Simplifying shopping: The ‘Buy again’ evolution at John Lewis
I’m excited to share our journey of innovation in the post-purchase online experience with you. In our Customer Hub team, where I contribute as a UI Designer, we oversee various customer touchpoints such as orders, delivery tracking, returns, product support, and customer services. While our focus has traditionally been on service, we recently embarked on some exciting experiments that revealed new opportunities.
At the heart of our approach, we prioritise our customers above all. Our journey began with a clear insight: based on analytics and direct feedback from our valued customers, we understood that those looking to repurchase a product would greatly benefit from a straightforward, one-click ‘buy again’ option.
We had an impressive 30 million annual views on order details, with 10–15% of customers navigating to a product page from there. But we wondered, how could we help customers discover other products and services that would bring them joy, based on what they’ve just purchased?
We heard the voice of our customers loud and clear:
Hypothesis-driven innovation: Start with a clear and defined hypothesis as a guiding compass for your innovation efforts.
And so, our experimentation journey began
We embark on experimentation as a strategic approach to delivering the best shopping experience possible. Experimenting allows us to test new features, understand customer interactions, and refine our offerings. It’s not about changing for the sake of change, but about meeting our customers’ needs more effectively.
Our experimentation is methodical, consisting of small and incremental steps. This lets us learn from each stage, making improvements along the way.
Experiment 1: The ‘Buy again’ link
Our first step was a painted door test. We added a straightforward ‘Buy again’ link to the customer’s order details, allowing us to measure demand before investing more resources. The results — 2,000 customers clicked ‘Buy again’ at a conversion rate of 20% in two weeks. This early success underscored the power of simplifying the shopping journey.
Incremental testing: Validate your ideas through small-scale tests, allowing you to gauge demand and minimise premature resource investment. Always question whether you can simplify your MVP further while retaining the same valuable insights.
Experiment 2: One-click convenience
We didn’t stop there. Instead of taking customers to the product page, we introduced a one-click ‘Add to basket’ option, leading to an 18% increase in engagement.
Conversion rate metrics: Monitor user behaviours and conversion rates diligently to make data-driven decisions, enabling the refinement of user experiences.
Experiment 3: The ‘Buy again’ button
In our next test, we swapped the link for one of our tertiary buttons. Customers who saw the ‘Buy again’ button were 24% more likely to add a product to their basket, resulting in a significant revenue increase.
Iterative design adaptation: Embrace feedback and remain flexible in adapting designs to meet user requirements. Don’t hesitate to pivot and explore new outcomes if they promise greater value for your product.
Think big & keep testing!
Now that we’ve seen the power of a button, we wanted to take it further and keep testing by creating a dedicated area in ‘My account’ for ‘Buy again’, hosting all our customers’ previously purchased products. This strategic move led to a 30% increase in engagement.
Listening to our customers
But we didn’t stop at A/B tests. We knew it was time to hear from our customers directly. With the help of our User Research team, we conducted research and tackled the insights we gained:
1. ’Buy Again’ lacks prominence
Understanding that customers tend to navigate to their order history when looking to repurchase an item, we moved the ‘Buy again’ section to the ‘Order history’ page to improve discoverability. We ensured easy access to this new placement by adding links in both ‘My account’ and the left-hand navigation. This change improved results by 11%.
2. Customers were missing a quick and easy way to find a specific item
To reduce the time and effort needed to find specific products, we implemented a future-proof design of filtering system to help users quickly find the products they’re looking for within the ‘Buy again’ section. We also added an ‘on offer’ filter prominent on the page to increase engagement and conversion.
3. Participants were most likely to use ‘Buy again’ for beauty products
We leveraged this insight and dug deeper into our analytics to link our feature with targeted replenishment email campaigns.
User research integration: Involve your user research team consistently from the outset to uncover unexpected user insights, pain points, and preferences essential for product development. While research is usually the answer, quick A/B testing can be more effective when trying to steer users away from their primary goal.
The Future of ‘Buy Again’
As you’ve read through our journey, you may have thought of countless ways to enhance this feature, and we’d love to hear your thoughts. Our ultimate goal is to create a fully personalised and inspirational space for our customers, accessible via web and our mobile app. We’re continually testing new additions, including express checkout, new filters, notifications — and we invite you to experience them firsthand.
Persevere, as most experiments fail: Divide your learning goals into smaller, resource-efficient design and development tasks to yield quick results.
Stay tuned for what’s coming next in our quest to make the shopping experience with John Lewis even better.
