UX Writing Study Case — Shopee Search Bar
I rarely use e-commerce since I’m not a consumptive person and rarely buy something. Mostly I buy online for game stuff or subscription. If something is needed, I go to a store for it instead of online shopping.
One day, I’m trying to look up a product that is hard to find in my region. Thus, I’m trying to find it online by using an e-commerce application. I go to several applications and I arrive at Shopee in the end most people said I can find it cheaper on Shopee. But, since I’m rarely using Shopee and other e-commerce applications, it is quite something to see the search bar for Shopee. At first, I was like:
Is it a real search bar? I see the magnifying glass as a universal icon for the search bar. But, why it doesn’t look like it?
It sounds awkward for me though since it looks like a search bar but does not look at the same time.
From this experience, it inspires me to do a UX writing case study to solve this problem and make a proper copy for this issue.
Disclaimer: Before we continue, this study case is only for study purposes. Not intended for the company to change or remove anything. There must be more support data to have a better conclusion regarding this study case.
Background
Shopee is the first mobile platform in Southeast Asia that offers fun, free, and reliable online buying and selling transactions via mobile phones with various other users by starting to register products and shop for attractive offers anytime, anywhere.
Based on the app background, I’m trying to make a user persona to help me understand Ajaib’s users.
User Persona
Zhella is 24 years old and working as a freelancer from home. She does not have time to go outside since she has a lot of tasks from her work daily. So, instead of going outside to go shopping, she use Shopee so that she can buy some products and save time doing her work. Therefore, her goal is to use Shopee as a time saver for her needs.
Screen Target
Screen flow — Home
Goals — To let the user find what they want to find
Emotional condition — On this screen, users want to know and find out the product that they want to find or buy. Any obstacle to this process would cause users to become confused.
The search bar is the location within a browser that allows you to search the Internet for what you want to find. For example, the picture above is the search bar in Shopee, which allows you to search and find a product on the application/web. Usually, a search bar default is “Search product”, but Shopee uses it as a way to inform about an event on the search bar which might a new smartphone user confused. So, the ideal copy is the copy that provides a simple sentence for the user to let them know that feature is a search bar. Since Shopee has a general-millennial target user, my copy tone would emphasize casual and irreverent.
Research Method
Qualitative — In-Depth Interview: This method is used to obtain information about user behavior in using Shopee application based on points from predetermined objectives.
Qualitative — Competitive Analysis : This method is used
to research major competitors to get insight into their
product regarding Shopee “search” bar.
Competitive Analysis
Based on other apps, we have:
- Try “Apple Watch”
- Find “POCO F4”
- Cari laptop 3 jutaan
- Search for apps & games
Based on Users
After that, based on Nielsen Norman, to do quantitative research needs to have 5 people asked. I do In-Depth Interviews regarding the “search” bar on
Shopee. I find out that they do not even know the sentence in the “search” bar is a place to search for a product. They think it is a place to go for a link or button instead.
Link to another page: 55.6%
Button: 44.4%
Search: 0%
But for two other types of search bar copy (based on the competitive analysis images). They find out that the copy is a search bar copy.
UX Writing Proposal
Instead of a sentence to inform users about an event on Shopee. It is better to use the “search” bar effectively. By using what’s on the “search” bar of Shopee right now, it might confuse a person who is new to a smartphone. “Cari produk X” or “Search Product” sounds more effective and on point about what is that feature about.
In Conclusion
In this case study on UX writing, I used the UX writing process to create the perfect copy based on the context of the app, the user persona, and the message’s objectives. Since it needs to be tested and repeated, the finished version is constantly subject to revision. I’m also open to any criticism and suggestions as a budding UX writer. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to read, and I hope you’ll check back soon for additional case studies from me.
If you want to take a look on behance about this study case, please click here.
