The Sill - Exploring and redesigning the new customer experience of the D2C plant shop
A summary presentation of user research findings and design suggestions
CLIENT Institute of Design (Educational purpose)
Challenge
Help The Sill understand existing and potential customers' mental models and purchasing behaviors so that The Sill can improve its services and attract new customers.
Solution
An array of insights developed from a series of research and recommendations for The Sill’s future services. A proposal for additional research identifying areas to be further explored.
The Sill is creating more opportunities for plant parenthood by bringing life to people and people to life through both retail(in-store shopping) and online plant shopping service. However, there are more opportunity areas for the Sill to satisfy plant parents' needs. According to online reviews, some users find plants extremely expensive, not aesthetically pleasing, and the website too complicated and not intuitive. Through a series of user research, we aimed to find pain points that potential/existing customers face and suggest how to improve their services, then propose an additional research project to keep expanding The Sill’s business.
How might we help The Sill create a more intimate purchase process and plant ownership experience by transforming their digital and physical platforms?
*This is a hypothetical client work. The Sill is not involved in this project.
Role
Design Researcher
Collaborators
Diana Nguyen
Keval Parekh
Naomi Ito
Instructor
Project Duration
January 2022 - May 2022 (in Chicago)
Outcome
Reporting a summary of our insights and suggested directions that The Sill can explore in the future
(The content was updated based on the feedback we got from our instructor after the presentation)
Video recording of our presentation
2. Proposing an Additional Research Project
* Information related to our firm (Studio Bonsai) is hypothetical.
Approach
Combining multiple research methods to understand customers’ purchasing behavior and develop insights
To understand the trends of customers' mental models and preferences
Questionnaire
To dive deeper into customers’ needs and desires
Home visits (In-home ethnography)
Interviews with potential/existing customers
Prioritization by applying the Card Sorting method
To understand UX issues:
Heuristic Research
Usability Testing by applying the Think Aloud method
After the series of research, we summarized our findings and insights.
Then, we developed a proposal for an additional research project for The Sill based on a hypothetical RFP provided by the instructor.
In-home ethnography and interview with a potential customer
Interview with a potential customer
Usability testing with a potential customer by applying the Think Aloud method
Prioritization with a potential customer by applying the Card Sorting method
Developing Design Principles
We found some issues that potential customers would face when considering using The Sill in each step of their purchasing processes.
As plant parents or future plant parents, people need to visually-emotionally connect with a plant to feel confident making it a part of the family. However, some potential customers are having difficulties finding emotional attachments to The Sill's design; they find it too simple and not unique. They feel that they can easily find something similar for a fraction of The Sill’s price.
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Align the visual experience with customers’ visual value system
How might we deliver a personalized and meaningful visual experience during search to help customers find their plant baby?
How might we ensure the end-to-end visual experience of the service aligns with the visual value system of the customer?
1. Search
Customers want to see and experience their plants before buying them. They consider: size, quality and appearance. Online shopping limits how much control users have over the plant selection process, so it is important to provide users with sufficient information to build confidence in the purchase.
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Provide an intimate opportunity to experience plants before purchasing
How might we create an immersive online shopping experience for customers that feels analogous to in-person shopping?
How might we enable our customers to “see” their plants before purchasing?
2. Select
Some of the customers may feel skeptical about The Sill’s plant delivery capabilities, based on their personal experience with similar plant commerce services. Also, some customers may have difficulty understanding why The Sill has premium price for the domestic shipping.
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Intimately connect the customer to every step of the delivery process
How might we better communicate the value of The Sill’s shipping?
How might we build trust with customers by making the shipping information more transparent and accessible?
3. Deliver
Plant care plays an important role in one’s plant parenthood. People think a lot about plant care before and after purchasing plants to make conscious, data-driven decisions. These decisions can create a sense of trust in the brand which might impact brand value, loyalty and recognition.
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Provide personal, relevant plant care information and resources
How might we provide personalized and meaningful plant care resources to help people make conscious decisions along their plant care journey?
4. Care
Proposing A Research Project Based on Their Requirements and Budgets
Based on our presentation, we received a hypothetical RFP for an additional research for The Sill.
Overview
Since 2012, The Sill has provided a plant delivery platform and purchasing experience that supports bringing biophilic experiences to the masses. As our business evolves, we need support reimagining what our digital and physical experience can and should be to support getting plants into the hands of as many new plant parents as possible.
Business Ambition
The Sill’s ambition is to develop the most consistent and easiest to use plant delivery app and service that maintains the authenticity and uniqueness of each plant in the The Sill family and portfolio.
Business Goals
The Sill relies on two primary touch points to connect customers to plants: the website and physical locations. This period of an unprecedented time of home delivery services has provided great insight into the potential of expanding our brand outreach to new users while emphasizing the need to elevate our digital experiences. Now, The Sill needs to identify opportunity areas where The Sill brand might be able to create new experiences to engage customers and increase brand awareness. They are also looking to develop a forward-looking innovation pipeline that helps us identify new features and services celebrating plant ownership.