The usability testing of the Lancôme website identified several opportunities to improve the user experience. Some users felt the site seemed intended for older audiences and wanted more vibrant colors. Product pages could also be enhanced by consistently listing ingredients and testing information. Indicators for out of stock items needed to be more noticeable. The free shipping incentive was unclear during checkout. Overall, the checkout process on Lancôme was faster than on Amazon, though some users accidentally deleted items from their cart. The research provided recommendations to address these issues.

1. USABILITY TESTING & RESEARCH
Jon Barnes
Pamela Gibbs
Justin Scruggs

2. GOALS OF RESEARCH
• Understand what is important to users about personal care products.
• Understand the online shopping experience for users.
• To gain insight on how the Lancôme website is perceived by the end user.
• To identify what modifications could potentially increase end user satisfaction and ease of
use.
• To determine overall website user experience quality.
• Identify usability problems based on data from the sessions.

3. METHODOLOGY
• Six participants; one hour observation sessions each of online
shopping process.
• Participants given a spending allowance (Initially 1000 vs 500
pesos, then rebalanced to 1200 vs 300 pesos).
• Participants given instructions to go to Lancôme and Amazon and
shop as they would normally shop as if they were not being
observed.

4. PERCEPTION OF LANCÔME
• Two out of six users described the site as
“Elegant.”
• Four out of six users say Lancôme used too
much black and white and need more
color.
“The design is very simple, and not very
attractive; the background being white is
tame; it is focused on people 40 and over
not younger; something for my mom; I
would like more color and more design.”

5. PRODUCTS IN CONTEXT: VIDEO
• Two out of six respondents requested more
pictures of products and people wearing
the product.
• There are “How-To” tutorial/application
videos for certain products. However, the
user must scroll to the bottom of page to
access these videos.
• Only one out of six users viewed the video
during the session.

6. PRODUCTS IN CONTEXT: VIDEO RECOMMENDATIONS
• Consider adding the “How-To”
videos from the bottom of the page
to the Product View gallery - this
will increase the likelihood of users
viewing them.
• Consider adding the option for end
users to upload pictures of
themselves wearing the product.
This provides end users with more
visual options of product in use.

7. PRODUCT IN CONTEXT: SOLD OUT
• One out of six users tried to add a
product to their cart that was out of
stock.
• Though “Articulo Agotado” was
indicated, it was completely missed
by the end user resulting in
confusion and uncertainty of what
steps to take next.

8. PRODUCT IN CONTEXT: SOLD OUT RECOMMENDATIONS
• Change the “Articulo Agotado”
listed from grey to red to capture
the user’s attention.
• For color products (blush, concealer,
foundation, etc..) add an “X” on the
product swatch to indicate that
product is not available.
• For individual products (serums,
face lotion, etc.) add the “Articulo
Agotado” underneath.

9. PRODUCT IN CONTEXT: PRODUCT INFO
• One out of six users had difficulty
finding product information regarding
ingredients (only listed for certain
products) and if products used animal
testing or were cruelty free.
• For some users this information is
important in the decision making
process.

10. PRODUCT IN CONTEXT: PRODUCT INFO RECOMMENDATIONS
• The clean and minimal design of the
site may carry too far over into the text
of the product descriptions.
• Consider creating a stronger visual
signal so that users can find product
details.
• List ingredients for ALL products; add
animal testing, organic, or other key
traits of a product, as appropriate.

11. PRODUCTS IN CONTEXT: PRODUCT SHADES
• Pictures of shade options for
color cosmetics (i.e.:
foundation, blush, lipstick) are
difficult to differentiate.
“Doesn’t give me the options
of the colors.”

12. PRODUCTS IN CONTEST: PRODUCT SHADE RECOMMENDATIONS
• Consider adding additional images or
slideshow gallery options for products
to showcase their look on the face or
skin.
• Consider displaying available color
swatches from light to dark, increasing
swatch size and changing circles to
squares to reduce space between the
swatches, thus making it easier for end
user to differentiate.

13. SHIPPING INCENTIVE
• Three out of six of users were
unsure if there was free
shipping or if they were
eligible to receive it.
“It should be free, but I know
they said they charged 80
pesos.”

14. SHIPPING INCENTIVE VIDEO

15. SHIPPING INCENTIVE RECOMMENDATIONS
• Add the free shipping incentive to the Lancôme header as a static banner, to
capture the user’s attention.
• On checkout page indicate whether the shipping is already included.
• If there is only one option for shipping, have it be selected by default.
• Indicate when a user has reached “free shipping” status by placing an
indicator in pop-out cart.

16. SHIPPING INCENTIVE RECOMMENDATIONS
Amazon uses a static header which promotes
free shipping, and updates cart total so user can
see how much a user needs to spend until free
shipping is reached.

17. TASK FAILURE CHECKOUT
• Lancôme outperformed
Amazon with five out of six
completions (Amazon with
only two out of six)
User Lancôme Amazon
Cynthia 5 10
Karla 11 6
Laura 10 x
Rosa 13 x
Alejandra 5.5 x
Vanessa x x
Time in minutes
“x” indicates lack of completion

18. ACCIDENTAL CART DELETION
• One out of six of users accidentally deleted
the contents of their cart without intending to
do so and had to re-add their products from
scratch.
• User did not have a negative reaction in this
instance but re-adding items to cart added an
additional five and a half minutes to the
checkout process
• User clicked “Pagar” and shopping cart was
deleted.
• User did not realize cart had been deleted for
a minute and a half.

19. OBTRUSIVE POP-OUT CART
• For one out of six users the
cart pop-out got in the way
when attempting to use the
top level navigation menu.

20. ADDITIONAL NOTES
• Two users wanted to pay with American Express. One had to leave her computer to find her
MasterCard for payment.
• One out of six users signed up for the email newsletter. Her reasoning was because she
thought she might get something on her birthday.
• Some users on the Amazon site experienced a shipping issue where their address was barred
from being used as a viable ship-to address. No users of the Lancôme site experienced this
issue for their shipping address.
• Social media was not strongly utilized as a tie-in to the Lancôme website and products. A
way to expand the context of the products would be to link to or pull in social media
content.

21. SUMMARY
• Some users perceived the Lancôme site as intended for “older” users.
• Product descriptions should include full ingredients/testing information for each product on
the site.
• Sold out products need to be more clearly indicated.
• Free shipping underutilized as purchasing incentive; was difficult to understand during the
checkout process.
• Checkout process overall a better/faster experience than Amazon.

22. OUR CONTACT INFO
Jon Barnes
Jbarnes@adgcreative.net
(410) 978-7583
Pamela Gibbs
Pamela.Gibbs@ubalt.edu
(301) 807-7498
Justin Scruggs
JustinRobertScruggs@gmail.com
(443) 760-6088