TMG
Head of UCD: James Sinclair
UCD Consultant: Kamila Orzechowska
UCD Consultant: Brad Herring
Business Development: Wyndham Lewis
MY ROLE
My role was to set up and oversee research, and deliver the final report.
BACKGROUND
L.K. Bennett is a London-based affordable luxury brand known for its shoes, clothing, handbags, and accessories. In 2007, the marketing team struggled to understand site analytics. While the reports showed what was happening, they did not explain why. The team needed to know what was behind the basket abandonment figure.
CHALLENGE
Make sense of how users were using the LK Bennett site during their customer journey.
APPROACH
After reviewing the analytics, we reflected on our shopping behaviours. We realised that both offline and online channels were being used to support our purchase journeys, but the preference for one over the other varied depending on the product. For example, for books, the web offered convenience and value, while for clothing, a store visit was necessary to experience the product before purchase. With this in mind, we developed a research question: how do offline and online channels interact during a purchase journey?
Research:
- Split research into two parts: in-depth interviews and a survey
- Conducted interviews in the Covent Garden store, with changing room doubling as a lab
- Sales assistance helped to recruit shoppers for interviews
- Constructed a questionnaire and launched it for two weeks
- Obtained a sample size of over a thousand respondents
Findings:
- In 2007, only 2% of users frequently made online purchases, while 60% never purchased from L.K.Bennett online
- Customers used the web for research but headed to the shop for the attainment
- Visit duration and frequency online and offline were roughly similar
- Functional issues were uncovered, such as the lack of a colour filter for shoes
- Customers’ motivations were uncovered, such as handbags being primarily an emotional choice based on desire.
OUTCOME
The basket abandonment figure reflected the customer’s research behaviour and was no cause for alarm. Our research provided L.K. Bennett with a context to understand their analytics.