Cleaning Up Confusion: Smarter Vacuum Decisions for Business
Client
Pacvac
Overview
Pacvac wanted to build a completely separate product to help commercial cleaning companies make more informed decisions when selecting a commercial vacuum.
Categories
B2B
Date
Feb 10, 2024
50%
Less Research Time
60%
Selection Confidence
4 hours +
Saved Per Conversion
Phase 1: Define The Problem
The Challenge
Cleaning businesses faced difficulty gathering detailed product information and comparing commercial vacuums across multiple sources. With no single platform providing all necessary data, users found it time-consuming and inefficient to balance product specifications, performance metrics, and costs. This often led to frustration and poor purchasing decisions.
Inconsistent Data
Different platforms presented specifications and performance metrics inconsistently, making comparisons difficult.
Time-Consuming Process
The need to manually search and cross-reference vacuums across various websites wasted valuable time.
Lack of Centralised Data
No single tool offered a comprehensive comparison of key factors such as performance, durability, and noise levels.
Overwhelming Choices
The abundance of options made it challenging for users to focus on their core needs, often resulting in analysis paralysis.
Cost-Centric Comparison
Most existing tools focused heavily on price, while users were more concerned with durability, noise levels, and performance.
I had so many tabs open trying to compare specs—I kept losing track of what I was looking at
Hugh F
Facility Manager at SKG
I usually research one vacuum at a time, add the specs to a spreadsheet, and then repeat the process for each additional model.
Maria G
Facility Manager at OZAP
Phase 2: Research & Synthesis
User's Painpoints Findings
Although I joined midway through the research process, I played a key role in refining the findings and translating them into actionable design decisions. I focused on understanding user pain points in the commercial vacuum industry, particularly the lack of a centralized platform to help businesses make informed decisions based on their specific needs.
We ultimately identified four key pain points:
Time-Consuming Research
Via User Interview
Users had to spend hours pulling together information from different websites just to compare basic product attributes. This slowed down the purchasing cycle significantly.
Difficulties Comparing Specs
Via User Interview
Specs were often presented in inconsistent formats and technical language, making it hard for users to do side-by-side comparisons. This added friction and reduced decision-making confidence.
No Single Source of Truth
Via User Interview
There was no central source that consolidated and clarified product data, leaving users to interpret and validate specs on their own via spreadsheets. This increased cognitive load and room for error.
Limited Social Proof
Via User Interview
Users couldn’t easily find trusted, crowdsourced opinions to validate product claims. This made it harder to gauge real-world performance and build confidence.
Phase 3: Defining The Solution
Finding Solution
To ensure our solution addressed real-world user pain points, we began with a focused market analysis, uncovering key limitations in current vacuum comparison tools.
These insights directly informed our design strategy, which centered on usability, performance, and streamlined decision-making.
Market Analysis
Lack of Custom Filters
Most tools didn’t allow filtering by real-world business needs like noise level, durability, or suction power.
Comparison Platforms Lack Depth
Existing tools focus on consumer-level specs and fail to surface commercial-grade criteria like maintenance cycles, warranty coverage, and industrial certifications.
Research Journeys Are Scattered and Inefficient
Users must jump across multiple websites, spec sheets, and reviews to build their own comparisons — there’s no unified, side-by-side evaluation tool built for business decision-making.
Design Strategy
Intelligent, Use-Case-Driven Filters
Design a smart filters tailored to what actually matters to commercial buyers — such as durability, suction strength, and noise levels — instead of defaulting to price.
Purpose-Built Comparison Experience
Enable intuitive side-by-side product comparisons, allowing users to evaluate options quickly without jumping between tabs or spreadsheets.
Unified Specification Hub
Centralise vacuum data into a single platform, eliminating manual spec gathering across multiple sources.
Phase 4: Inspired Solutions
Inspiration from the Market
Now that we've identified key gaps in the commercial vacuum comparison space, we explored how other tools help users confidently move from research to purchase. We looked at indirect competitors and standout products — including platforms like Versus, RTINGS, PriceSpy, and Apple’s comparison tool — to understand what they do well and how we might apply those insights to our solution.
Phase 5: Applying The Solution
Landing Page
A clean, conversion-focused landing page that clearly communicates the platform’s value while guiding users toward product comparison with a strong CTA and lightweight visual hierarchy.
Comparison Screen
A structured, side-by-side comparison layout that breaks down product specs into digestible categories, making it easy to evaluate options at a glance.
Product List & Filter Page
A browsable product grid with integrated filters, allowing users to narrow down options and prepare items for comparison through a focused, high-density interface.
Phase 6: The Impact
User Impact (Early Indicators of Success)
30–50%
Est. Reduction in Research Time
4 hours +
2 x
Est. Increase in Decision Confidence
User interviews revealed that side-by-side comparisons and tailored filters led to more confident selections, especially among non-technical buyers.
50-60%
Est. Fewer Tool Switches
Based on interview feedback, users anticipated significantly less tab-switching and context-jumping, thanks to the centralized comparison interface.
Conclusion
Key Takeaways & Learnings
In our recent design overhaul, we focused on creating a more intuitive, efficient, and scalable user experience. By aligning our decisions with clear objectives and measurable outcomes, we achieved significant improvements across key areas:
Identifying Hidden Frustrations
Exposed overlooked pain points like conflicting specs and missing performance data.
Centralised Data Simplifies Decision-Making
Combined all key metrics into one platform to end manual comparisons.
Clear, Visual Comparisons Improve Usability
Designed easy-to-scan, side-by-side layouts so users could spot differences instantly.
Faster, More Confident Purchases
Enabled quicker, well-informed buying decisions for facility managers.
