Improving IKEA’s Shopping Cart Empty State: a UX Writing Case Study

Project Background

IKEA is a Swedish-founded, Dutch-headquartered multinational conglomerate that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories, among other goods and home services. The group is known for its modernist designs for various types of appliances and furniture, and its interior design work is often associated with an eco-friendly simplicity.

To increase the number of transactions on IKEA’s app, UX writing must be applied properly to each section. One of them is the ‘Shopping Cart Empty State’ section. Unfortunately in this section, IKEA’s app still doesn’t develop its copy very well according to the UX Writing Principle. Consequently, I decided to improvise on that section.

UX Writing Indicator

To create a good copy of a UX, the indicators to apply are as follows:

1. Clear
   In UX writing means exactly the same thing as it would in any other context: Easy to understand, Obvious, Unambiguous, Leaves no doubt. When your microcopy is clear your users will understand quickly and achieve their goals.
2. Concise
   Giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words, brief but comprehensive. The word originally meant to “cut up/cut down” which is exactly what you should be doing with your content.
3. Useful
   A useful copy must lead your users directs to next action.

Findings

IKEA’s existing Shopping Cart Empty State

The copy on IKEA’s app Shopping Cart Empty State has implemented two principles of good UX Writing, namely Clear & Concise. However, the copy can still be improved by providing invitations and actions, so that it will be more useful for users.

Goals

1. Increase the number of transactions on IKEA’s app
2. Increase the opportunity for users to shop

My Contribution

1. Conducted Market Benchmarking to gain insight from other apps.
2. Wrote engaging copy on Shopping Cart Empty State that match brand voice and tone.

Copy Research Exploration

In this study case, I used ‘Market Benchmarking’ to explore and learn specific copies of how other apps work.

Improvement Suggestion for IKEA’s Shopping Cart Empty State:

• Add an illustration
• Add a title & invitation copy
• Add Call To Action (CTA) button
• Add Featured Products

Users & Emotional State

Copy Testing

I did A/B Testing to find out user preferences in experiencing a Shopping Cart Empty State. After participants did the testing, I asked their reason for choosing their preferable options.

A/B Testing

A/B Testing Result

Scenario: Imagine that you are a new user and just downloaded IKEA’s app. You begin to explore and landed on this Shopping Cart without adding any items before. Please tell me which one do you prefer.

After going through A/B Testing, 4 out of 6 participants chose the A copy for the Shopping Cart Empty State because they felt invited to explore IKEA’s product and knew exactly what to do.

“Pilih yang A dong! lebih jelas bisa sekalian liat featured productnya.” — Debora, user

“Lebih yang opsi A sih, jadi tau abis ini mau ngapain.” — Robby, user

Reflections

Here are some valuable lessons I learned during the project:

1. You are not your user. Observe and do not interfere to prevent bias
2. Easy reading comes from hard writing. Getting the words right takes time.