Woolworths Mobile · UX research
Reframing the Woolworths Mobile purchase journey
A request to improve promotional plan displays uncovered problems across the purchase journey. Interviews, usability testing and analytics helped expand the brief, shape a redesigned experience and evaluate a prototype before launch.
- Client
- Woolworths Mobile
- Initial study
- Six in-market shoppers
- Validation
- Three rounds of testing
- Status at write-up
- Redesign in development
Look beyond the promotions component
Marketing’s initial request was to redesign the plans display so it could show promotions more effectively. Before changing the component, I investigated how people were using the wider site.
The current-state work combined interviews, a usability test with six participants and journey mapping. Participants were actively considering a new mobile plan and comparing providers. Each 50-minute session paired questions about their needs with tasks on the existing site.
Separate customer priorities from interface problems
Price, data allowances, network reliability and concern about excess-data charges emerged as important considerations. The study also exposed practical obstacles: unclear navigation, difficulty identifying the selected plan and a buy footer whose changes were easy to miss.
All six participants attempted to click a navigation label that was not a link. Other labels led to the same destination through different routes, and information beneath large banners was often overlooked. Most people could eventually complete the scenarios, but they encountered friction along the way.
Use analytics to place the findings in context
We grouped the research into customer priorities, interaction issues, usability and state problems, and the way content was displayed and interpreted. I compared these observations with analytics from a site reaching approximately 50,000 people a week.
The combined evidence supported looking beyond the original component. We organised the proposed experience around the activities people came to do: buy a phone, buy a plan, buy accessories or buy a prepaid SIM.
Rebuild the journey around customer tasks
The research informed five primary sections and a device-first journey that continued into plan selection. We also considered how reusable sections could keep development effort manageable.
The design team prioritised the pages together. Low-fidelity sketches helped us work through ideas with stakeholders and subject-matter experts before investing in more detailed prototypes.
Iterate the prototype
An early black-and-white prototype caused problems in internal testing: people struggled to recognise the calls to action. We added colour where it communicated interaction, including navigation and CTAs.
The work went through three rounds of usability testing. Stakeholders were invited to observe sessions, with playback sessions for those who could not attend. Seeing customers struggle helped the team explain why the scope needed to extend beyond promotions.
What the final study reported
The write-up describes a final prototype study with 50 participants. It reports that participants completed their tasks approximately 60 seconds faster than on competitor sites, with 100% task completion. It also reports that 76% rated the prototype at least as good as competitors and 56% preferred it.
These are reported prototype-study results. The original summary also gives an 81% easy-or-very-easy rating without an item-level response count. That percentage cannot be reconciled directly with 50 respondents, so I have not presented it as a headline metric. Similarly, percentages in the initial six-person study are better expressed as qualitative themes until the underlying response data can be checked.
What remains outside the evidence
The redesign was still in development when the account was written. Dashboards were planned to measure the effect after launch, but the case study does not include live conversion results.
The work demonstrates how research changed the brief and guided design decisions, followed by a reported improvement in prototype task performance. It does not establish that the redesign increased sales or conversion after release.