Polysleep

An evaluation of key elements of the Polysleep online experience (offering the best Canadian sleep brand products) to determine potential improvements to the website's functionality and design.

Project Overview

Polysleep underwent a site redesign to improve their functionality and online experience. We undertook usability testing with the following objectives:

Test users' ability, as well as thought flow, to navigate through the Homepage, Product, How we're better, Compare, Origin, PDP, FAQ, Quiz, and Showrooms pages.
Test users' ability to navigate to additional features (extra protection) and/or products (mattress protector).
Compare users' differences in experiences in terms of likes/dislikes and points of success/failure.

Usability testing was facilitated in one-on-one moderated sessions on Zoom. These one-hour sessions included 8 tasks to be performed on desktop.

My Role

UX Research

User Testing

Project Type

Usability Study

Created For

Polysleep

Project Timeline

2 months

User Research

Participant Summary

Stakeholder interviews informed the recruitment of participants; screened for the criteria provided below:

female
30 - 45 years old
married or cohabitating
suburban
household income of $90,000 or more
2 or more children 18 and under
comfortable with online shopping-related tasks

A sample draft of the screener can be found to the right.

polysleep_screener_1

polysleep_screener_2

polysleep_screener_6

polysleep_screener_1

1/6

Brand

Overall, participants had not heard of Polysleep prior to the test but were able to discern that the brand was related to sleep accessories and furniture and/or devices.

Online Shopping

Generally, participants value timely delivery, ease of use, the function to search what they're looking for, and the expectation of free shipping after spending a certain amount.

Home Products

Finally, participants agreed they were comfortable purchasing bigger and more expensive items online, emphasizing the importance of great visuals and specifications to inform their decisions.

User Testing

Overview of Findings

The sessions ran the full hour with task 8 being skipped by all participants. These sessions were moderated and included probing questions. Overall, participants had positive feedback on the site but suggested it could be further improved on to make it even more intuitive.

Some key observations that aren’t addressed in the issue summary and details include the following:

All users appreciated the following elements that weren’t as obviously showcased:
- returned mattresses donated to charities
- less plastic used than Polysleep's competitors
- allergy-reducing features in their products, etc.
All users liked the overall simple and clean design of the website

User Tasks and Test Areas

The respondents were asked to visit the Polysleep homepage on desktop to perform the following user tasks.

Major Issues*

The following issues were significant and caused all users some difficulty.

Task

All

Issue

All users experienced frustration with the pop-ups to varying degrees. The second of which added to the level of frustration. Some users closed the window immediately without reading.

All users were confused by the Mattresses and Products global navigation items, i.e. most assumed they had parity, and both on-click sends the user to the same destination. One user confused the Polycool for a mattress.

Most users wanted to search certain topics, but couldn't find the search function.

Possible Actions

Adjust timing or remove one or both pop-ups entirely as it takes away from the user's shopping experience.

Rectify with a new menu structure and a better landing page for collections.

Reposition the search to the header where traditionally discovered by users.

*These major issues were fixed immediately following the receipt of this usability study report:

Products are now distinctly separated between Mattresses and Pillows & Accessories in the global navigation, and The PolyCool Topper is explicitly referenced as a "topper" for clarity.
Pop-ups are now non-existent.
The search function is now placed at the top right corner of the global navigation.

Medium Issues*

The following issues may cause confusion for the user.

Task

01/05

02/03

Issue

Some users found the homepage product images confusing. They were unsure as the images were 2D and illustrated and didn't necessarily look like mattresses. Visual is of less concern than features and quality considering the product will be covered up.

One user concluded that the Polysleep was the more feature-rich mattress, based on the comparison provided, and was confused as to why the Zephr was more expensive.

Most users assumed that the most unique aspect of Polysleep is that they are Canadian.

Most users had no knowledge of what Nanobiotic was, and there was no immediate explanation in the first reference. one user didn't know what antimicrobial foam was either.

Users had difficulty finding specific information within the FAQ, either because there was too much content, too broadly categorized content, or a lack of search within the content.

Users were generally confused by Mulberry, what the "M" is, and one user missed the CTA entirely.

Possible Actions

Consider a different design aesthetic for the homepage product listing, i.e. displaying pictures of mattresses as a whole with a separate picture of the breakdown of materials.

Replace the comparison table with something more sophisticated, and/or improve the current to show more weighting towards Zephr.

Highlight the strongest value propositions on the homepage, instead of a concentration on Product, Sales/Promos, and Canada.

Provide more explanation of technical terms, and evaluate all instances of language that may need a tooltip or definition.

Redesign and segment content to be more useful and readable to customers.

Examine the integration of Mulberry and look at each micro-interaction.

*Please note that several minor, lower impact issues (that may not stop users) were omitted for brevity.

Conclusion

Overall, the website tested well and several major issues were uncovered which helps inform the ongoing effort. Primarily, users experienced some difficulty with the following items which were promptly resolved:

Mattresses and Products global navigation items
frustration with pop-ups
inability to search due to the unconventional position of the search function

Testing also uncovered some insights into the users' thought flow, as well as considerations to help further inform Information Architecture, including:

home page product images
highlighting strongest value propositions
defining technical terms
content segmenting in the FAQ