How I improved content hierarchy and clarity of messaging for an open-source e-commerce site builder.

The challenge

As a content design intern at PrestaShop, I was tasked with updating the offers pages to help potential customers make more informed decisions when selecting an offer. Clarifying the features and pros and cons of each offer was projected to help increase conversions, improve transparency, and raise customer satisfaction, ultimately helping to increase customer acquisition.

I was specifically assigned to redesign the Classic offer page: the free, open-source version of PrestaShop’s software that the company became known for originally. Other offers that users can select include the Hosted offer (newer, paid version with additional features and support) or a Custom offer.

A quick note on business objectives…

From a business perspective, highlighting the Hosted offer is more beneficial for generating revenue. However, for users who have the technical skills to set up their own store and/or already have a hosting provider that they want to use, the Classic offer will be more suited to their needs.

Increasing clarity around the Classic offer’s pros and cons will help direct users without those technical skills to the Hosted offer, ultimately supporting business goals while responding to user needs.

How do we direct users to the appropriate offer for their individual needs and level of experience for building an e-commerce store?

Duration

2 months (from research to user testing)

Collaborators

  • Lead UX writers (2)

  • UX writing interns (3)

  • Marketing specialist

Tools

  • Figma

  • ChatGPT

  • FigJam

  • Notion

  • Miro

  • Slack

  • Google Suite

The solution

I worked with a team of interns under the guidance of two Lead UX Writers from PrestaShop’s in-house team to redesign the Classic offer page, highlighting unique the features of the offer and simplifying the content hierarchy of the page.

To begin, I needed to gain a robust understanding of the world of e-commerce, what sets PrestaShop apart from competitors, and the existing issues with the current offers pages.

My team and I set out to explore what users are looking for in e-commerce platforms and how other leading site builders differentiate their services and subscriptions through competitive analysis and conversation mining.

Step 1: Competitive analysis

To kick off the research component of the project, I collaborated with the other interns to conduct a competitive analysis of popular ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Woocommerce, Webflow, Wix, and Square.

A chart comparing PrestaShop’s brand messaging to Square—a popular payment solution for brick-and-mortar businesses that has also expanded into the ecommerce sphere:

A Venn diagram of PrestaShop’s three offers (Classic, Hosted, and Custom):

Key insights and takeaways:

  • PrestaShop is an open-source platform, meaning that anyone can download the free zip file to set up and install their ecommerce store.

    • The free Classic offer is what PrestaShop is known for, while the newer, paid, Hosted offer provides additional technical support and site hosting for users without the technical skills to set up their site.

  • PrestaShop is the leading open-source e-commerce solution in Europe and Latin America, but it is less popular and well-known in the United States.

    • Appealing to an American audience may require different language and branding from European or Latin American audiences.

  • PrestaShop's offers are not linear, meaning that the paid 'Hosted' offer is not intended to be an upgrade from the free 'Classic' offer.

    • The Hosted and Classic offers are separate offers intended for different target audiences that each require different levels of skills and experience.

Step 2: Conversation mining

After gaining a thorough understanding of Prestashop's offers and comparing and contrasting my findings with the other interns, I conversation-mined social media sites to learn more about what users want from ecommerce platforms and site builders.

I primarily conducted my conversation minding using the r/ecommerce subreddit, a self-proclaimed "community dedicated to the design and implementation of eCommerce sites." The subreddit has 466k members as of July 2024 and was within the top 1% of subreddits by size.

Key takeaways and opportunities for improvement:

  • Create increased awareness around the positive qualities that PrestaShop shares with industry leader Shopify: scalability, customizability, and ease-of-use (even without technical knowledge).

  • Address common pain points for e-commerce entrepreneurs—shipping, taxes, marketing strategy, and web design—and how each offer solves these issues.

  • Emphasize PrestaShop’s known positive qualities (ease-of-setup and installation) for both offers, distinguishing the Classic and Hosted offers by the level of support provided, hosting, and level of technical knowledge required.

Open the accordions below to view the full conversation mining reports, including example quotes from users.

  • Overwhelmingly, Shopify was the most recommended platform, with WordPress, Squarespace, and Woocommerce being the second-place contenders.

    Contributors were concerned about the following factors when selecting an ecommerce platform:

    1. Scalability

      • "If you want to start something that can grow and have proper infrastructure and functionality, Shopify is the way to go..."

    2. Technical knowledge required to set up and maintain a site

      • "I'm looking to build a website that sells an informational product...Is this something I can do with no coding experience on a builder like Wix or Shopify?"

    3. Cost of add-ons

      • "I'd argue Shopify's cost is what they pay for peace of mind."

    4. Customizability

      • "I use WP and find it pretty easy and straightforward...really easy to customize. You can easily have a store set up in a day."

  • Contributors reported that PrestaShop's ease of setup and installation was a standout feature.

    • "Woocommerce is a lot more customizable, and PrestaShop is definitely easier to set up and use. With PS, you have all the basic and important features already set up after the install...With Woocommerce, you need to install and implement a lot of plugins in many cases...PS is a lot more 'automatic install and go,' saving you plenty of time."

    However, there were mixed opinions around the web performance of sites created using PrestaShop.

    • "As far as open source options like PrestaShop, WordPress, etc. go, yes you own and control more, but you also inherit a number of new problems...since there's a much larger surface area of what could go wrong."

    Contributors also had questions about specific modules they were looking for on PrestaShop and how to find a host and domain to set up their site.

    • "So to start building a page on PrestaShop, I need to get a host and domain. What should I do?"

    • "My intention is to integrate a marketplace into my current PrestaShop-based site that would allow other suppliers to offer their products on my site...I was wondering whether there's a module/plug-in solution that does basically that."

    • Payment and shipping--especially international shipping--was a frequent topic on which contributors asked others for advice.

      • Common questions revolved around:

        • How to reduce the cost of shipping

        • How to expand stores internationally

        • Best practices for staying on top of taxes and regulations in different countries

        • Reducing shipping time for international customers

    • Legal components of handling an ecommerce store were also a common pain point and cause of stress and confusion for contributors.

      • "How is anybody able to set up an ecommerce store with the sheer amount of tax collection you need to do?"

    • Web design was understandably one of the most important concerns for people looking to set up an ecommerce site.

      • "Ensure your website is easy-to-navigate, and the faster it loads, the better. Additionally, make sure your website is mobile-friendly."

“Just go with Shopify...it’s the best all-around platform. Shopify is easy to set up, cheap, reliable, and pretty customizable. There is a good reason stores like Kylie Cosmetics and Fashion Nova use Shopify.”
— Reddit user
“With PrestaShop you have all the basic and important features already set up after the install. After that, you only need to do some few basic configs (like language, country, carriers, company info) and then you can pretty much start adding products.”
— Reddit user
“Taxes seem fairly complex when it comes to the EU and UK...We have an IOSS number and a VAT number.”
— Reddit user

Step 3: Insights from the marketing team

At this point in our research process, we were joined by an in-house Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Specialist, who shared some key insights from AB tests, user journey analyses, and background context around the development of the Hosted offer.

Notably, analyzing the user journey revealed that many users navigated back to the homepage from the Hosted page or exited the site and went back to the Classic page. This pattern of behavior suggests that users lack clarity around the difference between the Hosted offer and the Classic offer.

The next step in the redesign process was to complete a full content audit of the Classic offer page.

To gain a clearer idea of how user actually arrive at each touchpoint in the acquisition process, I created a simple user journey map on FigJam.

Then, I annotated the content of the Classic offer page using Figma:

Independently, I created a first iteration of the new-and-improved Classic offer page, addressing the key takeaways and opportunities from our research and audit.