FARFETCH - Showing the value of personalised notifications

Website

https://www.farfetch.com

Project Info

Project:
FARFETCH - Showing the value of personalised notifications
Date:
2022
Who they are:
Farfetch is a British-Portuguese online luxury fashion retail platform that sells products from over 700 boutiques and brands globally.
Problem:
42% of active FARFETCH iOS app users subscribe to notifications during onboarding. However, there's a remaining 58% of users who do not opt in for push notifications, yet still engage with the FARFETCH app. How might we help reluctant users understand how notifications will enhance their FARFETCH experience?
Objective:
This quarter, we want to explore new opportunities to grow our iOS audience by testing different hypotheses we believe will lead to an increase of iOS % Subscription rate (to either Push and/or Email) among all visitor segments with positive impact on % Revisit Rate and %Visitor CR.
Research methods:
Data Analysis, Qualitative user feedback, Usability testing
Tools:
Figma, Looker, User Testing

Set project goals

Gathering research & data 🗺️

Discovery goal: understand why users do not opt-in for push notifications during app onboarding, but still keep using the FARFETCH app anyways.

Discovery question: how could we communicate with these users in a way that they would find valuable, and in turn, cause them to opt in for push notifications? 

I noticed... 📚

Evaluate current experience

Putting myself in the user's shoes... 👠

Scenario: “You’ve downloaded the FARFETCH app, and choose not to opt-in for push notifications.”

Task: “Try to opt-in for notifications later.”

Current journey - push notification from first download 💾

Current journey - opted out of push, wanting to opt in later 🔎

Through these journeys I learned 🧠

Design process

From gathering this data, we could have a clear hypothesis (and begin designing)! ✏️

We believe active FARFETCH users are not subscribing to push notifications because they are unaware that notifications are easily customisable. Through showing users they can customise their notifications, they will be more likely to opt-in. We will know we're right when we see an uplift in notification opt-ins after messaging this customisability to the user 30 days after app download.

To begin, I looked at competing apps 💭

I explored design solutions used by direct competitors such as LYST and Selfridges, and indirect competitors such as Revolut and Flo Health. Through combining elements of competitor experiences with our existing design system components, I could provide users with an experience that is both familiar and aesthetically similar to the FARFETCH experience.

Then I took elements I liked, started drawing, and narrowed down some options.. 🖼

Option A: allow the user to opt-in for specific notifications from this screen - give them the choice to not be spammed immediately.

Option B: Show the user an animation that demonstrates how to customise your notifications in the settings.

Discussed feasibility with team.. ✔️

After presenting my ideas to engineering and my product manager, the team explained that toggling notifications from this screen would be quite a large technical effort. While option B was the clear winner feasibility-wise, we wondered if we could still allow the user to customise notifications sooner - without additional technical labour of option A.

Decided on variants to test... 🧪

To achieve the choice of option A, but the feasibility of B, we decided to test two variants of option B - one that leads to the settings page, and one that leads to the homepage. Through doing this, we can gauge whether or not users want to customise their notifications - rather than opt out entirely.

Put finishing touches together... and did my handoff! ✋

How I achieved my goals

Reflection 🪞

Discovery goal: we want to understand why users do not opt-in for push notifications upon first time downloading the app, but still keep using the FARFETCH app anyways.

Discovery question: how could we communicate with these users in a way that they would find valuable, and in turn, cause them to opt in for push notifications? 

How we achieved our goals...

✔️ We devised a specific and measurable hypothesis within our technical and time-constraints

✔️ We backed our design with research and data - even though we had a quick turnaround for development

✔️ We have clear next steps to evolve the project

Next steps

What do we do next? 

✔️ Choose the successful variant, and continue messaging it

✔️ If both variants are unsuccessful, putting them in front of users and seeking further feedback

✔️ Explore new ways to make opting in at a later date easier for users

Impact 🚀

✔️ 75% of 2021 iOS new visitors got to the end of last year without subscribing to Push notifications. Push notifications drive $161M USD annually - representing hugely untapped potential.

✔️57% of FARFETCH Private Clients (top 1% of spenders) are not subscribed to push. These clients missing out on marketing messaging is hugely untapped potential - they compose 60%+ of FARFETCH's total annual revenue on average, which in 2021 was $2.3 billion.