Project Overview
Part of university coursework at Purdue
Who is HOKA?
Hoka is a Deckers sub brand that produces premium performance footwear for athletes of all levels. The company has rapidly grown to become a leading name in the industry with a mission to empower a world of athletes to "fly over the earth".
Problem Statment
In this project, Hoka aimed to research the current product comparison experience in order to understand: how do users determine the right product for them?
- How might we provide feature enhancements to current footwear shoppers resulting in a robust, interactive experience to assist them in finding the right product?
- How might we expand from the current comparison feature and develop new features that help in the decision-making process?
Role
Team Lead
User Research, Design Workshops, Sketching, Interviewing, User Testing, Wireframing
Team
UX Designer in a team of 7 designers
Emilio Rios-Rojas (me), Crisitna Pascua, Ria Rajan, Linh Pham, Kara Pearson, Ella Vandermolen, Jagriti Sachan
Timeline
August 2023 - December 2023
Shoe Finder Quiz
Users are guided through a set of questions including gender, types of activites (run, walk, hike), and other categories. Then they recieve three potential matches.
Comparison Tool
Users can see a side by side comparison of up to 4 different shoes, including categories like images, ratings, terrain, stability, and cushion.
Product page
Users review products in a standard way by looking at a product page one at a time and looking into its product information.
According to Reddit and a 2022 Mintel Research Report
Our team started this milestone by exploring and gathering insight from previous research on online athletic shoe purchases and product comparisons. Additionally, we aimed to narrow down our user group by researching the major demographic of the problem space, specifically who might purchase HOKA shoes.
What factors are prioritized?
- Comfort, Price, and Style are top priorities for users when choosing a shoe.
- Other relevant categories include: running type, brand, and longevity.
Opinions on Shoe Finder and Comparison Tools
- Tools recommend random shoes rather the shoes that actually fit the users
- More experienced runners benefit from just reading the info provided on the product page rather than the quizzes
- Issues with Size and Fit
“Runners”: cardio activities including walking and hiking but excluding athletic activities such as sports that have more specific shoe requirements.
Users identified by the design team
Codesign Workshop
6 Novice Runners aged 18-22 years old
Our goals with this workshop were to understand the consumer habits of novice runners, the factors that influence shoe purchases, and how users arrive at online athletic stores.
'Draw Your Perfect Shoe' Activity
- This activity helped us understand what our participants prioritize in their ideal running shoe and may look for when shopping for shoes online
Ranking Activity
- This activity helped us understand what factors are important to them when shopping for shoes AND the order of importance these factors take
Jounrey Mapping Activity
- This activity helped us understand our participants' thought process in their end-to-end experience of purchasing shoes
Images from Novice Runner workshop
Codesign Workshop
6 Experienced Runners aged 18 - 26 years old
Our goals with this workshop were to understand the consumer habits of experienced runners, the factors that influence shoe purchases for experienced runners, and when and how the comparison process happens for experienced runners.
Jounrney Mapping
- We walked through a scenario of buying new running shoes with the participants. We formulated questions and prompts for every stage and then guided participants to record their responses and document their journey
Comparison of Two Shoes
- Participants were split into two groups. Participants were given two product pages from well known she retailers (all branding removed) and insructed to reflect on what product information was most relevant and helpful in the desicion making process
Ranking Activity
- We collected the overarching categories participants m during the two activities and discussion, then presented the list in no particular order. We asked the participants to think about the top three most influencial factors and one factor they considered less
Images from Experienced Runner workshop
After conducting and synthesizing materials from both Workshops, we compared their insights to each other to find the similarities and differences between Novice and Experienced Runner behavior in athletic shoe shopping Journey. These differences and similarities are displayed in a ven diagram below.
Usability Testing
Compared to the previous two workshops, our third primary research activity focused specifically on HOKA’s current platform and understanding user behavior surrounding it. We sought to understand how users might navigate through the HOKA website, and use additional tools like the Shoe Finder quiz and comparison tools to help them decide on the right product.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
