THE KNOT REGISTRY
RETENTION AND GUIDANCE CASE STUDY
OVERVIEW
A look into how The Knot Product Team identified and began the process of problem solving around user retention and guidance.
THE PROBLEM
An unusually high number of users immediately removed items they had added to their registry. In addition, we wanted to better learn our user’s shopping habits to help us improve retention on the site.
GOALS
Through interviews, learn about our users shopping habits, how they managed their registry and their overall experience with The Knot.
SUCCESS METRICS
To see fewer items removed from user’s registries, more items added to their registries and more time spent on the site.
WHY IT WAS A PROBLEM
Users removing most of the items from their registry directly affects revenue. In addition, we needed to learn about why this was happening so we could work on improving the shopping experience.
MY ROLE
My role was Product Designer. This included hypothesizing the reasons this problem existed, writing a User Interview script, interviewing selected users and assimilating the information provided to us. It also involved working with my team to design solutions that would remedy the issues we were facing.
TARGET USER
Couples who had recently registered with The Knot and were in the process of building out their registry.
USER INTERVIEWS
I interviewed about 15 users. These users were selected by an online survey we did on The Knot’s website. I worked with our UX Researcher and my Product Manager to write the script for the test.
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User 1
jenmorgan
Job: Teacher, 40k
Device: MacBook Pro
Location: Boise, ID
Age: 28, Female“I wish I could better organize my registry. I often felt confused by the way items were displayed.”
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User 2
katewoods
Job: Business Owner, 100k+
Device: Windows Laptop
Location: Dallas, TX
Age: 31, Female“I used The Knot for inspiration, but would mostly go to registries like Target and Amazon.”
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User 3
bethnyguen
Job: Tech, 150k+
Device: MacBook Pro
Location: San Francisco, CA
Age: 28, Female“It wasn’t clear to me that the items came from The Knot. I assumed they came from Amazon.”
THEMES
Once the interviews were completed, I organized my findings into themes where patterns started to emerge. With the help of my product manager, I then prioritized the themes/patterns and began to strategize ways to solve these problems.
Using The Knot as a Wish List
Using The Knot as a sort of “Wish List.” Some users enjoyed browsing the store and adding gifts they liked—but then decided to add them at other registries. (Brands they were more familiar with, and built trust with—or had more competitive pricing.) And some users said they preferred the registry experience at Zola (our main competitor) more.
Couples started here…
And ended up here
Registry Management Frustrations
They were frustrated or confused by the “Manage Registry” section of the site. (This is were couples can view/edit/organize the gifts they have added to their registry.) A number of the users mentioned that the inability to organize their management section left them frustrated—so they just deleted recently added items.
They said they wanted more flexibility in how the items were displayed (i.e. organizing them into categories by type of gifts, where the gifts came from, and the ability to separate out cash funds from physical items.
Couples Suggested…
The ability to organize their gifts by:
Brand
Store
Category
Cash or Physical Items
COLLABORATION
After I processed the information I gathered from user interviews, I decided to meet with designers and product managers from other squads to share my findings and discuss how we could we could tackle these problems—as these issues touched on multiple areas of the experience.
SOLUTIONS
Introducing Tool Tips
There were several areas throughout the experience where simple onboarding and guidance could help the user better understand the process of building their registry. This problem touched all the different sections of the site: Onboarding & Retention, Registry Management, Shopping and Checkout.
Surfacing tool tips throughout the experience allowed for a simple and clean way to guide users—especially if it’s there first time visiting the site. And it was an easy design/technical lift has we had these tool tips patterns already established.
These tool tips help draw attention and guide the user through some of the first steps they can take in the Registry experience. Tool Tip 1 guides the user toward adding gifts to their registry, while Tool Tip 2 guides to user to where they can manage their registry.
Further Tool Tips were added to the “Manage Registry” screen. This guided users through personalizing their gift details, which included the ability to tag a gift as “Top Choice,” as well as adding a personalized note to their guests.
Directs users to The Knot Store
Explains that their gifts can be personalized
Points users to the Manage Registry screen
Tag the gift as a “Top Choice” and share a note with their guests
Guidance
Navigating Cash Funds
A number of the users I interviewed mentioned that they felt confused and a bit overwhelmed once they entered the registry. By creating simple, visual signposts at the beginning of their journey, we felt this would guide the user through the experience, as well as raise awareness of many the features we had to offer.
Another concern for many of the users I interviewed was cash funds. While cash funds have become more commonplace over the past few years, some couples felt uncomfortable asking for cash from their guests. We created a section of the Registry Management screen that helped couples understand this process.
Simple “What’s Next” cards help direct a new user through the experience.
An overview of “Cash Funds” helps inform a new user of it works and its benefits.
Registry Checklists
Due to the technical limitations we faced at the time, making the management section of the registry as customizable as some of our users wanted wasn’t totally feasible. One solution that we came up with was Registry Checklist.
The checklist consisted of a predetermined set of product categories, subcategories and links to add these items to their registry. We felt this was a useful tool that allowed couples to keep a running track of what they’ve added and to be reminded of what’s left to add to their registry.
Guidance in the Store
Another area I thought guidance was important was in the Shopping Experience itself. We added features like “Most Popular,” “Top Brands,” “Collections,” and Editorial to our Product Category pages. In addition, we added “More from This Brand,” “More of This Product Type,” and “Recently Viewed” to the Product Pages.
The inclusion of premium kitchen brands also aids couples in their discovery of what’s available.
The Knot’s various Collections help couples find just the right items in a variety of theme-based categories.
“Most Popular” gifts help couples new to the registry experience explore what the store has to offer.
Editorial pieces leverage The Knot’s expertise and help inform couples with their decisions.
METRICS
34% decrease in the number of items removed from registry
27% increase in the number of items added to registry
38% increase of time spent in the Knot Store
22% in click-throughs from Category pages to Product pages
KEY TAKE AWAYS
By leveraging designers and product managers from other squads, we were able to zero in on the problem and create solutions.
Realizing the importance of User Interviews—talking one-on-one with our users provided a deeper understanding of their shopping habits, preferences, as well as pain points in using our product.
User Interviews also revealed issues we weren’t initially looking for, like frustration with the organization and customization of Registry Management.
Based on the positive metrics we received after implementing these changes, I felt validated in my basic instincts regarding guidance and retention—especially in regard to the Category pages.