Salsify UX Research
Opportunity: Direct Connections Adoption Evaluation
Salsify is a SaaS company that supports brands, retailers, and distributors with the flow of information to and from the digital shelf. Product information you see on a retailer’s website can be inputted through Salsify.
Direct Connections are the channel that brands can set up that automates the syndication of product data to a retailer’s eCommerce platform and eliminates the need for manual file uploads.
The opportunity focused on the adoption of this feature, evaluating where customers are in the adoption funnel, and what might be preventing customers from moving forward to the next level of embracing this feature. This study had a 6 week timeline.
Hypothesis & Goals
Hypothesis: There is a hypothesis that adoption of direct connections may be held up by several items:
The number of attributes retailers require
Complexity of publishing
A need for more customer education in using direct connections.
Goals:
To explore how customers are utilizing direct connections with 5 retailers (Amazon, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and Best Buy)
To diagnose pain points for customers as they utilize direct connections
Analyze patterns of need that may be preventing further adoption of direct connections
Methodology
Pilot Survey, Survey, User Interviews, Love Letter/Break Up Letter
Pilot Survey & Survey - This survey focused on asking questions about usage of direct connections with those 5 major retailers (Amazon, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and Best Buy). The survey was piloted with a small group of 5 users with some initial feedback provided. It was then quickly improved based on their feedback and sent to the larger group of users. This was made using Google Forms and provided some good quantitative data and base line for user interviews.
User Interviews - Near the end of the survey, participants had the option to opt into a follow up conversation which is how I sourced all 8 user interviews. The selection of users was to be a cross section of verticals to attempt to receive the most well rounded information. User interviews gathered qualitative data focused on these topics:
Background Information
Partial Refresh Option (this is a newer feature within Salsify that connects with only a few specific retailers)
Reasons why users might not use Salsify’s Direct Connections
Problem Solving
Love Letter/Break Up Letter - In addition to the user interviews I wanted to include an exercise to explore their feelings for Salsify’s Direct Connections in a different way to attempt to see if there were patterns of feelings towards the use of direct connections that may bubble up. You can find the prompts for the love letter/break up letter exercise at the bottom of the discussion guide. In the end, I did not end up using this exercise due to time constraints. If more time allowed, I would have loved to do this activity with users, but the discussion guide ended up being a very robust amount of information.
Final Direct Connections Report
Once the survey was taken and follow up interviews conducted, I created a final report accompanied with 3 videos and held a final stakeholder meeting to walk through findings and to pass along my recommendations. The three videos addressed the following topics:
Study specific background information - The survey resulted in 53 total respondents and 33 of those opted into follow up conversations. Participants in this study represent a good vertical cross section across Salsify customers leaning heavy into the food, beverage, and alcohol category. This is representative of the Salsify customer base.
Key Findings
Many customers lacked knowledge of the partial refresh option
Users struggled to set up direct connections due to the formula writing process
Users have limited bandwidth to seek help and may not have time or the willingness to reach out to Salsify support
Error feedback may not be relevant and requires additional clicks to find out if it is relevant
There are vertical specific differences in struggles - i.e. the food and beverage industry has many more attributes than that of the home improvement industry
Recommendations & Next Steps - I addressed 5 key areas of opportunity at the end of this study that help emphasize the patterns of success which you’ll see to the right. Those 5 key areas are:
Spread the news about the partial refresh option, increase information available about this opportunity and expand access points
Increase customer communication as they set up their direct connections to ensure successful starting point with formulas and mapping
Offer a variety of educational materials and varying in length and depth acknowledging customers have varying bandwidths
Address error feedback more deeply with Amazon (might require further research)
Continue expanding partial refresh option to more retailers
The whole study was presented to stakeholders through remote presentation, 3 videos were provided, and a final direct connections report.
Reflection and Changes
There are 3 areas of this study that I would change if I could go back and do it again:
Send the Love Letter/Break Up Letter ahead of time - I mentioned the lack of time for the Love Letter/Break Up Letter. I could have included the activity in this study if I had emailed the prompts ahead of time and ask users to write a brief couple of sentences about whichever one they choose. This way, the activity does not take up time during the follow up conversations, but still can contribute to the study.
Amazon Direct Connections - It is important to dig deeper into the issues with the direct connection with Amazon. This came up time and time again that there was a need for additional support with this specific connection and gives an opportunity for future learning.
Stakeholders - Throughout this study there were several stakeholders added at multiple varying times. I would adjust to bring all of these stakeholders on board at the same time at the very beginning so there is clarity with direction and scope of the overall study.