Improving the BOPUS experience at Nordstrom Rack
Usability research
Ecommerce
Master's project sponsored by Nordstrom
CLIENT
UW Master’s
project sponsored by Nordstrom
TIMELINE
Feb - March 2025
TEAM
4 UX researchers
MY ROLE
Usability research
Stakeholder management
Report writing & synthesis
OVERVIEW
The short version (TL,DR)
The problem
How might we identify and address pain points in Nordstrom Rack’s BOPUS service to ensure a smooth customer experience and encourage wider adoption?
Nordstrom Rack’s new “Buy Online & Pick Up in Store” (BOPUS) service allows customers to purchase items online for same or next-day in-store pickup. This benefits both customers, by providing a fast and convenient alternative to shipping, and Nordstrom, by driving in-store visits that may lead to additional purchases. Since BOPUS is a new service currently available in select locations only, Nordstrom wanted to uncover usability pain points to ensure a smooth customer experience and encourage wider adoption.
What we did
Moderated usability study on the BOPUS experience from filter + search to checkout, surfacing 7 usability issues & 12 design recommendations
Over the course of 8 weeks, my teammates and I designed and conducted a moderated usability study with 8 participants in order to better understand how shoppers navigate the Nordstrom Rack website to find and purchase same or next-day pickup items. We identified 7 key usability issues in the BOPUS flow from filter + search to checkout, and communicated 12 actionable recommendations for improvement to key stakeholders at Nordstrom.
Check out our final report!
OVERVIEW
My contribution
As a student researcher working with Nordstrom Rack, I collaborated with teammates and senior UX researchers to plan and conduct a comprehensive usability study for their newly launched BOPUS service. I contributed at every stage of the research process—from scoping and stakeholder alignment to test facilitation, data synthesis, and delivery.
Stakeholder Communication & Alignment
I served as the primary point of contact with Nordstrom Rack stakeholders, leading all external meetings, providing regular progress updates, and ensuring their feedback was incorporated into deliverables throughout the project.
Heuristic Analysis
I conducted a heuristic analysis using Nielsen Norman Group’s 10 Usability Heuristics to identify potential usability issues and guide the direction of our research plan.
Participant Recruitment
I developed and refined participant screening criteria, created the screener survey, and drafted recruitment emails for qualified participants.
Usability Test Moderation
I led the pilot test and updated our study plan based on learnings. I moderated 2/8 usability tests and contributed to thorough documentation of all sessions through note-taking and transcription, which kept our data organized for analysis.
Data Analysis
I collaborated with teammates to synthesize data through thematic analysis and translate it into actionable findings and recommendations.
Final Report and Presentation
I took the lead on content design and copywriting for our final report, ensuring clear, thorough communication of findings and recommendations.
PROCESS
Scoping + study plan
Heuristic analysis
We knew Nordstrom Rack wanted to improve the BOPUS experience for shoppers, but to narrow down our research scope further, my team and I conducted a heuristic analysis using Nielsen Norman’s 10 Usability Heuristic guidelines. After independently evaluating the BOPUS flow, I facilitated a team session where we compared findings and identified possible pain points based on noted heuristic violations. This synthesis helped shape our research questions and design the core scenarios for our usability test.
Heuristic analysis
A section of my heuristic analysis of Nordstrom Rack’s BOPUS flow
Research questions
Building on what we learned from our heuristic analysis, my teammates and I developed research questions for usability testing:
How easily and successfully can users navigate the Nordstrom Rack desktop website to find and purchase same or next-day pickup items?
How easily and successfully can users purchase same or next-day pickup items available at different store locations?
What pain points are preventing users from successfully completing their purchase without confusion?
Do users understand the difference between same-day pickup items and other fulfillment options (eg: shipping items)?
How clear and understandable is the information around item availability and pickup locations on the website?
PROCESS
Recruitment + testing
Moderated usability study with think-aloud protocol
We chose to conduct an hour-long moderated usability study with think-aloud protocol (n=8) to understand participants’ thought processes in real time as they navigated the BOPUS flow. This method allowed us to step in when confusion arose, ask follow-up questions, and explore unexpected issues in more depth: leading to a richer understanding of pain points, expectations, and decision-making. I ran the pilot test, updated our study plan based on learnings, and moderated 2/8 usability tests.
Study plan
Recruitment
I met with two Senior UX researchers at Nordstrom Rack to define participant criteria:
Shop online for clothing, makeup, or home goods 3x per year or more
Live within driving distance of a Nordstrom Rack store that offers “available today” pickup options
Excluding: Work in retail or as a UX professional
Once criteria was established, I drafted a participant screener survey for recruitment. We used convenience sampling and cold outreach to recruit 8 participants that satisfied our requirements.
Usability test scenarios
We presented participants with three scenarios, each designed to generate data that would help answer our research questions.
Scenario 1
Purchase a bag online for same-day pickup at a nearby Nordstrom Rack store
Purpose: To assess how easily and successfully participants can navigate the website to find and purchase a same- or next-day pickup item, and observe whether results align with user expectations when filtering items by “available today”
Scenario 2
Purchase a pair of shoes for same-day pickup at a different store
Purpose: To evaluate whether participants understand that same-day pickup items from different store locations can’t be purchased together, and how this impacts the checkout experience. Also, to understand how participants navigate finding an item that’s both available in their size and eligible for same-day pickup.
Scenario 3
Find out how long the store will hold a same-day pickup order
Purpose: To determine how easily participants can find important logistical information (like how long a store will hold a pickup item) and assess whether the website provides enough clarity around post-purchase logistics.
PROCESS
Data analysis + synthesis
I processed the data (task completion, qualitative feedback via think-aloud protocol, and Likert scale questionnaire answers) from 2/8 participants. From there, my teammates and I conducted thematic analysis to uncover pain points across participants and translate them into findings. After coding and theming our data, it became clear that the most significant issue for participants was a mismatch between their expectations around the “Available Today” filter and how it actually worked, particularly when browsing product categories with multiple sizes or colors per item. Participants incorrectly assumed all item variations shown when using the filter were available for same-day pickup, leading to confusion and errors as they moved through the flow. As such, we made it a priority to highlight this issue in our report to stakeholders.
RESULTS
Findings + recommendations
As a team, we put together a comprehensive report of our study. I took the lead on content design and copywriting, ensuring clear and thorough communication of results. Overall, we identified 7 key usability issues and provided 12 actionable recommendations.
Select slides from the research report we put together and presented to Nordstrom Rack stakeholders, highlighting key findings and recommendations.
REFLECTION
What I learned
Get stakeholders involved early and often
I led weekly check-ins with Nordstrom Rack stakeholders throughout the process, which helped us stay aligned on business goals, understand the context behind existing systems, and build on previous research. For example, our heuristic evaluation revealed a potential issue around purchasing same-day pickup items from multiple store locations. Initially, we weren’t sure if it was worth focusing on, but after a discussion with stakeholders, we learned that while it’s an edge case, it’s one they care about and want to improve. This input directly informed our usability study design and ensured our findings were relevant to the business.
The power of the 5-participant rule
According to widely cited research from Jakob Nielsen, testing with five users can reveal around 85% of usability issues. That said, there’s also been pushback against the 5-participant rule and advocacy for increased sample sizes. Our team chose to test with eight participants, partly to account for potential no-shows and partly to ensure we caught everything critical. In the end, though, we found that key usability issues did, in fact, reveal themselves in the first five sessions, while remaining interviews mostly confirmed patterns we had already observed. Although I don’t regret testing with more (especially since we had the time and participant pool to draw from), in the future I’ll feel confident taking a just-enough approach when resources are limited, knowing that five well-chosen participants can yield quality data.