Victoria’s Secret Enhanced Ratings & Reviews
Role
UX/UI
Duration
6 months
Overview
This project was part of a larger company initiative towards making Victoria’s Secret more inclusive. Through UGC via ratings & reviews users can get a better understanding of how an item might better fit themselves. This project worked with both in-house engineers as well as a third party vendor to implement enhancements to an existing feature on the site that integrating customer insights, leveraging user research and industry patterning.
The Challenge
Context
Victoria’s Secret already had ratings & reviews however it was mostly robust and free form information being entered by the user. Reviews were lacking structure, fit information and did not allow for photos to be uploaded.
Problem
One of the ways users are trying to understand if a product is right for them is by scrutinizing on figure imagery and looking for reviews from someone with a similar body type.
We need to find a way to allow and integrate elements of fit information into the ratings & reviews section to help users feel more confident about purchasing an item on our site.
KPIs
Primary: conversion & revenue
Secondary: less returns (measured over time)
Also tracking: customer sentiment & brand perception (qualitative), interaction with filter/sort within reviews.
Constraints
Enhancements to filtering may be integrated into a fast follow not for the initial release. Any images uploaded by customers will need to be screened before being posted to the site.
Baymard
“During testing, 95% of subjects relied on reviews to evaluate the product or learn more about products, in some cases, mainly using the product information contained in the reviews instead of the information provided by the site.”
What research tells us
Reviews help with visualization, providing an unbiased perspective on fit and going into details that only lived experience can give. They also provide opportunities for the customer to find information from someone closer to themselves.
Reviews can answer questions about a product that can only be answered over time (ex: how it does when washed, how long it lasts)
They mention when something feels bigger or smaller than it should be and provides aggregates.
Gives the details that only a wearer can learn, like what parts of the bra dig in, or if the band is looser than expected.
Users are trying to understand:
How will a product fit?
Is it comfortable?
What will it look like on me?
Is it a good value?
Overview of competitive analysis
Ratings Attributes & Photos
Overall ratings extend beyond just general fit and customers can upload photos. Customer attributes are associated with reviews which help to enhance filtering capabilities.
Reviews Filters (below)
Brands are using their customers attributes to help filter and find the most relevant reviews. Patterns appear in tags populated by keywords, sizing, or activity type.
Reviews Injections (below)
Brands are finding new and creative ways to pull relevant product review details further up on the product page.
Opportunities within Ratings & Reviews
After auditing our ratings & reviews, looking at sentiments from shop alongs and comparing competitive analysis some key themes emerged.
Reading
What does this review say about the product? How does the reviewer relate to me?
Review Card Hierarchy
Writing
How can we minimize the effort we are requesting of customers? What pieces of data are most critical for a valuable customer?
Write a Review Form
Exploring
What is the overall sentiment of this product? How do I find reviews that matter to me?
Attributes & Filters
Extending
How can we leverage the insights in reviews outside of the reviews section.
Reviews Injections
Writing
Reviews email template refresh
Business requests for the email:
Creative and copy refresh to align with current brand values.
Added fit promise callout along with free returns to show an element of humanization.Removed category linking to bring customer care component higher up in the template and closer to fit promise.
Extended the window for writing a review from 60 to 90 days past purchase before the form will expire.
left is the old, right is the new
Write a review form
Improvements:
Smaller product image
Styled product name
Color & Size purchased (new)
Lengthy product description (removed)
Overall rating (smaller)
Fit/comfort/quality rating slider (new)
Tips & guidelines (smaller and optimized
Upload up to three photos (new)
Customer location
Age range (new format)
Height (new field)
Ability to add additional ratings based on product type (new)
left is the old, right is the new
Exploring & Reading
Iteration & validation for reviews
I did usability testing with different hierarchy for elements within ratings & reviews to validate the experiences I thought were working best and made revisions.
Assembled view of reviews
Summary of changes
Improvements to the ratings & reviews on PDP:
Smaller overview footprint
Smaller write a review footprint
New ratings attributes displayed
Added additional attributes to filter by
One column display on desktop for review cards
Grouping customer attributes
Product purchased attributes
Photo display (when relevant)
Member status more integrated with card hierarchy using type
Smaller voting/report CTAs
Left is the old, right is the new (with some UI updates after rebranding)
Results
Order conversion went up .9% & revenue 1.8% per visit.
A small number with a big impact with an estimated increase of $30 million a year in revenue.
Future Enhancements
Relevancy Injections
Injecting most relevant parts of reviews higher up on the PDP where it might be most helpful to users.
UGC
Explore new ways to showcase UGC increasing trust, transparency, diversity & inclusion.
Filter Refinement
Enhanced filter capabilities both within reviews on PDP and collection page.