.Com Cart Abandonment
Root Cause Analysis
Data revealed many abandoned online rental reservations by customers. The investigation uncovered a critical availability issue, leading to major site redesign and operational changes.
Why are customers abandoning online reservations?
Data Analytics flagged high cart abandonment rates and points of friction. While metrics revealed the issues, the causes remained unclear. I was tasked with uncovering the reasons and proposing solutions to mitigate revenue loss.
Research Objectives
How do the existing cart and checkout features align user expectations, particularly at moments of friction identified by data analytics?
​What attitudinal and behavioral themes inform how users interact with the experience?
Where might we reduce frustrations to reduce abandonment and increase experience satisfaction?
Methodologies
Usability Testing: Implemented end-to-end usability tests of the checkout process using our user testing platform.
Front-line Staff Interviews: Gathered insights from branch personnel about online reservations to provide additional context.
Key Insight
Availability Information
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Site didn't disclose potential unavailability until after checkout
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22% of requests in the past 3 months faced availability issues
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This created significant friction in the customer journey
Additional Insights
Misalignment with Customer Thinking
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Site structure didn't match customer mental models
Checkout Process Improvements
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Opportunities identified to prevent and recover from errors
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Need for a smoother path to adjust rental elements
Employee Intervention
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50% of web reservations required post-submission changes due to availability issues and customer misunderstandings
Impact
These findings highlighted the need for a major redesign of the availability checking process and a restructuring of the site to align with customer mental models. The research team held a workshop with product, design, development, and operations to begin the process and worked alongside development until we have a finished feature.
