Epinions 2.0 Optimization
After the launch of Epinions 2.0, I began the one of the most interesting phase of my job - examining the server logs. The goal was to look at the actual behavior of people using the site, spot problems and come up with solutions.
Problem: One-Hit Wonders
The most notable finding: we discovered a user group we liked to call One-Hit Wonders. After examining a session log, we found that 47% of users view only 1 page. Of these users, a over half come to Epinions from a search engine and land on a product page. This is a loss for Epinions and a bad experience for those users.
From further inspection of the data, I came to the following two hypotheses for why users were leaving Epinions after their first page view: A) there was either no way to perform a further action on the product page, or B) the search engine directed them to a faulty match on our site.
Solution: Make the dead-end a hub
For a design solution, I proposed that the product page be more like a hub, rather than a destination. It should also never be a dead-end.
For example, when a user searched for 'Vaoi PCG-XG38' on MSN, they got to this dead-end page at our site. This was the first solution that I proposed. After talking with engineers, we decided to go with a version that would take less time to implement.
» View the dead-end page
» View the first proposed fix
» View the compromise version
Skills
- Site-analysis
- Cross-team communication, negotiation and respect for the engineering team
