Vulvarise is an initiative to make shopping for sexual health products a more comfortable and convenient experience for people with vulvas while de-stigmatizing feminine pleasure.
I was the sole designer throughout the research and design.
Vulvarise
Background
Even though we are in the 21st century, somehow there’s still a stigma for feminine pleasure. Because of this, I believe the experience is heavily neglected. Most websites centered around sexual health products seem to have a lot of visual overload. I wanted to look into the matter to see exactly what was going on under the hood, pun very much intended.
I know what you’re thinking, “Ona, is doing a project on BDSM and EDM not enough for you? Aren’t you afraid what people will think of these risqué projects?” NOPE, I will not rest until all the uncomfortable conversations are had, because growth comes from discomfort.
Initial Hypothesis
The problem I suspect is that people with vulvas don’t have a standard method of shopping for sexual wellness products that is enjoyable, convenient, easy, and educational.
User Research
I conducted five user interviews independently to locate specific pain points that users had around the sex toy shopping experience. As I conducted the interviews, I kept the following concerns in mind:
What are the pros and cons for shopping for sex toys in store? What are the pros and cons for online shopping?
At what age do women/femmes buy their first vibrator?
What are the barriers or hesitations that keep women/femmes from purchasing or using sex toys?
Is the process of buying sex toys enjoyable or does it feel like a chore?
What are the challenges in finding the right sex toy?
The goal was to see how to improve the shopping experience, if there’s even a need to improve it.
When grouping users’ responses to identify what problems need solving, I noticed two main groups of users—those who are more experienced in shopping for sex toys and those who have yet to buy their first product.
First time shoppers
All seemed to feel awkward about shopping for sex toys. The majority even mentioned they wouldn’t consider it unless their boyfriend or husband brought it up first.
Users felt weird and became shy merely mentioning it.
Don’t know where to start but don’t feel comfortable asking in-store staff for help.
Seasoned shoppers
Frustrated having to spend hours of extra research to ensure that they’re buying the right product.
Feel that reviews are too subjective and too much to comb through in order to find the info they’re looking for.
Can’t tell if the product they are viewing will meet their criteria based on ratings alone.
Women feel that the experience of shopping for sex toys always falls short in someway: if in store, they may feel awkward or pressured to buy from sales associates, and if online, their worries include whether shipping will be discreet, whether the products are safe, and that their purchase may be wrong for them, thus wasting money on a product they’ll never use and can’t return.
How might we help women feel more comfortable and secure when shopping for sex toys?
Both first time and seasoned shoppers are hesitant to spend money on a product that doesn’t meet their expectation and can’t be returned or exchanged. They favor in-store shopping for the ability to as sales associates about products, but don’t want to feel pressured to buy. I created the personas below to guide the strategy based on the user groupings.
In my Competitor Analysis I noted that my competitors all have reviews accessible, but since many of the complaints on products were that they weren’t what the consumer expected, this led me to prioritize showing review highlights on all screens where product SKUs are shown.
Since only Babeland had a section for beginners but it wasn’t very detailed, I decided to incorporate a beginner-focused guidance aspect.
I didn’t see any opportunities on competitor websites to compare similar products so users don’t have to conduct additional research; Vulvarise can be set apart by giving users the ability to compare products on the site itself.
I created a feature prioritization map to dictate the most important features for the MVP:
having the service hosted on a desktop website, since most users do their shopping on a desktop or laptop so they can research products at the same time
featuring keywords in reviews so users can get an idea of what the product their viewing is best used for
categorization of products, as is standard on any retail site and allows veteran shoppers to pinpoint what they’re looking for
a quiz for beginners who don’t know where to start
the ability to compare similar products, saving time on hours of research
My solution is to create an online shopping platform that will empower and inspire people with vulvas to seek out feminine pleasure, which seems to still have some stigma attached to it since first time users feel so awkward that they would rather have their boyfriends bring it up first so they don’t “feel weird.”
Having a quiz for beginners featured front and center will help users like Claire who don’t know where to start for their first time, but feel too awkward to go into stores to ask for help. Having a feature throughout the website to compare similar products will benefit users like Mary who don’t want to spend hours of extra online research to feel assured that they’re going to make the right purchase.
Featuring discreet shipping and easy returns will assuage all users since a top hesitation among them is being stuck with a product they may not like or didn’t arrive as expected.
My first round of wireframing and usability testing with paper prototypes was successful in terms of flow—users were able to follow that after they take the quiz, they’ll be presented with recommended products, be able to compare up to three products, and view the full product information for any single product listing.
However, users did not understand what the “R” stood for, as it was meant to stand for review keywords. They also didn’t know what the three highlighted items at the top of the single product view page was supposed to be.
During the mid-fidelity wireframe usability testing, users were confused by the average rating in the comparison screen.
Users asked if the stars were out of four or out of five, so I would want to revise the final screens to include five stars, and just leave the remaining stars grey.
One user was also confused by having a filter button and a “sort by” button, however this is a feature on many e-commerce websites, so I kept it.
Summary
Upon testing the high fidelity prototype, I found that users completed tasks with a 25% reduction in confusion.
One user wasn’t sure how to view all the vibrators until she noticed the “view all categories” link, however two other users were able to figure it out immediately. I can remedy this by increasing the size of “View all Categories” to be more visible to the users.
Another user followed all tasks perfectly but wasn’t sure how to view a single product in the comparison screen, so for the final design, I can include buttons to clearly be able to view the product details.
People with vulvas who would shop for sex toys don’t feel comfortable or secure when shopping for sex toys for a few reasons:
They don’t want to spend hours doing research online.
They’re nervous that when the product is shipped, the packaging will reveal the products within somehow.
They don’t know if they’ll be able to return a product that does not work for them.
They are beginners who do not know where to start but feel too awkward to go in person without accompaniment.
Vulvarise offers users the ability to compare similar products instead of spending hours of online research, provides a quiz for beginners to find recommended products based on their preferences and level of knowledge, and guarantees easy returns and discreet shipping to pacify common user concerns when shopping for sex toys online.
Vulvarise will also guarantee safe products, provide a newsletter and social media presence to de-stigmatize feminine pleasure.