Evaluating a Purchasing Journey

Below is a brief outline of my process and methods for this study.

I have excluded specific findings, numbers and charts by request of Levi Strauss.

Benchmarking

Before I could qualitatively assess how this new process was working for customers, I first wanted to answer the basic question of “has this new process improved the return experience for our customers?” In order to do this I dug through old survey data and analyzed our satisfaction scores specific to stages of the return process. I then replicated the survey and deployed it to a similar group of new customers who had recently made a purchase so that I could compare the two data sets.

Subjective Evaluation

In order to do this, I planned a diary study with 30 participants. I ensured that age, gender and online shopping habits of these participants reflected our general customers, and also controlled for residence type - urban, suburban, and rural - as I thought that may impact their return experience. I had participants purchase something from levi.com, unpackage it, try it on, and return it, while documenting every step of the way with photos, videos, or written responses to questions.

Impact

After compiling and presenting the findings of my study to the business team, we were able to work with the vendor to improve the 3 problem areas of the return process. They were so appreciative of the research (they had never done any themselves apparently) they were going to implement these improvements to their software across the board, not simply to our account.