This week, UserTesting.com sat down with the product team at Gemvara, which lets customers design their own engagement rings, gemstone pendants, and other elegant jewelry. Gemvara has been a UserTesting.com client since 2010.
We asked how user testing fits in with Gemvara’s business. “We build products that are personal, so the more we understand our users, the better.” Rose said. “That’s the opposite of most of the jewelry industry, where they have inventory to push.”
Rose Grabowski (Director of Me-Commerce), Lee Gentry (User Interface Specialist), and Drew D’Agostino (Me-Commerce Intern)
From engaged couples and proud parents or women looking to add a little sparkle to their lives, Gemvara customers often send unsolicited emails and videos praising their experience. This content is featured on the Gemvara site.
Rose has a natural interest in hearing Gemvara customers tell their stories. “Our users love jewelry, they love shopping. How do we make the value proposition clear [for jewelry that's made to order]? By making the site usable, interesting, engaging.”
“80% of the usability value really quickly”
Had the team done user testing before? “Yes, we’ve dabbled in various ways,” Rose said.
Lee: “We’ve tried in-house testing, and taking a laptop to coffee shops and workshops.”
Rose: “But our actual customer base is so distributed. With remote testing, we can get 80% of the usability value really quickly.”
The team uses test scenarios to learn more about customers, and find out what internal design sessions might have missed. Test results also help them prioritize for the next version.
“It’s nice to get validation on questions we have internally from a fresh set of eyes,” Lee said. “We have endless discussions about whether something makes sense or not….what’s confusing, what’s hard to comprehend.”
Test videos may not settle all arguments, but they provide real data to base decisions on.
“Absorbable, not overwhelming”
In September Gemvara launched a feature that lets site visitors create a ring from scratch. They wanted to see if real people responded the way the team thought they would. Was the content “absorbable and not overwhelming,” Rose wondered. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t miss obvious, bonehead things.”
Testers successfully designed rings and provided commentary on everything from navigation to gemstone selection and pricing. The team wanted to find out how customers would use the Share feature, which lets them post a picture of a completed item on Twitter or Facebook.
“When we first released this feature internally, there were a lot of oohs and ahs, and then a little reluctance–fear even. People had certain notions of how things would work in the real world. We wanted to test them out.” Lee told us.
“For example,” Rose said, “we know women shop differently from men.” Women often like to share details about their purchases. What about men?
So in this test, men were asked to design a custom ring for their spouse and then share the results.
One tester, who was delighted with the ring he designed, commented: “This isn’t something I want to share with a bunch of people.” Instead he wanted a full set of images of his purchase. “You could add more pics of the ring (different angles) or even a panoramic shot.”
Another prospective shopper pointed out the ring was a gift for his wife. He wanted to surprise her, which he couldn’t do if she saw it on Facebook first.
This user discussed security: “I would definitely make the 30 day guarantee bigger and more prominent. It is nerve wracking spending a big amount of money online..and the fact that I can return it if I am dissatisfied is a big seller to me. I think the concept is wonderful. I would have LOVED designing my own engagement ring!!!”
After the test, reflect
Gemvara’s review process is collaborative: first they watch the videos individually, then discuss, then they’ll present to a larger team.
Lee commented that people in the company will be anxious to see them. Gemvara knows a lot about its customers, but there’s no substitute for seeing and hearing them in action. Even with the amount of research they do and intense discussions around features, some people in the company “have no idea how people actually use the site.” Test videos provide data from real users.
They’ve just started using the new UserTesting.com clips feature. Drew: “Other tools export the entire movie, which often isn’t that exciting to watch.”
Remote testing has positive side effects too. While watching the videos, Drew noticed a bug. Now he can share just that clip with an engineer and get it fixed.
Bottom line: At Gemvara, the personal is meaningful. This includes understanding the needs—and actions, and inner thoughts—of customers, and sharing those insights with the rest of the company. Put a ring on it.
