Birchbox’s E-Commerce UX
This is a case study of Birchbox’s e-commerce user experience (UX) performance. It’s based on an exhaustive performance review of 213 design elements. 196 other sites have also been benchmarked for a complete picture of the e-commerce UX landscape.
Birchbox’s overall e-commerce UX performance is poor. Their UX is especially thwarted by usability issues related to broken Mobile Homepage, Main Navigation & CSS Core Pages, poor Accounts & Self-Services, and poor Mobile Individual Product Offerings performances.
Desktop Web
213 Guidelines · Performance:
Homepage, Main Navigation & CSS Core Pages
23 Guidelines · Performance:
Homepage
11 Guidelines · Performance:
Main Navigation
7 Guidelines · Performance:
CSS Core Pages
5 Guidelines · Performance:
Individual Product Offerings
42 Guidelines · Performance:
Product List: Info & Thumbnails
11 Guidelines · Performance:
Product List: Filtering & Sorting
11 Guidelines · Performance:
Product Page Layout
4 Guidelines · Performance:
Product Page: Images & Descriptions
10 Guidelines · Performance:
Product Page: Buy Section & Shipping
6 Guidelines · Performance:
Accounts & Self-Services
34 Guidelines · Performance:
Account Drop-Down
7 Guidelines · Performance:
Account Sign In & Dashboard
8 Guidelines · Performance:
'Your Account': Addresses, Payments, & Newsletters
12 Guidelines · Performance:
Account-Wide Navigation, Structure, & Information
7 Guidelines · Performance:
Cart & Checkout
101 Guidelines · Performance:
Checkout Features & Layout
7 Guidelines · Performance:
Shopping Cart & “Added to Cart” Behavior
6 Guidelines · Performance:
Account Selection & Creation
6 Guidelines · Performance:
Customer & Address Information
11 Guidelines · Performance:
Shipping Options
6 Guidelines · Performance:
Payment Flow & Methods (Incl. Third-Party)
7 Guidelines · Performance:
Credit Card Form
8 Guidelines · Performance:
Order Review
5 Guidelines · Performance:
Subscription Confirmation & Cancellation
7 Guidelines · Performance:
User Interactions & Distractions
5 Guidelines · Performance:
Cross-Sells
4 Guidelines · Performance:
Validation Errors & Data Persistence
10 Guidelines · Performance:
Field Labels & Microcopy
5 Guidelines · Performance:
Field Design & Input Optimization
14 Guidelines · Performance:
Site-Wide Design & Interaction
13 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Web
167 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Homepage, Main Navigation & CSS Core Pages
18 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Homepage
9 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Main Navigation
5 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile CSS Core Pages
4 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Individual Product Offerings
42 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Product List: Info & Thumbnails
13 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Product List: Filtering & Sorting
9 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Product Page: Images & Descriptions
14 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Product Page: Buy Section & Shipping
6 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Cart & Checkout
86 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Checkout Features & Layout
11 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Shopping Cart & “Added to Cart” Behavior
4 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Account Selection & Creation
6 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Customer & Address Information
10 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Shipping Options
5 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Payment Flow & Methods (Incl. Third-Party)
4 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Credit Card Form
7 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Order Review
5 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Subscription Confirmation
4 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Validation Errors & Data Persistence
10 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Field Labels & Microcopy
6 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Field Design & Input Optimization
14 Guidelines · Performance:
Mobile Site-Wide Design & Interaction
21 Guidelines · Performance:
To learn how we calculate our performance scores and read up on our evaluation criteria and scoring algorithm head over to our Methodology page.
The scatterplot you see above is the free version we make public to all our users. If you wish to dive deeper and learn about each guideline and even review your own site you’ll need to get premium access.
Birchbox’s Desktop Web E-Commerce Design
16 pages of Birchbox’s e-commerce site, marked up with 160 best practice examples:
Birchbox’s Mobile Web E-Commerce Design
12 pages of Birchbox’s e-commerce site, marked up with 130 best practice examples:
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Explore Other Research Content
Every 2nd week, we publish a new article on how to build “state of the art” e-commerce experiences — here’s 5 popular ones:
See all 350 articles in the full public archive.