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Build a shopping study with a budget and reviews

Make a mock store from an empty chamber: a catalogue and reviews from the starter kit, a budget, a shuffled grid, and a test purchase. Participants must check out to continue.

8 steps 12 min read

  1. Get the starter kit

    Download /assets/downloads/shop-starter-kit.zip. It contains:

    • products.csv: one row for each product. The columns are id, title, brand, category, price, original price, stock, badges, the rating shown, a star breakdown, images, bullet points and hidden.
    • reviews.csv: one row for each scripted review. The columns are the product, reviewer name, stars, title, text, the date shown, verified, helpful count and hidden.
    • Five product photos.
    • A HOW-TO that tells about each column.

    Do not change the header rows of the two CSV files.

  2. Add a Shop segment

    Drag Shop from the Library into the chamber. Then select it.

    The inspector shows the store, its status and the Open Store Builder button.

    A new shop has a time limit of ten minutes and uses sync mode. The server decides when a participant can go out of the shop. This occurs only after the server accepts the participant's order, or when the time ends.

    A Shop segment is added to the chamber and the Store Builder opens.

  3. Load the catalogue

    Upload the five photos first, so that the image names in products.csv are found. Then import products.csv.

    The product list and the live preview fill. The preview is the participant's page, not an approximate copy.

    Four products with photos, and the preview of one product page.

  4. Add the reviews

    Import reviews.csv. Carrier matches reviewers by name and adds new names.

    On the Reviews tab, you can:

    • Edit a review.
    • Add a review manually.
    • Hide a review.
    • Turn off helpful votes.
    The scripted reviews, with one review added manually.

  5. Set the budget and grid

    On the Checkout tab:

    • Set a budget of £60.
    • Set Block checkout for a cart that is more than the budget.
    • Shuffle the grid for each participant.

    Carrier records the order of the grid for each participant. Thus you can analyse effects of position.

    Type the name of the store at the top. Checkout never asks for a name, address or card.

    Budget, over-budget rule, shuffled grid and the store name.

  6. Save and deploy

    Save the store and deploy.

    The shop makes eight variables: shop_<segment>_order, _orderTotal, _itemsBought, _cart, _productViews, _reviewsRead, _assistantMessages and _actionLog. You can use them in later segments, conditions and prompts.

    The order variables contain only what the server accepted.

    The shop is saved, with its variables.

  7. Browse as a participant

    Join the study. The budget and the countdown are in the store header.

    Carrier records these actions with timestamps:

    • Searches and filters.
    • Opened products.
    • Photo changes.
    • Reviews read.
    • Helpful votes.

    Carrier also records which products were on the screen, and where.

    A search, a product page and a helpful vote.

  8. Check out

    When the cart is more than the budget, Place order is disabled and shows the difference.

    When the cart is in the budget, the order goes to the server. The server calculates the prices again from your configuration and stores the order one time. Then the participant goes to the next step.

    In the data export, the order is in Shop Orders, with one row for each item. Each action is in Shop Actions.

    Over budget, one item removed, the order placed and the study continues.