Case study: nike.com’s customer support page redesign
By: Alessandra Betenheuser
Tags: Case Study, UI Design, Product Design, UX, UI

Customer Support

Some pains can’t be healed with simple ointment

Since this project aims to better understand NIKE’s support page, an overall customer complaints research was needed, in order to possibly identify their biggest needs and pains while seeking help. Complaints boards/sites from all over the world were analyzed and some interesting points came up:

DELIVERY

Whether “late”, “never came” or “yes, it did arrive but wasn’t the one I ordered”, a vast majority of customers were complaining about their order deliveries. Problems related appeared in every single one of the sites analyzed, suggesting that it might be one of the key pain points for users.

ORDER PROCESS

Difficulties with placing orders, waiting for confirmation, and/or unexpected/unexplained cancelation were also very present, leaving customers feeling frustrated and lost, not understanding what went wrong and how they could revert that state.

REFUND

Possibly one of the major ones as well, problems with refunds were very prominent throughout the analysis. The frustration of still waiting to get their money back and not receiving proper information from the support team, in addition to what some of them described as a “feeling of getting robbed”, indicates that it might be a serious pain point in the relationship between NIKE and it’s customers.

PRODUCT PROBLEMS

When buying something brand new from a top market brand, you’d expect it to be 110% perfect, especially if you’re someone looking for high-performance athletic gear. Well, that’s what all the customers expected as well, but since the boards were also filled with people complaining about the not-110%-quality of the products they received, problems regarding defects/poor quality also made the list. In addition to being possibly a literal pain point for the ones actually using the products, NIKE’s high values of apparel quality are also hurt.

BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE

The difficulty of properly being able to contact and receive help from NIKE’s customer service through the customer’s support page, let’s be honest, is bad. Some complained about not getting e-mail responses, chats not working, phones that kept ringing, and staff not knowing how they could provide further help. And since customers reach out for support in order to solve their problems regarding the delivery, order process, refund, and/or product problems, improving overall customer service through the interface might be the biggest problem to solve.

DEFINITION PHASE

Understanding that all the data collected and analyzed previously could be a little overwhelming and challenging to translate into something meaningful and useful for NIKE’s customer support page, I decided to shape a couple of personas and their journeys through the website’s interface when trying to solve a problem they’re having, in order to get a better sense and definition of the key points this project will aim to solve and who are the ones most affected by them, leading to possibly a better user experience in the end.

Personas

NIKE’s possibly largest target markets were already pretty clear (athletes, women, young athletes), however for us to really empathize and understand a user’s perspective about this online experience of purchasing and contacting customer service, I translated that broad data into these personas. Assuming and embracing the hypothesis that the “young athletes” segment of customers wasn’t as significant (in terms of online shopping and customer support) as the other two segments, for this project I decided to create only 02 personas representing the other target markets. Meet Willow and Josh.

Customer Journey Map

With Willow and Josh as our protagonists, I created a hypothetical customer journey scenario through NIKE’s customer support webpage (https://www.nike.com/help), based on the review's analysis done previously in order to possibly better identify pain points and opportunities from a users point of view.

Problem Definition

Willow and Josh are characters, but they represent NIKE’s real users, who have real problems, needs, and goals while using the company’s customer support page. Based on the personas, their hypothetical journeys, and pain points, I had a solid base to possibly identify what the real problems were and what solutions I could propose in order to build a better, stronger bridge between NIKE and its customers.

So, what problems seem to be the most prominent ones?

Difficulties in contacting customer service, whether through phone number, chat, or e-mail (due to numerous reasons possible);

Lack of efficiency and autonomy for users in finding answers to problems they are having;

Not being able to identify what solution tools are at their disposal to manage the problems they are having;

To see or not to see

That is the question

And why are those even problems to begin with? Let’s dive into that.

This is NIKE’s main customer support page. One of the biggest complaints was regarding overall customer service contact through the website itself. We can see that NIKE has a bunch of contacts listed on the page, did you notice where the company’s chat channel is? It’s right here.

By clicking on it, the chatbox opens up in a new page and NIKE’s virtual assistant pops up.

First, the struggle to find it. Second, for this chatbox to load it takes a looong time, possibly due to intense online traffic and an overloaded system. So, imagine users in a hurry during their lunch break trying to get help with an order issue they’re having searching for direct contact with customer service, and being left on hold for so long they eventually just give up because they simply do not have the time (and patience) anymore. Doesn’t sound that good, does it?

How can we ensure faster and easier access to customer support through the interface in order to provide reliability and conquer user’s confidence?

In addition, we have complaints regarding the lack of efficiency while users try to find answers on their own, not being able to quickly identify solutions at their disposal that could give them the control in managing their own problems. Why could that be? Possibly because there isn’t a clear visual hierarchy of information that could optimize the overall experience, providing easy access to the most important sections on the webpage and prioritizing the user’s domain.

How can we guarantee efficiency throughout the interface, prioritizing information and optimizing the overall time and effort in order to provide a better user experience?

In order to ensure an overall improved holistic experience for NIKE’s customer support page users and ensure their trust, confidence, and loyalty to the brand, those 02 specific “how can we” points are the ones we’re focusing on at the moment.