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AliExpress Personas Mock-Up.png

A research project delving into ways we can improve brand trustworthiness amongst the B2C customer base.

AliExpress

Project Overview
 

AliExpress is the B2C subsidiary of the popular B2B site Alibaba. Despite Alibaba's success, customers are hesitant to use AliExpress with many of them reporting that the website feels sketchy and untrustworthy. 

 

Our goal was to synthesize data and present solutions for AliExpress to find out how they might increase the site's trustworthiness with online shoppers.

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Time Frame

3 weeks

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Deliverables

Project deliverables included synthesized data report, personas, journey map, UX flows, site map, and a presentation of conclusions and recommended next steps.

My Role

Synthesize user interview data, design personas, create a journey map, develop "happy path" flows, create a site map

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Tools

Figma, Miro, Qualtrics

INITIAL RESEARCH

Primary Research

Initial primary research was completed in the form of user interviews. In addition to the interviews, a survey was used to corroborate the findings and give further insight into what users found important when considering a website’s legitimacy. 

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Key Takeaways

  • Have diverse and reliable payment options.

  • Easy navigation.

  • Provide comprehensive product reviews.

  • Have well crafted product descriptions and images.

Survey Screen Shot.png

Secondary Research

Some secondary research was done in the form of competitor analysis. We looked at two competing companies' websites, Wal-Mart and Amazon, to determine how their payment options, review sections, product information, and website navigation compared to AliExpress.
 

Key Takeaways

  • Competitors had less cluttered landing pages.

  • Competitors used a more familiar top navigation bar design.

  • All three websites had similar review sections.

  • Competitors offered additional payment options, but not as extensive as users indicated they would prefer.

BUILDING OFF DATA

1

Creating
Personas

2

Building a
Journey Map

Creating Personas

Using our research we crafted personas for potential first time AliExpress users.​

Focus Points

  •  Online shopping goals.

  • Likes and dislikes related to website navigation and usability.

  • Influences that would lead them to shop with AliExpress.

UX Persona Rob.png
UX Persona Casey.png

Journey Mapping

In addition to our personas we wrote several purchase scenarios for both Rob and Casey. These scenarios helped give us a more detailed idea of why these users would choose AliExpress and greatly informed our journey map's creation.

Scenario 1.png
Scenarios 2.0.png

Journey Map

Journey Map.png

IDEATION

1

Creating
User Flows

2

Building a
Site Map

User Flows

Three consecutive "happy path" user flows were created using AliExpress' current website to gain more insight into the new customer experience and identify pain points users might have when going through a purchase.

Possible Pain Points

  • Items are sold by individuals rather than AliExpress. This leads to having two separate checkout buttons in your cart - one for all items and one to purchase items only from a specific seller. This can be confusing to first time users.
     

  • Once items are added to their initial cart the customer still needs to take additional steps to add them to a final checkout cart. This could cause confusion and is an unnecessary step.
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  • Many items on AliExpress are "Buy Now" only. This could deter new customers from buying them because it requires immediate account creation and purchase.
     

  • AliExpress only allows purchase from a credit card. This step in the process could deter more wary customers who are concerned about safety.
     

  • Having user card info saved for future purchases is the default setting. This again could cause distrust from customers concerned about payment safety.

Flow 1 - Arriving at Checkout.png
Flow 2 - Completing Registration.png
Flow 3 - Checking Out.png

Site Map

The site map was created starting with the AliExpress homepage.
 

  1. The first step was to create a site map of the current website in its entirety (right image).
     

  2. In our second iteration we developed a site map with our proposed changes. These changes were based off of our research and customer journeys.

Key Changes

  • Reorganized current menu items.

  • Reduced repeated links/items.

  • Condensed links/items into similar categories.

  • Removed outdated/dead pages.

Site Map (Old).png

Proposed Site Map

Site Map (Proposed).png

CONCLUSION


In conclusion our research, personas, journey maps, flows, and site map have enabled us to make several recommendations regarding changes to AliExpress’ existing website that would lead to increased user trust.

Our Recommendations
 

In conclusion our research, personas, journey maps, flows, and site map have enabled us to make the following recommendations regarding changes to AliExpress’ existing website that would lead to increased user trust:
 

Increase navigation familiarity. | Reduce and reorganize landing page links/information so it more closely resembles competitor pages.
 

Adding payment options. | As of right now only credit cards are accepted as payment. Adding additional options will help users feel more secure when checking out.
 

Reduce purchasing steps. | All of our users valued easy navigation and a quick purchasing process. Removing the additional confirmation steps will help show users AliExpress is as reliable and well designed as its competitors.

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