Boots Gift Finder

Prototyping, User Testing, App · Boots · 2024

This case study documents my iterative process of creating a gift finder for the Boots app — a visual tool designed to help users find that perfect gift!

I worked on the full UX and UI, collaborating closely with the Boots research team, who provided valuable background insights and facilitated several user testing sessions. Key stakeholders, including product owners, solution architects, and developers, were also involved early to ensure all proposals were feasible.

High-level requirements

Create a new product finder tool to help users choose a gift
Utilise existing taxonomies to generate relevant and personalised suggestions
Feature recommended products only when relevant to user criteria
Include functionality to allow reskinning for seasonal themes

Research

A sample of insights provided by the researchers.

Post-it notes on a user findings board on how users currently buy gifts

Top 3 takeaways from a user testing study

4 of 5 users were unsure as to the type of gifts they would find under Birthday gifts

Some users are sensitive to gifts categorised by gender

A summary of what filters and criteria are important for users

Initial concept and walkthrough

After mapping out the initial flow and designing early visuals, I gathered stakeholders for a walkthrough to discuss direction, gather feedback, and identify any concerns or technical constraints.

Initial concept design with stakeholder commentry

User testing: Round 1

Using their feedback, I prototyped the full flow for the first round of unmoderated user testing. The prototype was sent to 20 participants, who completed a series of defined tasks unsupervised. Below is a summary of the feedback we received — let’s go!

Overall feedback

I think this is so good, it really looks and feels very slick! Things are only appearing on screen when needed, there are smooth transitions etc etc - if only the rest of the app was like this!
the clear steps and simplicity of each screen is a delight
Like that it tells you how many results there are, and that this updates as you make more selections
I like that you can still adjust the filters once you've got results
Having the option to skip questions is useful

Visuals are nice and clean but a bit boring, would be nice to see a bit more colour
Not a fan of gender options at the start. Too stereotypical!
I don't really seem to get what the "refine further" would be doing that I couldn't just do in the filters on the results page.

Overall, the feedback was positive, with a few areas highlighted for improvement. Some page-specific insights were also especially useful.

Page-specific feedback

Step 1: “Who is the gift for?”

Despite not liking this question, being able to skip for me was enough I would say

Not comfortable with gender options. Skip button was clearly visible though
not keen on "her"/"him" options - in my experience they're way too stereotypically gendered, and I never actually find anything that way if I'm buying gifts for husband/dad etc. as it never matches what they would actually like
Not a fan of gender but I think ages would be good - even just thinking about my nieces who have a 10 year age gap, so there's a big difference in what I'd be buying for them, so being able to filter in that respect would be really useful

Step 2: “What are they most interested in?”

Like the visuals, more exciting than the previous screen

Not clear whether you could select multiple categories or just one
can you only pick one category, or would you be able to pick more than one in reality?
If I knew what they were interested in, I would just shop on the website!

Step 3: “What is your budget?”

Love the slider! Like that I can pick a range and instantly see how many gifts are within that range
Slider can be a bit fiddly but I like the big controls and like having a range.
I like having the option to see my results now. I would personally like to see my results and then refine them further once I'd gotten to the results page, assuming that would be possible

Prefer to have explicit options. E.g 'gifts under £10
I hate sliders! Show me defined price range but I also get really irritated when you can't select across those ranges e.g. if the options are £10, £20, £30, I would want to be able to select across those so my budget could be £10-£30... So a hybrid between a slider and defined options if that makes sense
I certainly tapped 'show my gifts' on autopilot and it took me a little bit of playing around to realise I could go back and refine further
I didn't initally pick up on the extra steps to refine it a bit more - I just saw the "show me" option and tapped that straight away, thinking that was it. It was only when I saw the link to go back to the gift finder I saw the option to refine further.

Next steps

Iterate the design based on the user feedback including...

Make it POP!

A cute character called Gifty holding a present

A common theme was that the design felt a bit flat and could use more personality. To help with that, I partnered with Nadia Beeley, a talented illustrator who helped bring the designs to life.

Meet “Gifty” — the cute, friendly Boots assistant here to help you choose the perfect gift!

illustrations brought to life for screen use

From sketching out early concepts to final polished illustrations

Improved categories

The goal of the gift finder was to assist users who needed help choosing a gift. User feedback showed that asking what the gift recipient was interested in wasn’t the right question — it implied the user already had an idea, which defeated the purpose of the tool.

I reframed this by focusing on the recipient’s personality instead. This approach better supported users on subsequent pages. Some of these new categories already existed within the marketing team but hadn’t yet been integrated into backend systems.

Mapping current taxonomies to new categories

Since we couldn’t change existing backend categories, I worked with the technical team to explore ways to map the new personality-based categories to the current taxonomy. This involved a detailed process of understanding the existing structure and aligning it to the new framework — which I personally carried out.

Initial mapping of the existing taxonomy structure

With the new look, feel, and insights from the first round of testing, we were ready for round two!

User testing: Round 2

This time, we conducted a moderated testing session to gather more in-depth qualitative insights from five participants.

Key takeaways

Users liked the four-question flow — it felt easy to use and had enough options to refine results.
All participants loved the opening screen; it felt friendly and reassuring, setting clear expectations with four simple steps and a cute character to guide them through.
Users described the flow as “slick” and responded positively to the visuals.
The personality-based question was well received — it helped users think about the recipient rather than just categories. One user said it “gave ideas they might not have thought of.

Some confusion around how certain personality types (e.g. “Adrenaline Junkie”) related to Boots products.
Steps 2 and 4 felt too similar and not always relevant to the selected options.
The results page felt underwhelming — users expected something more curated and personalised than a standard product listing.
Unclear whether the back button returned to the previous step or exited the gift finder entirely.

Page-specific feedback

Step 1: “Who is the gift for?”

More positive this time round with hardly any negative comments regarding gender, likely due to the two extra options making it less of a focal point.

Likes that teens is a seperate option but would expect to choose between teen boy and teen girl as results can be quite different

Step 2: “How would you describe them?”

This is a good approach. Gets you to think about what the person is like rather than just showing you categories. Would give you ideas that you may not thought of. Not too broad but not specific either which is good.
Really like this screen, very clear
Like that you can select multiple

Not sure what a ‘Super fan’ is
How does an 'Adrenaline Junkie' relate to anything sold at Boots?
I would have liked to see a 'none of these' option. (User later discovered the 'skip this question' button and stated she wouldn't normally look near the bottom until she is ready to proceed)

Step 3: “What is your budget?”

Like having a pre-defined range, I don't have to think!
I like that you can select multiple price ranges, I hate it when I am forced to pick just one range

I like this approach but the price ranges are way too big. Show me smaller increments

Step 4: “What are they into?”

Loved the popup telling me you've found 17 gifts!
Like that you can see the gift count going up the more categories you select
Step 4 is similar to step 2, but I recognise they are different - one is about the person, one is about the gift, makes sense to me, they compliment each other.

Note sure if all of these are relevant to 'Beauty lover'. Would like this page to more tailored to what I chose on step 2.
This page feels like a duplicate of the previous step. (After checking, confirms it does make sense but suggests maybe rewording the question to better differentiate them).
This page feels a bit flat, maybe have some imagery
A summary of my answers so far would be nice here

Final iterations

Key improvements

Illustrations updated for more generic, all-year-round use
Back button repositioned closer to the progress bar for clarity
Added icons and imagery to steps 2 and 4 to better differentiate them — icons for general context and product images for realism
Added a “none of the above” option to most questions
Introduced smaller budget ranges
Created a more curated and personalised results page based on selections

Alternate version

Based on confusion around steps 2 and 4, and a few user suggestions for showing a summary of selected answers, it got me thinking about a one-page layout.

This approach allowed users to quickly move through the questions while reviewing and adjusting their choices in real time.

While I’m confident the final iteration addressed earlier confusion, this variation felt like a natural evolution. When I shared it with stakeholders, feedback was mixed — some preferred the simplicity of the original, while others liked the speed and clarity of the new version.

We agreed another round of user testing would be valuable to validate the direction.

Project paused

The next step was a final round of testing before handoff to development. Unfortunately, due to app reprioritisation, the gift finder project was paused.

This didn’t mean the work was lost — only postponed to allow higher-priority initiatives to move forward. All stakeholders remained enthusiastic about launching the feature; it just wouldn’t happen during my time at Boots.

All was not lost, however...

Word of Gifty spread throughout Boots, and with Christmas approaching, the marketing team was eager to bring the gift finder to the web.

After several discussions and knowledge-transfer sessions, the feature was adapted for the website. Gifty went live just in time for the busiest gift-buying season of the year... Christmas!

The Boots Christmas Gift Finder (Web version)

Desktop Mobile