Google

A programme of user research labs to improve the mobile experience of over 250 brands.

Image of a computer interface. On one side is a YouTube video showing a screen recording. On the other side is a panel of people watching.

Sectors: Retail. Year: 2024

We ran a programme of user research workshops, known as Mobile Labs, for large brands that advertise with Google. We did this across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

For each Mobile Lab, we bring together a team with different expertise from one of Google’s advertisers. In a single day, we run five research sessions  and support the team to create an action plan to fix their biggest issues.

Outcomes

  • 250+ Mobile Labs across 19 countries
  • Brands typically see a double-digit increase to their mobile conversion rate after making changes.
  • A mobile phone company saw a 10.8% increase in orders
  • A luxury fashion retailer increased their click-through rate by 1%
  • A sports retailer reduced bounce rate by 11%

The problem to solve

Google believed that, for most brands, more people visit on mobile than larger screen sizes. But conversion rate is typically lower – mostly because of problems with the user experience.

Google philosophy is that if you “focus on the user, all else will follow”. So, Google wanted to improve the experience users have with their advertisers on mobile.

However, Google has a large, international network of advertisers. How do you improve the mobile experience across so many brands?

What we did

We set up a programme of one-day user research labs. ‘Mobile Labs’ follow a process that is repeatable, focused and quick – allowing us to scale the approach across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

So far, we’ve conducted over 250 labs across 19 countries, for clients ranging from florists to financial service providers.

How the labs work

  1. Before the lab, the advertiser taking part chooses a single challenge to focus on. E.g. analytics has shown people dropping out at the payment page.
  2. We bring together a team with different expertise from the advertiser. Often, it’s the first time people from marketing, product, design and engineering have watched research together. We always include a senior stakeholder – someone to drive change afterwards. 
  3. In the morning of the lab, they watch five pre-recorded user tests – real customers think aloud while they navigate the client’s site.
  4. In the afternoon, the team identifies the top three customer problems to solve.
  5. They generate ideas for quick wins and longer term solutions, before deciding which to test first.
A team watching a user research session in the morning (before we began running them remotely).
A team deciding which problems to solve in the afternoon.

Labs often create ‘lightbulb moments’ – the team uncovers an insight that data alone would not have revealed. Let’s look at an example.

H&M

H&M’s mobile sales of baby and child clothing were lagging. One of our labs revealed that this was because of the navigation.

There were categories for ‘Newborn’, ‘Babies’, ‘Kids’ and ‘Kids Exclusive’. But this choice meant parents weren’t sure where to start their search.

This was a big eye-opener.

Martin Lechev Product designer, H&M

The team simplified its navigation down to just two categories ‘Babies’ and ‘Kids’.

The lab also revealed the importance of fabrics for parents. So the team improved filtering and added a new ‘organic fabric’ filter.

This was a great lesson for us and helped us enhance our communication.

H&M’s simplified navigation.

Inclusive testing

Inclusive testing in our labs is important for us, and Google:

The more points of view you hear, the more opportunities you’ll find to improve your product.

Ayelet Lazarovitch Co-founder of User Lab at Google

In one lab for a large retailer, a Black participant felt excluded by the lack of models that looked like her.

In another lab for a travel company, we discovered a calendar was hard to use for people with visual impairments. They couldn’t navigate month-to-month with the tab key. The team then added headings for months to solve the issue.

Outcomes and impact

Through our 250+ labs we’ve shown some of Google’s biggest advertisers why it’s important to focus on the mobile experience.

Brands find the sessions valuable – our average satisfaction score is 9/10.

And they get results. Brands often report double-increases to their mobile conversion rates after making changes. One firm nearly tripled its conversion rate.

Mobile conversion rate increase

10%or more For the majority of firms

Average satisfaction score

9/10

A mobile phone company

10.8% Increase in orders

A luxury fashion retailer

1% Increase in the click through rate of the checkout

A sports retailer

11% Reduction in bounce rate

A fashion retailer

12% Increase in revenue per user session

Learn more about Google

Stuart Tayler

Reach out to Stuart Tayler

Practice Director