lululemon Search and Filters
Goals:
Elicit pain points and recommendations across specific features of the search experience across desktop, mobile web, and app.
Methodology:
- Moderated interviews: 5 desktop, 5 mobile web, 5 app
- Split male/female, Canada/US
- Focus on non-customers except for app users
Wins:
Fortunately, there were a small number of pain points observed. Overall, the features of search were well received and usability was high.
- Win #1 — Accessing search: Easy to locate and use across platforms for guests/non.
- Win #2 — Recent Searches: A familiar feature that is a nice touch.
- Win #3 — Type Ahead: Another familiar feature that saves time.
- Win #4 — Search Suggestions: An advanced feature that sets lululemon apart.
- Win #5 — Search Results: lululemon stands out again by having clothing with models and colour options.
- Win #6 — Filters: Gives power to both power users and regular users.
Executive Summary
In hour-long interviews, you can take the time to get to know the participants. Here, we spent time discussing their general internet habits and specifically their search patterns.
One important broad insight was the multi-pronged search strategies that participants described using. Most participants would describe a simple one-to-one search strategy as their first step: “I’m looking for item A so I will enter that as my search term”. However, participants have learned some clever tricks they can use if the first search doesn’t yield results. For example, one participant described deliberately viewing an item that was close enough to what they were searching for, just so they could be presented with related ‘you might also like’ items.
One insight that was specific to the lululemon digital properties was the role that language played for those customers who were not as familiar with the brand. Brand-specific terms for materials, lines of apparel, etc., appear in both search results and filters. For shoppers new to the brand and trying to orient themselves to, say, leggings, these brand-specific terms did not support their search efforts.
