Adding features to improve the online flower buying experience
Plants Without Borders helps farmers from Asia and South America sell plants to buyers in the United States. New floral vendors have recently joined the platform to sell their flowers, so Plants Without Borders will have a new customer base to cater to — florists and wholesale florists.
UX Researcher
UX Designer
Designers (2)
Founder / CEO
Figma
Slack
Google Meet
4 months
(Jan - Mar, May 2023)
"There are a lot of flowers on your list. I'll order these for now, and maybe I'll order some of the other ones next time."
Make an easy way for customers to save products to buy in the future
"The only length available is 30 cm? That is too short. We order stem lengths between 80 to 90 cm."
Clearly show all available stem lengths to allow customers to select what they need
"I need to know the box size because it helps me know what to expect in freight, and it's important for shipping considerations."
Provide information on box size and how many stems fit in each type of box
When taking on this project, I had very little knowledge of the floral industry, so I was very invested in the research. I got to talk to the Founder and learn more about why he was in the industry and what hopes he had for his business. I also got to talk to some employees that worked directly with both the growers and buyers to gain more insight on some pain points. Then, I looked at competitors to see what they were offering and to gain more knowledge of the agricultural industry.
I looked at seven direct competitors and one indirect competitor. I learned a lot about what companies were offering, and what features we could add to the Plants Without Borders website. My goal was to improve the buying experience of the current platform, so I took particular attention to features that were available to customers that Plants Without Borders did not have. I presented these main findings and a few other findings to the Founder.
All direct competitors required buyers to create an account and had some sort of screening process before they were allowed to purchase plants or flowers.
Products were listed in a spreadsheet format to make it easier for users to scan through all the products quickly. This format was available on platforms targeted towards wholesale florists or frequent buyers who did not need photos.
Royal Floraholland and BiFlorica were the only companies that showed any sort of auction information.
I got to talk to seven growers and three buyers. I interviewed growers because initially, we wanted to build a grower platform. But due to budget constraints and time constraints, we did not move forward creating that platform. Although the interviews focused on how we could build a grower platform, it did help shed light on how they sell their products to their customers.
After talking to the growers and buyers, there were some clear pain points for buyers when looking at the website.
Shipping is a major concern for both parties. Experienced online buyers mentioned that they did not want their flowers shipped to their door because they did not want the flowers in trucks any longer than the flowers needed to be in there to avoid potential damage.
Florists were not so familiar with the terms quarter box and half box. While wholesale florists were used to buying in these quantities, florists have been buying flowers in bunches.
Florists wanted to easily see all the products and the available sizes, along with the availability of flowers based on delivery date. They also wanted to know the price per stem to easily compare prices.
Many florists did not have much experience buying online since they have been used to placing orders through a third party or buying from wholesalers.
After getting to know our users, I made personas to refer to throughout the design process.
Click photo to enlarge
There was a lot to do with not much time, so we really had to boil down the features that we could add now and jot down features we can add later on. After talking to the team, we decided it was best to add things that were immediately needed. The current buying experience did not allow users to select stem length or select a box type. Also, florists were used to buying flowers by unit price, so we wanted to include that as well. Lastly, we wanted to add a quick feature to allow users to favorite items.
Since we were adding new features, we had to update the user flow. The second designer on our team mapped out the new user flow. Then, I made iterations to it after usability testing to reflect the changes that were made.
After designing the hi-fidelity wireframes, it was was time to test our design to see if it was easy for users to add products to their cart with the newly added features. I conducted individual online moderated usability testing with two local florists, one wholesale florist, and two event florists. I chose moderated testing to get live feedback during the testing.
We tested three task flows:
To measure the success of our design, I used ease of navigation and completion rate as our metrics.
4.26
On a scale of 1 (very difficult) to 5 (very easy), participants found it easy to navigate the website to carry out the tasks.
100%
All participants completed all tasks successfully.
The website was easy to navigate, and users were able to select stem length and package types as well as favorite products. As we went through usability testing, I noticed that there were new features that could be added right away to improve the user experience. Using post it notes, I sorted out the notes I took during the usability testing on a graph to help determine which items to tackle first.
Local florists were not familiar with the terms QB and HB, so I wrote out each package type. Also, small florists were not familiar with how many stems may fit in a certain box, so I switched it to a drop down menu to make it easier to scan how many stems fit in each package type.
To make it easy for florists to see the total price of their purchase and to make it easier to compare prices, it was helpful to include the shipping fee in the price rather than having it appear as a separate payment at checkout. Also, if users are not given a shipping cost estimate before checkout, it may cause them to abandon their order (Baymard.com).
Ideally, we would want users to create an account and let us know the shipping address, but we do not want to scare new users away by forcing them to make an account (Baymard.com). So, guests will get this pop up message once a product is clicked on.
This was a feature we were working on adding to the next version, but we added it right away since we want users to be able to change the delivery zip code when needed.
Guests do not have to go through the long process of making an account before viewing our products. Just enter the delivery zip code to view the product prices and estimated delivery date.
We now give you the option to easily select the desired stem length and package type for each product.
Click on the heart to easily add a product to your favorites!
