Continuous Iteration

The Problem

ShopSimon™ (formerly Shop Premium Outlets, owned by Simon Property Group) is a fast-paced, dynamic e-commerce shopping site. They launched their mobile app in 2022 and have continuously introduced new features and designs supported by user research and live experimentation. 

I am the sole researcher on their team and am tasked with running usability testing on concept prototypes and live mobile web and app experiences to gather attitudes, insights, and critiques of upcoming or recently launched features. 

Process

• Ongoing usability tests utilizing externally-sourced participants from the UserInterviews.com panel

• Lead moderated customer usability tests with Figma prototypes and/or live site or app experiences

• Supporting usability tests with evaluative surveys

Findings

Though various studies over the past three years, I've identified user insights that led to the following feature releases and improvements:

• Interface changes that increase engagement with their new AI-powered "Shop by Photo" and "Shop by Color" features

• Changes to the ShopSimon AI assistant to be more conversational, and to better differentiate it from a traditional search interface

• Implementation of a "Save for Later" feature based on unique user behaviors

• Improvements to increase the usability of the shopping discovery feed, search and filter tools, product detail pages, and checkout flow

Results

Several insights discovered through user research have become ShopSimon live A/B experimentation managed by the data science teamor released as product feature improvements. 

You can view the features listed above on the ShopSimon apps or the ShopSimon website. 

My Role

As ShopSimon's sole user researcher consultant, I manage and lead all aspects of their UX research program. I present findings and recommendations to various ShopSimon department stakeholders, as well as members of the Simon Malls team on a regular basis.