with a design that had a simple third button added below the "BUY NOW" and "CART" buttons. It mimics the other two buttons so it's consistent with the rest of the design. It also keeps the item page streamlined and doesn’t add extra clutter, steps, or required knowledge.
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I tried out a user flow that had users selecting the "Registry/List" button and then selecting what they wanted to add to, as well as a quantity of items to add.
To get an idea of what worked with my design and what didn't when it was made into a workflow, I made two simple paper prototypes that I tested with participants. I learned the following:
1
The "Add to List or Registry" button was very easy to find for all participants on the main item page.
2
Adding to a Registry or a List from the same button complicated the process
3
My buttons for selecting a number of items to be added to either a list or the registry didn't make sense to any of the participants.
My takeaway as change needed for my initial paper prototype was that I needed to either change the button to add solely to Registry or remove the number of items option and let the quantity be chosen on the main item page.
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To build out my higher-fidelity prototypes for further testing, I added a "Find a Registry" link to the header (A), similar to what I discovered other companies doing in my competitive analysis. I also added the "Add to Registry" button on the item page (B). My early research had proven this to be a very simple and effective method of adding items to a registry. In order to offer the user assurance that the "Add to Registry" button worked, I added a quick hover message that briefly flashes when the user selects the button (C).
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To further assist users in accessing their registries, I added a "Registries and Lists" option in the drop-down for user information (D), and "Registry" as a navigation tab from the profile (E).
A
B
D
C
E
act 4: testing
Since the overarching goal of the project was to make the Etsy Registry accessible and usable, I set up a couple tasks for my next round of testing:
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Add "Modern Baby Art Cards" to your registry.
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Check your registry.
Since these items were previously only accessible via google, any ability to do these things without prior research would be a win. However, my goal with this design was to have users go through the flows quickly and with minimum need for direction.
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I wanted participants who would actually be likely to use this service in the future. Since the most likely to be early adopters of the Etsy Registry would be people who already either shop or browse often on Etsy, I decided to do my first round of testing with current Etsy users. I also specifically wanted participants who were either pregnant or engaged and currently looking at registries, since this would presumably be the target market for Etsy Registy.
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With that in mind, I wrote a very short screening survey:
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Have you browsed or purchased items from Etsy more than twice in the last year?
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Are you currently pregnant or engaged?
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Are you currently creating or planning to create a registry?
I put these questions out to my community and, a perk of being part of a young community, I had nine people respond. I selected four participants at random to test.
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I met each of the four participants in a coffee shop, where I set my computer in front of them and set them to each task. I explained the project before they started and then gave them their tasks. Then, I observed them as they attempted to complete tasks without further prompting.
act 5: results
The first task, adding an item to the registry, was quickly and easily completed by all participants. Participant 2 was surprised to learn the button was a new feature and not something already available (she had to check Etsy really fast and make sure).
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The second task, checking the registry, was simple for the participants who already made use of their user profile on Etsy. Participant 1 had no prior experience with her user profile and spent a bit of time talking through her search for finding her personal information after discovering that the "Find a Registry" link was not active.
epilogue
Etsy has a gift registry built into their online experience but there is no way to find it from their site. This means Etsy, and Etsy sellers, are missing out on valuable gift registry revenue. I did some analysis and trial with users and concluded that they could solve this problem by adding a link to the top of their navigation as well as a button to their item pages. To help users manage their registry, Etsy could then add it is a profile item and build it into their pre-existing framework for “favorites” and “lists.” When I tested my design on users, it was 100% more effective than the current Etsy site for finding and using the Etsy Registry- not a single user looked for the “help” section!
To build upon this work, some future goals for this project include:
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Adding Registry buttons/links to the mobile app
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Designing the flow for removing items
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Designing the flow for adding additional quantity to items already in the registry
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Adding a link to one's own registry from the Find a Registry page (which already exists on Etsy.com, findable by google search)