Heuristic Evaluation
of SSENSE Checkout Flow

Optimizing the e-commerce experience
to increase conversion metrics

CLIENT 

SSENSE
(Luxury eCommerce)

SYSTEM

MacOS (Desktop)

TASK 

Increase usability and decrease cart abandonment

ROLE

UX Researcher
UX Designer

TOOLS

Figma

Problem Space

SSENSE, a leading luxury online retailer faced several usability issues with their overall e-commerce checkout experience.

The company's website included problems with visual design, functionality, and task flow which make it difficult for shoppers to understand the flow of the checkout process.

This can lead to missed opportunities and lost sales. The blindspots were identified by conducting a heuristic evaluation, resulting in a number of usability issues.

Current Checkout Flow

Identifying the Violations

Referencing the industry standard usability heuristics for User Interface Design from the Nielsen Norman Group, I was able to identify six violations that later were graded from zero to four on a five-point severity scale, for consequent intervention.

Usability Violation Severity Scale 

Using the industry rating scale to helped prioritize design decisions, ranging from minor to severe usability issues. 

Heuristic Violations

Click through to see the identified 7 violations 

Design Prioritization Matrix

I mapped out the issues on a design priority matrix which helped me decide where I should focus on the iterative design 

Issues with high value and low effort were prioritized

Violations in Order of Priority

Redesigned Checkout Flow

Key Learnings

1

A minimalistic website is favoured aesthetically but functionally it can create many usability issues for consumers wayfinding. We can alleviate this by adding documentation to accomodate the experience while staying committed to a minimal aesthetic. 

2

Working as a team, we had difference in opinions on how severe the violations should be rated. This created a space for discussion, empathizing with the end user, and compromising on a rating. 

Next Steps