Improving UX and boosting conversion rates: case Popstore
Optimizing the conversion funnel of an e-commerce site which sells newspaper's subscriptions
The problem
Popstore is the e-commerce site that sells subscriptions of O Popular, the most popular newspaper in the state of Goiás, Brazil. The goal of this project was to increase the newspaper’s subscription sales.
Analysis of the conversion funnel indicated that users had to spend a significant amount of time during the check-out process. As a result of this, subscription rates were low. The challenge was to optimize this funnel and to create a more efficient experience for the user.
My role
As the Product Designer of this project, I worked side by side with a Data Analyst and three developers to understand the problems of the product and look for solutions. The project had a three month deadline. It was released in June 2018.
The process
The average buying process could take up to seven steps and a significant amount of time to complete ( with many decisions confusing the user), as the average time spent in each step showed us.
Our concept was to simplify the whole process by offering only three closed options: Digital, Digital & Print Daily, and Digital & Print Weekend.
We tested (and subsequently validated) the idea by creating a prototype and having a group of users test the model to see how easy and quick it was to use. The model had cut down the number of steps by about half.
Also, we reduced the number of different domains used across the funnel . As an example, Login, Payment, and store were all in different domains. This detail hampered data analysis.
Visual Design
The main page was designed in a landing page format, with all of its elements focused on selling subscriptions, without any other distractions. The page presents clear differentiation between subscriptions plans (such as benefits and prices), helping the user choose a plan that best suits him.
The results
Subscription’s selling increased in 654%;
Check-out process shortened by 43%;
The new version of the store improved performance by lowering the load time. We simplified the conversion funnel, shortened the check-out process by 43%, and increased subscription sales by 654% in the first three months after its release.
