Conversational AI Gift Finder

Enhancing customer experience by offering personalized, AI-driven gift recommendations.

My Role

Experience Designer

Team

3 Product Managers, 3 Designers, 6 Engineers

Timeline

8 Weeks

Overview

Problem

The app’s one-size-fits-all gift recommendations fail to reflect users’ unique preferences and intentions, leading to frustration, disengagement, and elevated abandonment rates. Personalized experiences are essential to meet diverse user needs effectively.

Outcome

To solve this problem, we designed a Conversational AI Gift Finder that delivers personalized recommendations by adapting to each user’s inputs and behavior.

Understanding the Problem

Business Problem

Generic Gift Suggestions:

Users frequently encountered generic gift suggestions that failed to match their individual needs and preferences, resulting in frustration and a diminished overall experience.

User Engagement:

The absence of personalized, engaging interactions led to reduced user engagement and increased abandonment rates.

Relevance:

Users expected gift recommendations tailored to the recipient’s preferences, the occasion, and their budget—but the existing system often failed to deliver that level of relevance.

Diverse User Preferences:

With diverse preferences, behaviors, and goals, users require a more tailored experience—yet the one-size-fits-all approach fell short in meeting their individual expectations.

Time Consumption:

Users sought a faster, more efficient gift-finding experience, as the existing process felt slow and cumbersome.

Decision-Making:

Without personalized recommendations, many users struggled to choose suitable gifts—resulting in decision fatigue and increased likelihood of app abandonment.

Goals

Personalization

Tailor gift recommendations based on user inputs (age, interests, occasion, etc.).

Interactive Experience

Create a dynamic, engaging chat-like interaction.

Efficiency

Provide quick, relevant suggestions to speed up decision-making.

User Satisfaction

Improve satisfaction through personalized, enjoyable interactions.

Storyboard

Scenario 1

Find a gift for a grandma who loves animals, within a $300 budget.

Scenario 2

Ask for details on a recommended product, like ratings and top features.

Scenario 3

Request user feedback on a product (e.g., reviews).

Scenario 4

Add the gift to the cart and complete the purchase.

Validating with customers

An unmoderated usability test was conducted to evaluate two variations of the gift finder experience (e.g., size, color). The objective was to uncover usability issues and collect user feedback to help shape an optimal user experience.

Usability Testing

Testing Variations:

Two product card designs tested (existing vs. new carousel design).

Objectives

Evaluate gift-finding efficiency
Compare usability of product attribute selection (size, color)
Measure user satisfaction between the two designs

Tasks

Participants completed a series of tasks while their screens were recorded, followed by post-task questions about their mobile experience using a design prototype.

Task 1

Find Gift Ideas

Browse for products that align with your friend's interests.

Task 3

Choose Size (Current Design)

Find and select the largest storage option for the iPad mini.

Task 2

Narrow Down Products

Explore Apple’s tablet options.

Task 4

Choose Size (New Design)

Find and select the largest storage option for the iPad mini.

Existing Product card design

New Product card design

Research Findings

Evaluate the effectiveness of Gift Finder in helping users find and narrow down on a product selection.

While most participants were able to find Apple gift ideas with ease, some encountered difficulties when trying to narrow down their search specifically to iPads.

16/17

Able to find Apple gift ideas for their friends with ease

12/17

Able to narrow down to ipads with ease using prompt suggestions.

Some participants failed to accomplish this task because they were unfamiliar with the name of Apple's tablet product

Determine the usability of browsing and choosing product attributes (e.g., size and color).

While most participants successfully found the 512GB iPad Mini with the product card design, most participants struggled
to find it using the product carousels.

14/17

Found 512GB iPad Mini with ease using New
product card design.

6/17

Found 512GB iPad Mini variant using the product carousels.

Those who failed did not find the “Options for Mini
prompt suggestion, so
they did not see the product card.

Compare the usability and user satisfaction on between the two design variations.

Browsing product

More customers prefer the product card design when browsing product variations.

8 users prefer new product card design

5 users prefer current product card design

4 users prefer both

29%

24%

47%

Purchasing product

More customers prefer the product card design when browsing product variations.

9 users prefer new product card design

5 users prefer current product card design

3 users prefer both

53%

18%

29%

Participants feedback on Gift finder

"I really like the idea of the Gift Finder . I think it s a super helpful feature for people who are trying to decide on the right gift".

"I liked it very much. Works well and makes it easier".

"This was a new and innovative survey".

"It was fun trying this feature out!"

"WAY too slow, and the whole conversational nature of it is just silly. I’d much prefer traditional filters to this AI crap".

Key Takeaways

Assess how effectively the Gift Finder supports users in discovering and narrowing down suitable product options.

Finding

Although most participants easily discovered Apple gift ideas, a few experienced difficulty filtering specifically for iPads.

Recommendations

Enhance Prompt Suggestions: Make prompt suggestions more intuitive and context-aware to better guide users.
Analyze User Behavior: Collect additional data on how users interact with suggestion prompts compared to free-form input fields.

Determine the usability of browsing and choosing product attributes (e.g., size and color).

While most participants successfully found the 512GB iPad Mini with the product card design, most participants struggled to find it using the product carousels.

Improve Carousel Design: Add visual indicators to signal that more options are available horizontally. Update product card width to give more affordance to horizontal scroll.
Prioritize Popular Variants: Simplify the display of pro duct variations by highlighting key options first.
Enhance Prompt Visibility and Clarity: Make prompt suggestions more prominent and visually distinct.
Improve Prompt Suggestions: Refine the prompt suggestions to allow users to target results by specific attributes. Make prompt suggestions more specific and actionable. Ensure that search results prominently display the requested variants.

Compare the usability and user satisfaction between the two design variations.

More customers prefer the product card design when browsing product configurations. More customers prefer the product card design when purchasing a product.

Increase Visibility of Variants: Ensure all options are visible within the viewport and that the interface remains intuitive and easy to navigate. Improve visibility of variations within carousel.
Use Recognizable Patterns: Continue using familiar design patterns that users recognize and trust. Ensure consistency in layout and interaction elements wit the PDP to maintain a seamless user experience.

Next Steps

Share Insights: Present findings to stakeholders.

Design Iterations: Implement recommended changes based on feedback.

Prototype & Test: Build updated designs and conduct additional usability tests.

Objectives

Assess the effectiveness of the Gift Finder in assisting users to discover and narrow down product selections.

Evaluate the usability of browsing and selecting product attributes (e.g., size, color).

Compare user satisfaction and usability across the two design variations.