Universal Navigation
When I joined the Hy-Vee team, it was clear we had a navigation problem. Rather than being nurtured as one product, Hy-Vee.com was supported by multiple product teams, each with their own areas of responsibility. Little consideration was given to the “seams” between products and how customers navigated from one area to another. I uncovered multiple instances of customers complaints through existing feedback channels. A peer on the team had designed a new header that was partially implemented. But there were no teams supporting some site areas, and there were ecommerce requirements that hadn’t been considered. So the effort had stalled.
Roles and Responsibilities
When I transitioned to my new role as UX Manager, I really wanted to revisit the problem and build a strong case for change using user research. Grant Kimm collected data from customer care and our analytics platform. Kate Roth and Brian Goeres were two designers on the team who wanted to learn more about IA research methods. I created the project brief and research plan and explained the methods we would use. Kate and Brian drafted the studies, which I reviewed and provided input on. We independently reviewed results and then compared our insights. We worked together on the summary presentation.
Resarch Plan
| Study | Type | Purpose | Tool | Recruiting Pool | Recruiting Method | Number of Participants | Estimated effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top Tasks | remote unmoderated | Identify the top tasks for customers | SurveyMonkey | Hy-Vee.com visitors | Google Tag Manager site intercept | Unlimited | 5 minutes |
| Open Card Sort | remote unmoderated | Learn how customers associate and organize our content. An open card sort allows them to group items without being biased by our categories. | Optimal Workshop | Customer Feedback List | Email invitation | 15-30 | 20 minutes |
| Open Card Sort | in person | Doing this same test in person allows us to get more insight on why customers sort cards into certain groups. | Printed cards | In-store shoppers | Ask people in store | 5 | 20 minutes |
| Closed Card Sort (optional) | remote unmoderated | Once we choose specific categories, we can validate where people would put cards within our set categories. If we get clear consensus in the open sort, we may skip this and move straight to Treejack testing. | Optimal Workshop | Customer Feedback List | Email invitation | 15-30 | 20 minutes |
| Treejack Test A | remote unmoderated | Test the global IA absent any design. We will run two tests to compare which tree is better. | Optimal Workshop | Customer Feedback List, random split | Email invitation | Unlimited | 20 minutes |
Treejack Test B |
remote unmoderated | Test the global IA absent any design. We will run two tests to compare which tree is better. | Optimal Workshop | Customer Feedback List, random split | Email invitation | Unlimited | 20 minutes |
Usability Testing of Functional Prototypes |
remote unmoderated | We will create three high-fidelity prototypes, each using the new IA but exploring different design options. | UserZoom | IntelliZoom panel | UserZoom | 10 for each concept | 20 minutes |
Usability Testing of Hy-Vee.com |
remote moderated | We need to better understand how current shoppers are using the cart flyout menu. This will help us make a decision on whether it is necessary to include this in the MVP. | UserZoom | Aisles Online shoppers | Email invitation | 7 | 40 minutes |
Outcome
Our research and plan was well-received by leadership and Product Owners. We succeeded in making the case for change.
The design phase of this project has truly been a team effort. Ryan Young, who supports our new Design System effort has taken the lead on refining design concepts. Hy-Vee has recently expanded order fulfillment options to include ship to home across the United States, so there has been a lot of effort put in by our ecommerce designers: Derek Darby, Katie Anderson and Jason Englebart. The project has surfaced technical challenges for integrating disparate search functions. Work continues as we aim for a planned release in April 2022.
