Autotrader allows car shoppers to search car classifieds anywhere in the continental USA. As a part of that search process, there are a diverse set of filters that allow people to refine their search results pages (SRPs). Our team noticed two potential problems in the data that needed investigation:
With millions of daily visitors and analytics hooks baked into the product, we had good data to examine. With input from the Data Analytics Lead, I dove into Adobe Analytics to answer some curated questions the team pulled together (see below). Some examples were:
I also wanted to run usability tests to dig into the "why". I composed the test protocol in concert with the Research Lead and moderated each test as follows:
Our research efforts revealed the following key insights:
Coming out of the research phase we had identified the problem to solve - filter findability and usability. There were several competing ideas to solve this problem and the team had some difficulty choosing a direction. They all seemed good; pre-opening certain filters, creating a horizontal filter pattern, and reordering our current set. I used a decision matrix to determine the best choice moving forward- suggested filters.
I conducted a competitive analysis to see how others were offering filtering solutions, how they worked, and what the surrounding context was.
After the problem was well defined, it was time to think through functionality. Through collaboration with the rest of the my team and the UX group as a whole, this was my final proposal:
Through usertesting.com, I set up usability tests for three concepts. Here are two alternative concepts that did not end up winning. One employed simple brand logos and the other leveraged a cognitive bias where shapes that differ from others get noticed (Von Restorff effect).
During development, I worked with the development and architecture teams to bring the design to fruition. During this process I owned the following:
Our team measured outcome via analytics after the population reached statistical significance. We determined the following
I definitely learned a lot about conducting research in this endeavor. With my Lead UX Researcher in support, I was in charge of creating the test script, launching the test, analyzing videos from usertesting.com, creating any follow up studies, and creating a final report. I found that I very much enjoy being in the learn-build-measure mode as a UX designer.
I hope you enjoyed this quick tour. Please let me know if you would like to discuss my skills and experience a bit more.