Koala launched their Japanese website in November 2017. However, it has been underperforming except during sales. Both its conversion rate and revenue per user have been low, and we haven’t seen much improvement every quarter.
Goal of the project
The Japan eCommerce environment is very different from that of western culture. At the first time since the website launch, we aimed to
- Gather insights about overall user journey.
- Find which shopping behaviours and goals influence customers decisions.
- Investigate if there are any existing issues for Japanese customers to order mattresses.
My Role
Led two other Australian team members and made sure all the preparation was made before the trip to Japan.
- Recruitment and scheduling.
- Moderated all the interviews and debriefing.
- Documentation and presentation to relevant stakeholders.
Approach
- Conducted a workshop with relevant stakeholders
- Quantitative Research
Data analysis by Google Analytics and Visual website optimizer. - Qualitative Research
12 usability sessions over the week (3 per day). Each session would take about an hour each. Conducted in the wework office in Tokyo.
Recruitment
Each subject was recruited according to our key personas and asked to attend a one-hour session at an allocated time slot.
Usability Testing
Before each session, we would scope out an area in the office and set up a GoPro filming the user’s actions. Upon the user’s arrival, we would then connect their phone with a Zoom screen share call (a Skype-like app for video calls).
Findings & Learnings
- Most of the call to actions on the site led users to a product page, which made them frustrated and end up looking for the information in a footer.
- They tend to focus on facts, stats, testimonials and real-life situations instead of marketing driven content.
The content: too Australian. - Our blog was popular among the participants due to its content relevance.
- Overall, the checkout experience was positive for most of the participants. “Easy to use,” they said.
Results
Early data are showing promising results.
- By adding “menu” below the hamburger, we went from an average of 26 clicks per day (VWO heatmaps) to 500.
- The contact form submission rate increased by 8%. Drop-offs on the email address field decreased by 13%
- The conversion rate was doubled.
