The Warby Parker app for iOS lets people browse glasses frames, virtually try them on, and order a few sets to try on for free as part of their “Home Try-On” program.
The good bits:
- The Warby Parker app gets straight to the action: new users are dropped into the app without a slideshow or sign-in prompt. It embraces guiding people with structured help while they interact with the app, such as the tips that appear in a non-disruptive fashion as someone uses its virtual try-on tool, or the meaningful and actionable content on the default or empty states of each tab of the app.
- The main attraction of Warby Parker’s offering, it’s “Home Try On” feature, is made self-evident in the navigation tab, and is also emphasised on search result listings as something a person can add glasses frames to.
- The app offers an optional customisation quiz to help people filter their search results. The quiz is well structured into separate screens for each questions, with helpful guidance on each one.
- Suggestions and guidance for any one feature are progressively structured across someone’s use of a feature, making that guidance immediately actionable and giving people clear next steps after they’ve completed one action in a series. For example, when a user starts reviewing their search results after filtering them with the customisation quiz, they get an introductory suggestion to try frames on virtually with “Virtual Try-On.” Once viewing an individual result, they see an inline, animated nudge letting them know they can swipe down on the image of the frames to enter Virtual Try-On mode. Once they’ve added items to their cart, they’re given the next step of adding additional frames to complete their Home Try-On kit.
To be improved:
- Some parts of the app use ambiguous, overly-casual, and un-actionable text that might be keeping someone from understanding the point of the content. Since people often skim headings to decide if they need to pay attention or do something further, this can prevent people from understanding necessary actions or parts of a process.
- For example, the “Here’s how to try frames at home for free” text at the top of the “Home Try-On” tab has an ambiguous line, “Buy what you like, anytime,” which doesn’t actually represent a clear, actionable step like the others (why shouldn’t someone be able to do this in any product? Why is this even part of a “step”?).
- Another example is the notification permission prompt, which has the title “Quick Question” and may be interpreted as a survey prompt to quickly dismiss. Many people only read titles and headlines to decide if content is meaningful to them, so more utilitarian content like “Allow notifications?” would be better
- Make sure headings (and any other text) you use are clear and actionable. The last screen of the customisation quiz is a better example of this in action, using step labels like “Pick your favourites.”
- The “Calculating results” screen at the end of the customisation quiz seems to be there mainly to list next steps after the quiz, so it may confuse some people who think they have to keep waiting for the “Calculating results…” text to change (it never does).
- It would be helpful to clarify the relationship between “Home Try-On” and “Virtual Try-On.” They have similar names and could mean the same thing to some people (Virtual Try-On can be used while in your home, after all), yet both are independently introduced. It would be good to explicitly indicate the supporting role that Virtual Try-On plays in the process, such as by including it in the list of Home Try-On steps, or by not emphasising it as heavily as Home Try-On is emphasised.
The following images show the initial states of each tab that greet a new user. Notice that each tab has meaningful default or empty states, with at least one action the user can take in each. The one area of improvement would be in the copy, such as the partially ambiguous, flowery copy in the “Home Try-On” tab explainer.
If someone new selects “Take the quiz,” they’re guided through a personalisation wizard. Each step of the wizard is clearly organised with helpful headings and follow-up next steps at the end.
When adding frames to a cart, the user gets another opportunity to virtually try them on, which is a good example of reinforcing a core feature of their offering. Once someone has added an item to their cart, they’re given clear, actionable next steps, like “Add 4 more frames to try at home for free.”
The introduction to Virtual Try-On is well-structured, beginning with a prompt after you’ve looked at your filtered glasses results, then an animated nudge to swipe down to try on frames once viewing an individual pair, and in-content hints such as the “Swipe for more eyeglasses” hint at the top of the camera viewfinder.
