Case study: discovering products on India’s leading beauty app
P.S: These opinions are my own, based on my limited knowledge, and are not affiliated with Nykaa in any way. This case study is purely for my own learning.
Nykaa, Social Commerce & the “Aha Moment”
💄 Nykaa is India’s leading beauty “e-tailer” (e-commerce retailer) that is making a splash in the news with its upcoming IPO (at a whopping $3bn valuation).
🛒 Social commerce is a new way of selling products directly through social media, and has been pioneered in China with apps like WeChat and LINE. Hopping on this trend, Nykaa has an Explore feature that enables users to watch Tik-Tok style videos to discover products and buy them at the same time.
⚡ The “aha moment” is a moment in a user’s journey when they realize the value of a product. For Explore — or any other feature/app — having that moment of realisation early on in the experience can determine whether users will repeatedly engage with the feature (a.k.a whether the product will be sticky)
This case study goes through the Explore experience step by step, screen by screen, to find that “aha moment” (and address UX issues along the way).
Case Study
Tip: view this on your laptop, in full screen, and click on the arrows on the screen or on your keyboard to navigate the case study
💡 Improving Engagement:
1. Create the default state to be as engaging as possible — by having sound on to increase sensory appeal.
2. Switch up the order of content to avoid the boredom that comes with finite variability.
Experiences with finite variability become less engaging because they eventually become predictable (Source: Hooked by Nir Eyal)
3. Add social proof with user ratings earlier on in the funnel to guide users’ action.
4. Personalise the content to make it more relevant for users, enabling them to meet their needs sooner. Also vet the content to only include the most engaging content (eg: video, sound on, live demonstrations)
💡 Improving Accessibility
1 . Increase the button sizes
Touch targets should be large enough for users to accurately select them. (Source: Laws of UX)
2. Increase text sizes for improved readability.
3. Add subtitles to videos.
💡 Improving Usability
1. Provide system feedback for when users take an action (eg: indicate that the post has been saved after users click “save”)
Design should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback. (Source: Nielsen Norman Group)
2. Use familiar design patterns to help users navigate the new system (eg: add a pause button and scrubber like is present on Instagram, use the same swipe functionality as Tiktok, have the caption below the video)
When a design’s controls follow real-world conventions, it’s easier for users to learn and remember how the interface works. This helps to build an experience that feels intuitive.(Source: Nielsen Norman Group)
3. Rephrase microcopy (eg: make language on pop-ups more clear, provide descriptions to differentiate between Nykaa handles.)
It’s best if the system doesn’t need any additional explanation. However, it may be necessary to provide documentation to help users understand how to complete their tasks. (Source: Nielsen Norman Group)
Further Readings:
If you’re interested in:
- social commerce, read this article
- how to design for “aha moments,” read this article
- usability principles, check out this article.
- designing for accessibility, read this.
- cognitive biases and principles that impact UX, check out this collection by Growth.Design.
- the laws of UX, check out this collection by Jon Yablonski.
- how to design habit-forming products, read Hooked by Nir Eyal.
If you have any questions, comments or feedback, say hi on Twitter or Linkedin!
