Etsy

Custom Product Request

Challenge:  Etsy is an online marketplace where nearly a million crafters and artisans display and sell their handmade products. It is top of mind for shoppers looking for something unique. However, a victim of its own success, Etsy has become overwhelming for many shoppers. A simple search for a silver heart bracelet turns up 23,000 results. Our challenge was to design a feature to allow shoppers to post custom products to Etsy and allow sellers to bid on those products.

User Research

User interviews confirmed interest in this feature, which is not surprising given the proliferation of customized products in today's marketplace. From no-foam latte's to photobooks to 3-D printing, consumers today are enamored by personalization.

In the words of one interviewee, “People are so accustomed to being able to get what they want, they have come to expect it.”

Interviews also revealed that shoppers lack confidence in specifying the product they want. "I am not an expert" is a phrase we heard more than once. One interviewee  suggested allowing shoppers to upload a photo of the desired product or its likeness.

We created a survey on TypeForm that confirmed shoppers preference for uploading an image and writing a description, and their dislike of forms.

Main insights from user research:

• Include guidance that will help shopper describe the custom product with confidence--e.g., hints about terms, sizing, materials.
• Allow shopper to upload an image and annotate it.
• Enable shopper to list his/her budget, but make it optional given that shoppers may not know costs..

Competitive Analysis

We looked at numerous e-commerce sites that offer custom products. Key insights:

• guidance about materials and vocabulary can pop-out to one side as shopper clicks through fields.
• sellers and shoppers need an online shared workspace to negotiate and communicate as the product is being made.
• initial down-payments can be put in "escrow" on the e-commerce site until the product is finished.

Sketching, Wireframes, Testing

Due to people's aversion to forms, we kept the form as simple as possible.

A "category" field will allow the product request to be routed to appropriate artisans (e.g., if shopper requests a silver bracelet, only jewelers--and not woodworkers--will see the request).

Likewise, our prototype, done in Axure, included very few fields.

Testing led us to move "Upload an Image" up above the description, so users would not waste time describing the product only to find they could have simply uploaded a photo.

We give shoppers the option to add more detail to their request or just to preview.

If the shopper elects to add more detail, guidance  pops out as s/he clicks through each additional field.

For placement on the homepage, we created a third button in the header.  Shoppers would now have three options:  "Search", "Browse", and "Custom".

Next Steps

• Continue to iterate on intake form, and add visual design layer;
• Build out the side for seller to bid on custom projects;
• Add some additional filtering of bids, limiting how many the shopper sees;
• Automate response to rejected bidders once a match is made.