Shopify User Research
In tackling Shopify's competitive landscape, we conducted 15 interviews with fashion merchants and engaged 8 agency decision-makers. Our focus was to validate purchase drivers, identify trends, and pinpoint high-value features for merchants and agencies.
SERVICESUser interviews and analysis.
SECTORShopify Apps and Theme Development
YEAR2023-2024
About
Fluorescent is a fully remote Shopify theme and app development agency located in second bedrooms and home offices across Canada.
The Challenge
With the Shopify marketplace becoming more crowded and competitive, we decided to utilize user interviews and surveys to define the opportunity space.
Research Plan:
Conduct 15 user interviews with merchants from the fashion and fashion-adjacent industries, sourced through a Shopify recruitment firm.
Conduct 8 interviews with agency decision-makers (such as tech leads and project managers) through partner outreach.
Our Learning Goals:
Validate what drove a purchase decision on the theme marketplace.
Discover any trends/patterns from our target audience.
Identify the features with the most value for merchants and small agencies.
Introduction script for the user interviews.
Zoom In: Digging into the main topic in detail.
Zoom Out: A set of broad questions to understand their existing mental models and context outside of the main focus area.
Zoom In-In: Gathering specific feedback on themes and the purchase process.
Zoom Out: Closing with more general questions and providing a last opportunity to provide feedback with the subject fresh in their minds."
Analysis and Debrief
The analysis involves three key stages: a small immediate debrief, medium synthesis, and a large debrief with an affinity diagram.
During the small immediate debrief, I focus on the data that stood out during interviews. This includes strong emotions (E) expressed by participants, workarounds (W) they employed, or any direct statements (H) that align with my hypothesis or learning goals.
Next, in the medium stage, I spend an hour synthesizing all interviews. I interpret the insights gained, identify patterns, and consider their significance.
Finally, in the large debrief, I compile data from all interviews. This involves revisiting specific features discussed across interviews to understand common themes. This process helps in identifying overarching patterns, validating hypotheses, and informing actionable next steps.
Interview cards created to share with the internal team throughout the process.
Summary of the personas identified: Agency Users, Luxury Merchants, and Conversion-Focused/Newbie Merchants.
Breakdown of the biggest takeaways per opportunity area in the theme development process.
Breakdown of the biggest takeaways per opportunity area in the theme development process.
List of the most mentioned functionalities throughout the interview process.
2024 + User Research + InterviewsDiscover other projects
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