Decide

A Chrome extension for online shopping

Overview

Decide is designed for online shoppers to make better, more well-informed purchase decisions. Information on the Internet is fragmented and overwhelming. Decide wants to make the research experience easy, fast, and manageable.

The Problem

I will admit this is one of those "solving-my-own-problem" ideas. Before I purchase anything online, my process will start by doing research on the product. My research will include reading over the following:

Product features
Professional reviews
Consumer reviews

The above research will assist me to better understand the product so that I can make an informed decision. Knowing exactly what the product offers will help me prioritize features that are important to my needs. Considering professional with consumer reviews is to offset any potential bias and subjective opinions. The goal is to make a purchase decision based on objectivity, not subjectivity.

In this process, the most challenging part is managing the quantity and quality of the information. Obtaining the information is easy. A simple Google Search will do. However, what happens after is the problem.

"Though the internet is used as the predominant tool for research - 62% of UK consumers prefer to only research big ticket items online - more than a quarter like to test out these products in store before parting with their money."

Christer Holloman, CEO and Co-founder at Divido

The multi-tabs life. Yes, I am looking for shelving solutions for my new place.

Research

My instinct tells me that someone must have a solution to my problem. I am a big fan of Chrome extensions. So the first place I look is the Chrome web store. When I search for product research, there are only three* extensions.

Despite the lack of options, I decide to give it a try. Unfortunately, the extensions are designed primarily as a business intelligence tool, where users find and validate product ideas from large e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon. This type of extension is not what I need.

Without much luck from the Chrome web store, the next logical place is Google. I believe I will have better luck by broadening the search as well as widening the search term using product research mobile app. Surprisingly, the result is about the same (see video). At this point, I know this could be an opportunity for me to solve this problem.

*Jungle Scout offer a Lite and Regular version. Lite is free so there are only two extensions.

Even worse in Google search

Objectives

To consolidate research information in one single, easily accessible place
To deliver credible and accurate research to our consumers whenever they want it
To enhance the omni-channel shopping experience
To reduce buyer’s remorse

Left: Foto Sushi on Unsplash. Right: ArchPress

Personas

Consumers who want the best value. They want the best price to performance ratio
Purchase decision is NOT primarily driven by cost. They genuinely want a product that will deliver the features that they want, with the right price
Don’t mind spending some time to research
Love technology

Customer Journey

To visualize the entire online shopping experience from research to purchase for consumers who will be using Decide. The goal is to uncover any potential opportunities and pain points that might have been overlooked. I am using the template provided by the Nielsen Norman Group.

I am using buying a new headphones as the scenario. Pain points are outlined in the insights section.

Wireframes

Using Moqups allows me to create prototypes very quickly as well as exploring concepts. This is great for usability feedback. In addition, I can get a better understanding of the technical constraints by showing a prototype to a developer.

Just like any Chrome extension, it can be activated when consumers click on it. Reviews modal will open when consumers click on "watch review now". There are two types of content: written and video. They will be parsed from the available content from the web.

There are filters that sort content by popularity (views and clicks) and by date (most recent to the oldest).

The initial estimations are:

Need to build a database so that content can be parsed and reformatted in a way that makes sense to Decide consumers
Building a database will take time. Need time to explore and research
Without a database, filters can't be done

After showing this to a few developers, Kaustubh has decided to join. He is the UI Designer and Developer at Later (yes he is my co-worker).

Demo

This working prototype is shown at the company's Lunch & Learn in March 2020.

Next Step

Launch Date: Late August
Finalize Settings features. For example, adding dark mode for enhancing readability
Building trust is important. Having a community of like-minded people to create conversation is a good way to increase stickiness of a product. Hence, we will use Mighty Network to build a Decide community, in which people can share and discuss reviews that are helpful