Staff Product Reviews

Bringing In-Store Expertise Online

REI customers value the expert, trustworthy advice they receive from employees in-store. The "Staff Product Reviews" initiative aimed to translate this valuable in-store experience to the REI website.

Goal

To increase customer confidence and drive online conversion by providing insightful, trustworthy product advice from REI employees, differentiating REI from its competitors.

Process

The project began with a leadership request to integrate staff-authored reviews alongside customer reviews on product pages. To validate this approach, I conducted a multi-stage research and design process:

  1. Competitive Analysis: I examined how competitors, including Backcountry.com, presented employee reviews. This revealed best practices and potential pitfalls.

  2. User Research (Existing Implementation): A usability study of Backcountry.com's staff review implementation identified key usability issues and customer perception challenges.

  3. Iterative Design & Prototyping: Based on initial research, I developed two distinct design concepts for REI staff reviews:

    • Version 1: Staff reviews were presented separately from customer reviews, without star ratings, emphasizing qualitative expertise.

    • Version 2: Staff reviews were integrated with customer reviews and included star ratings, similar to Backcountry.com's approach.

  4. Usability Testing: Both versions were tested with customers through live and remote sessions. This feedback directly informed the final design.

This entire process, from initial research to final design, was completed within four weeks.

Key Learnings & Design Decisions

The research yielded two crucial insights that shaped the final design:

  • Transparency is Paramount: The Backcountry.com study revealed that unclear labeling of staff reviews eroded customer trust. Our testing confirmed that customers valued employee reviews only when clearly identified. To address this, the final design prominently featured staff member details: role, location, expertise, and favorite outdoor activities. This built credibility and transparency.

  • Distinct Value Proposition: Customers expected different information from staff reviews compared to customer reviews. Staff were seen as authorities on technical specifications and use cases, while customers were trusted for overall quality and durability assessments. Therefore, the staff review content was restructured to emphasize:

    • Specific use case examples

    • Technical product details

    • A proposed style guide was created to help employees write focused, informative reviews.

Outcome

The final designs (large and small versions) and research findings were presented to key stakeholders. This presentation successfully shifted the project's direction to align with validated customer needs and expectations, ensuring the "Staff Product Reviews" feature would genuinely enhance the online shopping experience.