AROMATE

UX research for a fragrance selection service, enhancing understanding of user preferences and decision-making to tailor the user experience.

My Role

As the UX researcher, I was responsible for shaping the research direction and methodology, ensuring a deep understanding of our users' perfume selection journey. My focus was on seamlessly integrating these insights into the service's design, thereby creating a user-centric and intuitive fragrance selection experience.

Breaking Down the Process

Research Goals

  • Understand how people currently choose their fragrances.
  • Identify pain points and opportunities where our service could add value.
  • Identify any additional information or resources that users need to make informed decisions about perfumes, and explore ways to incorporate this information into the service.

Challenges

  • Understanding the diverse preferences and needs of the target audience.
  • Ensuring the questionnaire is effective at identifying the best match for users.
  • Identifying and addressing any potential biases in the research process.

Methods

  • Stakeholder Interviews: Understanding business goals and service expectations.
  • User Interviews: Gathering user experiences and preferences in perfume selection.
  • Competitive Analysis: Identifying market gaps and areas for improvement.
  • Persona Building: Creating representative user personas from gathered data.

Recruitment profile

Recruitment focused on attracting a diverse range of participants, eager to share their perfume choices, regardless of their level of fragrance knowledge, but specifically excluded individuals with no interest in perfumes or those unwilling to discuss their perfume selection experiences.

Results

Interview Takeaways

  • It's hard to find a unique, personalized fragrance that meets preferences and budget - this is particularly true for people who like to try out a few different fragrances before committing.
  • Not many people are familiar with online recommendation services and even if they are, their experience with them is generally bad.
  • User reviews and ratings are considered a reliable source of information.
  • Many people have a trusted friend who has extensive knowledge about fragrances and he/she gives recommendations to them.
  • Samples are a suitable way to try out fragrances before committing.
  • Online stores don't have a high level of trust, because they usually just give you paid promotions instead of personal recommendations.
  • Many people buy fragrances based on familiarity with the brand.
  • A reliable recommendation service would be very welcome.

Key Insights

High Demand for Online Fragrance Recommendation

Most people would be happy to use an online fragrance recommendation service.

Need for Improved UI in Recommendation Services

The current recommendation services have a poor UI and fail to provide a questionnaire that asks relevant questions and gives great personalized recommendations.

Value of User Reviews in Decision Making

User reviews and ratings should be integrated into the service, as it is considered to be a reliable source of information.

Impact of Sample Testing on Purchase Decisions

Giving samples of the recommended fragrances significantly increases the chance of finding the right perfume.

Key Factors Influencing Fragrance Choice

The scent and the brand are the most important factors for users when choosing a new fragrance.

Next Steps

Based on the insights from the UX research, the next steps for this project will be to brainstorm and design wireframes for the questionnaire and recommendation system. We will use these wireframes to create a clickable prototype, which we will test with users to ensure that it is intuitive and easy to use. This will involve conducting usability testing with the prototype, in which we will ask users to complete the questionnaire and receive recommendations, and observe and gather feedback on their experience.

By conducting usability testing with the prototype, we will be able to validate our design decisions and identify any areas for improvement before moving on to the development phase. This will help us ensure that the final product meets the needs and preferences of our target audience and provides a seamless and enjoyable experience for users.

Contact

dilyara.seitova@gmail.com