Project overview

Gifting is a crucial way to maintain social connections, but many people feel stressed about choosing the right gift, because gift involve complexity value and meanings. Additionally, gift-giving is a huge market. Each holiday, the marketings of e-commerce use various promotion to attract people buy gift. however, givers still straggle on picking right gifts. This project aims to assist givers in selecting appropriate gifts, streamlining the process through user research and design. This project originated from a UXD course and evolved into a design thesis project, which I completed independently.

Problem Finding

The project started when I noticed my friends worrying about Valentine's Day gifts. To better address this issue, I began by conducting secondary research to review existing surveys on gift-giving.

The $100 Billion Gift Market
— Yet Over Half Feel Stressed About Gift-Giving

How large is the gift-giving market?

Unity Marketing estimates the total value of the gift market to be as high as $131.3 billion.
- Danziger, 2015
The proportion of online gift purchases has grown year over year for three consecutive years
- Mastercard, 2017

How troublesome can gift-giving be?

Many gift-givers feel anxious because they are unsure about the recipient's preferences and what would be an appropriate gift. In the following image, over 60% of singles and those in relationships feel anxious about gift-giving, while even in marriages, although the anxiety rate is lower, about half still feel uneasy.

Why do people feel anxious about gift-giving?

A study looked into why people feel anxious about giving gifts. The main reason is that gift-givers worry about the impact of their presents, especially when giving to someone new or unfamiliar.

To improve the efficiency of gift-giving,
the most important thing is to reduce uncertainty.

Based on the insights about behaviors and potential underlying reasons, I then conducted primary research to gain a holistic understanding of the target users' thoughts and gift-giving habits.

User Research

In the early stages of the project, recent graduates were identified as the target users, as a survey indicated that the proportion of gift-givers is similar across all age groups. The goal is to expand to other demographic groups in the future.

Why Target Recent Graduates as the Primary Users?

Because recent graduates have recently graduated or entered the workforce, they are faced with unfamiliar environments, typically have limited gift-giving experience, and have scarce financial resources, making the pressure and anxiety of gift-giving more pronounced.

I interviewed 6 people who regularly give gifts.

Based on gift-giving behaviors and habits, people can be categorized into four main groups.

1. Instant givers have low gift-giving anxiety because they buy gifts randomly. Missing occasions don't bother Instant givers much. This group is the least likely to use a gift-giving app.
2. Opportunistic choosers also buy when they stumble upon something suitable. Even though they give gifts on special occasions, they feel that deliberately choosing can lead to not finding the right item. While they might experience some gift-giving anxiety, their reliance on random finds might make them less likely to use our product.
3. Observant givers and Emotional conveyors take gift-giving seriously and are most likely our target users for the gift app.

To focus on the user profiles, I defined two target groups for this app: Observant Givers and Emotional Conveyors.

Among them, Observant Givers are particularly important, as they take gift-giving seriously and are most likely to be our target users for the gift app.

Key Insights

Gift-givers feel insecure about their gifts and worry that the recipient’s reaction will not be as good as expected. The gift-giving process is long and complicated, and givers can only choose gifts in their spare time.

How might we assist gift-givers in choosing gifts
more efficiently and effortlessly?

Givers Pain Points

1. The biggest challenge for gift-givers is often the lack of gift inspiration, leading to anxiety.
2. Gift-givers need to carefully observe the needs of the recipient to find the perfect gift.
3. Gift inspirations often come unexpectedly but are easily forgotten.
4. As more gifts are given and received, it becomes difficult to remember all gifts.
5. Any slight detail can make a gift go wrong.

Design Opportunity

1. Reduce uncertainty.
2. Provide gift-giving inspiration.
3. Save gift-giving ideas.
4. Recall past gifts.
5. Assist in not choosing the wrong gift.

Design Solutions

Based on the insights mentioned above, I then developed the app's five key features and information architecture. Additionally, I designed its logo, as well as the guidelines for colors and typography.

Interface Design Direction

1. Functional Aspect: Provide evidence-based inspiration to spark gift ideas and address needs throughout the gift-giving journey.  
2. Interaction Aspect: Make the process of choosing a gift feel enjoyable while minimizing the giver's anxiety as much as possible.  
3. Visual Aspect: Vibrant and inspiring, with a flexible and associative design that stimulates creativity.

Information Architecture

Based on insights from previous interviews, I outlined the key feature pages. Then, I analyzed the information architecture strategies of competing products and found that many of them retained sections that encourage shopping within their layouts. Adopting this strategy, I divided the app’s features into five main pages, as illustrated in the diagram below.

Prototype Validation

Given that this project addresses the complex gift-giving journey and the internal thoughts of gift-givers, I adopted a mixed-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative research to evaluate the prototype’s effectiveness. This included semi-structured interviews, perceived value and perceived risk scales, the KANO model, and NPS (Net Promoter Score).

Research Methods

The research process consisted of two rounds. The first round focused on exploring the emotional factors perceived by gift-givers during the gift-giving process. In contrast, the second round focused on exploring the spiritual needs of gift-givers.

During the design process, semi-structured interviews were conducted using a three-stage gift-giving process (The Gestation, Pre-station, and Reformulation Stage) and questionnaires on perceived value and perceived risk. KANO analysis, Net Promoter Score, and scales for perceived value and perceived risk are utilized to validate the effectiveness of the design solutions.

The design solution successfully increased users’ perceived value while reducing their perceived risk.

From the values ​​of the pretest and posttest, it can be seen that the design scheme has enhanced the emotional and social value perception of gift-givers. Although the sample size is small, the effectiveness of the data can be verified through interviews. From the interview content, it can be felt that the respondents believe that these features are very helpful to them when giving gifts. From their wording, it can also be observed that in addition to the perception of functional benefits, they also experience emotions such as novelty, fun, and anticipation.

The design solutions are classified as attributes of attractive quality.

Since the design concepts proposed in this study are not aimed at solving pain points but rather at satisfying the emotional and spiritual needs of gift givers, the results indicating attractive quality are as expected. This suggests that if e-commerce platforms offer these features, user satisfaction will significantly increase. However, if e-commerce platforms do not provide these features, users will not be dissatisfied as a result.

Personal Learnings

1. Different expectations and emotional needs from typical users
   Emotional and spiritual needs differ from regular shopping, motivating users to utilize the features provided by e-commerce platforms for different reasons.
2. Perceived value and risk in exploring emotions and spirituality
   Integrating the three-diamond design process with perceived value/risk can effectively delve into respondents' emotional states and social/spiritual needs.
3. Meeting emotional and spiritual needs creates new competitive advantages
   Currently, e-commerce platforms overlook emotional/spiritual needs. This research approach can effectively enhance value and reduce risk, helping e-commerce platforms seek a new competitive edge.