Pinterest Shop is a redesign of Pinterest featuring a shopping feature.
Role: Product Designer
Team: Me, Myself, and I
Timeline: Two days
Introduction
Currently, this is what Pinterest looks like:
Purchase-able items (leads to the item's e-commerce page) and plain images are indistinguishable.
It isn't until the user clicks on the individual images that they can understand that the right image is purchasable, and the left is not.
I understand the main use of Pinterest is to explore and inspire but sometimes I see something I want to buy, like a cute pair of heels, and get frustrated when I can't find the item in the picture.
Hypothesis
Pinners want to more easily understand what on Pinterest is Purchase-able, and want to shop/Purchase Buyable items.
Primary Objective
Create an easier way to shop on Pinterest aka a way for Pinners to interact with Buy-able items more efficiently and effectively.
Research
User Research
Firstly, I had to ask around to see if I was the crazy one. I asked ten friends, asking if they'd ever shopped on Pinterest before, and how often they use Pinterest to shop.
Now honestly, most people said something along the lines of:
"I mostly use Pinterest to pin wedding stuff but yeah, sometimes when I see something cute I'll use it to shop"
While it seems most people don't use Pinterest to shop, I figured it could possibly add value to Pinterest as a business, and make people who are like me, happy.
Target Audience
Every day 2 million people post on Pinterest. There are over 100 billion pins on Pinterest (via HootSuite).
- Age 25-44 (via Statista)
- 80% are mobile users (via Pinterest)
- High SES (via HootSuite)
- Planners, 93 percent of Pinners use Pinterest to plan purchases.
- Shoppers! Pinterest is the number one shopping platform among millennials. 47% of millennials on Pinterest have purchased something they’ve pinned. (That's 9% more than millennials on Facebook and 14% more than millennials on Twitter). Two thirds of all pins represent brands and products and Seventy-three percent of Pinners say that content from brands makes Pinterest more useful.
So, this means
My hypothesis is correct ✅. Pinners use Pinterest to shop even if they are not directly aware of it. They use Pinterest to plan their buys, something very unique to this platform. This means, the shopping feature should be discrete and non-intrusive to the current user flows.
Brainstorm Time!
I sat down to have a mini one person brainstorm, thinkin' up my wildest ideas 🤔
Feasibility Impact Matrix
I complied my ideas and placed them on in a matrix:
Vertically: Net feasibility for the Pinterest company, and anticipated participation from Pinners
Horizontally: Impact/usefulness to Pinners
Evaluation System
The goal is to create a seamless and integrated way to shop on Pinterest by allowing Pinners to interact with Buy-able items easily.
Knowing this, these questions help evaluate each idea:
1) Does it achieve the goal?
2) Will the user enjoy this experience?
a) Is it easy to use?
b) Does it elevate rather than detract?
c) Does it align with users past behavior on the app
Explorations
I further explored the highly feasible and highly impactful.
Shop Tab
A tab in the menu bar just for shopping.
1) Does it achieve the goal?
✅ Yes, Pinners can easily interact with Buy-able items.
2) Will the user enjoy this experience?
a) Is it easy to use?
✅ Yes, the feature is prominent and simple.
b) Does it elevate rather than detract?
❌ Perhaps not if the feature is deemed too prominent by Pinners.
c) Does it align with users past behavior on the app
✅ Yes, the Shop tab is modeled after the explore tab, thus Pinner will not be confused.
Reward Pinners Who Help Find Where Pins Come From
A commenting system would be implemented under Pins. Users that find and link a Pin's source gain status, a reward, or commission for buys.
1) Does it achieve the goal?
✅ Yes, Pinners will be able to find even more items than before.
2) Will the user enjoy this experience?
a) Is it easy to use?
✅ Yes, the feature is straightforward and similar to other products and apps.
b) Does it elevate rather than detract?
✅ Yes, the Pinners searching for items and finding items will be happy with either their new buy, or reward and the feature is fairly non-intusive to non-shopping Pinners.
c) Does it align with users past behavior on the app
❌ No, the Pinterest platform currently does not support commenting or a rewards/compensation system. Pinterest may not want to change their app this drastically.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner: Shop Filter in Boards ✅
(Left) A Pinterest Board in its current state
(Middle) A redesigned Board with All and Shop filters
(Right) The redesigned Board under the Shop filter
1) Does it achieve the goal?
✅ Yes, Pinners can easily interact with Buy-able items.
2) Will the user enjoy this experience?
a) Is it easy to use?
✅ Yes, no effort is required.
b) Is it enjoyable?
✅ Yes, the user can view already saved items and the feature is automatic.
c) Does it align with users past behavior on the app
✅ Yes, the filter bar is similar to filter bars used on the app currently; continuing the users' mental models.
Final User Flow
Conclusion
User testing is necessary for truly deciding which feature works best.
I wonder how much Pinterest has explored elevating the shopping experience on their platform so far. Perhaps Pinterest's goals as a platform simply do not align with shopping, or find that a shopping experience is too intrusive and counter-productive, and therefore want to stay away from highlighting this aspect. However, this is interesting because Pinterest makes all of its revenue by ads. In my opinion, Pinterest should look into the matter, because products should evolve with their users.
All in all, this was a fun problem for me to dissect and toy with. I enjoyed the dual role of frequent Pinner and Designer. For now I will continue to Pin happily. Stay tuned for more. ✨