Fatima Mekkaoui // Portfolio - Take My Money Already

Overview

Previously, I initiated a survey to assess customer preferences regarding product customization and product delivery HUDs as part of a larger effort to enhance branding as it relates to positive consumer engagement. The survey revealed unexpected findings in the area of “unpacking by size", prompting further exploration.

The conventional method involved including all rig variations of a product in one product delivery HUD, leading to customer frustration and unnecessary clutter in their inventory as they would have to manually organize and delete unwanted deliverables.

The idea of selective unpacking was introduced by my vendor software system, but survey results indicated mixed responses when respondents were asked if they would prefer this feature.

I decided to sell my products in individual sizes instead, updating my vendor delivery method to let customers choose their preferred size from a menu before payment. This change aimed to please my customers and offer more affordable options. This approach would have yielded quantifiable data on my customers' size preferences, indicating which sizes to continue supporting and which to potentially deprecate.

After a spike in support cases I did some research, asked my customers in a follow up shopping behavior survey their thoughts, and ended up reverting back to my original product packaging and delivery model.

jkyx [stiletto] - product render in Substance Painter. The first product to experience hiccup in sales due to customer unfamiliarity with vendor menu switch. Featured at the Vault event July 2023.

Customer sharing a screenshot of their difficulty making a purchase of the product after it was moved to the flagship where lag and traffic is much lower and hence not a common obstacle.

Every shop owner's dream customer scenario. Or is it?!

Participants

Retailer (Myself): Digital fashion retailer, business owner seeking to enhance the user experience for customers when making and receiving a purchase while identifying metrics for size preferences.

Vendor System: Product delivery system/ CRM service software by provider MD Labs. This is a third-party service to underlying Second Life Transaction API.

Respondents (Survey 1): Customers who provided feedback on the existing delivery method and the proposed changes.

Respondents (Survey 2): Customers who provided feedback on shopping behavior survey.

Customers: Customers who made purchases using interactive vendors in Second Life both in flagship and events.

Definitions

Delivery HUD (Heads-Up Display): a virtual "box" interface used to transmit packaged digital products to Second Life users inventory from a sellers server of products.

Selective Unpacking: A feature in MD Lab delivery HUDs allowing customers to receive only the desired rig version relevant to their avatar's body type or “size” instead of unpacking all versions causing strain on inventory count as well as providing important statistics for the seller on what sizes are most in demand.

Direct Pay: A payment method allowing instant purchase when left-clicking a vendor without navigating through a full point-of-sale pop-up dialog menu.

Vendor: The interface customers use to make a purchase, which in this case runs MD Labs.

Multi-item Vendor: A vendor that has the capability to serve multiple versions of a product including a combined bundle and/ or a trial "demo" copy for the customer.

Demonstration of two vendors, Left: using Direct Pay and Right: Left-Clicking to activate robust options menu. Note cursor changing from L$ in circle icon to typical pointing hand icon between the two, which are native Second Life GUI.

Demonstration of a vendor reproducing the "no price" obstacle users faced when attempting to bypass the menu dialog and ignoring local chat by "right-click > pay" behavior, the vendor could not charge them when it didn't know what size is selected.

Challenges

Learning Curve: Customers faced challenges adapting to the new vendor menu, leading to confusion resulting in increased support requests.

Communication Breakdown: Despite efforts to inform users through updated signage, some customers continued to experience difficulties in the purchasing process.

Resource Constraints: Individual packaging of sizes strained delivery servers and consumed limited virtual space.

Implementation

Customer Feedback Surveys: “HUD UX Survey” and a follow-up “Vendor Survey” were conducted to understand user experiences and preferences.

Vendor Software Adjustment: Modifying the vendor software to align with the new sales approach and providing clear instructions to customers.

Portion of HUD UX Survey results regarding unpacking by size and whether to incorporate it into the product delivery pipeline.

Results from subsequent follow-up survey after spike in support requests: type of menu used.

Results from subsequent follow-up survey after spike in support requests: first option.

Results from subsequent follow-up survey after spike in support requests: 2nd option.

Results from subsequent follow-up survey after spike in support requests: direct pay.

Results

User Behavior: Previous shopping habits and familiarity with different vendor software created confusion for customers. Learned behavior led customers to use "right click > pay" instead of the intended menu interaction of selecting a size before entering the payment screen.

Resource Strain:

Individual packaging of sizes led to resource constraints, impacting sales and creating a need for ongoing cleanup efforts.

Screenshot showing multiple servers approaching capacity. Due to exponential increase in individual product delivery HUDs stored this capacity is overwhelmed at a significantly faster rate requiring more servers to be deployed.

The Multi-Item Vendor Panel that ships with the MD Labs Vendor system as a UI for the Mult-item script version. This is typically not used in Events because of the lag on end users when "flipping" through loading multiple textures to view different products.

It took longer to package items and label them individually.

Multiple sizes of a product, the corresponding texture change HUD, and the Delivery HUD they will all be packaged into at once assuming this is the full "fatpack". When selling by individual sizes, each size would be packaged in its own Delivery HUD.

Flowchart demonstrating the simplicity of packaging all sizes together.

Flowchart demonstrating the repetitive process to package by size.

It took more scripts to make more buttons and it took more signage to re-educate shopping behavior.

Screenshot of neighbor's booth at an event using single-item vendor per size, each button with its own nested script so regardless if a user left-clicked or right-clicked > pay they would directly buy the product with no menu.

Screenshot of instructions provided to customers at another store.

It took more time answering support tickets than focusing on making new products.

Mainframe, an event I frequently released new products through, notifying me of customer confusion with my vendors.

Messages from customers raising concerns that they are unable to make purchases with my vendors at various events.

More customer complaints and confusion.

Even more.

Lag is the usual suspect when troubleshooting. The broader picture emerged when complaints were for multiple vendors simultaneously both at events and when moved back to the flagship.

Initially I utilized visual cues to guide users through the new purchasing process when met with increase in support tickets, but that did not stagger much less stop them because it became apparent that especially in expos and shopping events customers have some kind of signage fatigue

Band-aid signage placed quickly over vendors at event booths as there is a setup deadline and revamping the booth was not possible.

I ended up reverting to the original simplified version of my vendor system of selling all sizes and colors in one package with direct pay and having a demo button separate.

Developer of MD Labs, Mattia Delwood, demonstrating no issues found when troubleshooting my vendor at Mainframe event: product works as expected pending the customer selecting the desired size from the menu.

Lessons

User Education: Communicating changes effectively is crucial to manage customer expectations.

Balancing Complexity: Striking a balance between accommodating customer preferences and maintaining simplicity is essential.

User Familiarity: Consideration of existing user behaviors and habits is vital when implementing changes to the shopping experience.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Reducing cost on consumers doesn't always mean convenience.

Conclusion

Visual clutter and overstimulation can significantly impact the shopping experience. When customers are faced with an abundance of products and visual stimuli, it creates a "cacophony of visual noise" that detracts from their overall experience. This overwhelming environment can lead to the "paradox of choice," where too many options make decision-making more difficult.

Furthermore, sensory marketing research indicates that visual stimuli are crucial for evoking emotions and influencing purchasing decisions. However, an excess of visual information can overwhelm customers, leading them to glaze over important instructions or details.

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