Website for

audwell

audwell (yes, with a lowercase ‘a’) is a premium brand that specializes in children’s furniture and goods. Their overarching mission is to instill harmony in households through their collection of minimalist, high-quality, and aesthetically pleasing pieces. Lauren, the founder and proprietor of audwell, is a mother of two who encountered difficulties in finding children’s products that aligned with her personal style and preferences. Taking matters into her own hands, Lauren established audwell to bridge the gap between functionality and design in the realm of children’s furniture. audwell firmly believes that integrating finely crafted children’s products into homes can enhance parent-child relationships by reducing stress and increasing presence. Seeking to enhance customer engagement and retention, audwell approached us to revamp their homepage and perform a site audit with the aim of reducing drop-off rates and re-engaging both new and returning customers.

Problem

Our client has identified two key issues with their website: a high rate of user drop-off before making a purchase and a need for improved user-friendliness. As a UX design team, our task is to address these issues by creating a website that engages users and meets their needs, ultimately increasing conversion rates and improving the user experience.

Solution

Our team improved the user experience for our client’s website by making structural changes to the search bar and replacing the carousel with a static banner featuring a “shop now” button, resulting in a reduced bounce-off rate. We also introduced a new feature allowing users to preview products by clicking on hotspots. A new section was created on the homepage to highlight the brand’s unique qualities. We added a filter option to the product page in anticipation of audwell’s plans to expand its product catalog. After conducting a usability study, we recommended changes to the navigation structure to make it more user-friendly and included unique design elements that capture users’ attention and added more concise filtering options to the blog section.

Tools

Trello
Figma
Google Suite
Maze
Slack

Team

Erica S
UX Researcher

Tiffany P
UX Designer

Tiffany T
UX Designer

My Role

Project Manager
UX Researcher

Timeline

Overall: 3 weeks
Discovery & Research: 2 weeks
Design & testing: 1

Kickoff Meeting

To prepare for the meeting, the team and I created a detailed slideshow introducing ourselves and our roles in the project. We also showcased previous projects we have completed and discussed the preliminary research we had conducted on our client. During the meeting, we discussed the client’s needs and expectations for the project, as well as their concerns. We also shared our own expectations and discussed the roadmap and timely deliverables to the stakeholder.

After addressing all the necessary topics, we got right to work!

Following the project kickoff, we established our research goals and approach. Our primary focus was gaining insight into the target audience and their difficulties. To achieve this, I created an online-based survey and distributed it across multiple online communities. Within a short period of time, I received 50 responses. Based on the results, we identified four common pain points, which informed our subsequent actions.
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Step 2

Interviews

During the research phase of the project, we conducted user interviews. This provided valuable insights into our users’ needs, behaviors, and motivations. Understanding their perspectives is very important in the design process because we wanted to provide an enjoyable user experience. Our main takeaways from the interviews were that people will invest in high quality, long lasting products. Organization is essential to a “happy home” so anything that helps reduce clutter is a bonus. Shopping online is preferred out of convenience and reviews and visuals like pictures and videos are important to gain the trust of a customer.

As the Project Manager for our group, I recommended utilizing the affinity mapping technique for our client project. I believed that this would be beneficial in helping us organize the large amount of information we put together during our the research phase. By using affinity mapping, we were able to group related ideas and themes together, which made it easier to identify patterns and trends. I also felt that affinity mapping would help with team collaboration, as it would encourage everyone to share their perspectives.

Step 4

Persona

I was fortunate enough to work on the user persona for our client. After several drafts, Kelly Fried was created. Kelly who represents our target demographic who share similar goals, needs, behaviors and frustrations. Kelly is a 28-year-old mother of one who has recently found out she is pregnant with her second child. While excited, she is concerned about the clutter that comes with children’s toys and furniture. She wants to research products that match her personal aesthetic and encourage independence for her first child. Kelly values quality and design over price and prefers to shop online due to her busy schedule.

Step 5

Problem Statement & How Might We

In addition to creating the user persona, I also developed the problem statement and “how might we” statements. It was a team effort to identify the key issues and opportunities, and I am grateful to have been able to contribute in these areas.

We started a design system for our client, covering everything from typography and color to visual style and other design elements. This system kept our team aligned and ensured that the project was consistently on track. Furthermore, our client asked us to conduct a site audit, so we made sure that the design system was fully ADA compliant.

Step 7

User Flows

Our team created two user flows. The task for our first flow was to filter blogs specifically about the Oslo Tower. Blogs are a great marketing and SEO tool for e-commerce sites. By creating high-quality content you can attract visitors to your products and or services. By using keywords and phrases relevant to the product and or service, you can increase your site’s visibility in search results. So it was important for us to create user flows that test the user experience in audwell’s blog section. We wanted to make sure that the blog navigational tab and blog posts were easy to get to and filter through. In our second flow, the task was to sign up for rewards, watch an instructional video for the “Goldie Chair” and purchase a product. By including the task of signing up for rewards, users will be prompted with an incentive to continue browsing for items like the Goldie chair.

Step 8

Mid-fi Designs and Usability Testing Results

After confirming the path, we went straight into designing wireframes for users to test the redesign on the audwell site.

During preliminary usability testing, 43% of testers had difficulty locating the search bar on the homepage. To address that issue, we made the search icon more visible and accessible, allowing users to search for products much easier.

One of our objectives was to address the client’s concern regarding high homepage drop off rates by exploring ways to reduce them. According to Baymard Institute, which identifies causes for usability issues, 59% of websites using carousels have user errors, one error being confusion about the products being purchased. To fix this issue, the team shrunk the banner and the images no longer rotate. We replaced it with a “Shop Now” button for users to easily access the product page.

Next, we added a new feature that allows users to get small peeks of products by adding a hot spot over an item that will give a detailed explanation of the product without actually leaving the homepage. Additionally, if the customer is interested, they can shop directly from that hot spot.

While the product page remained unchanged, we did add a filter option. As the client expands their inventory, users would become more interested in a filtering option to make the search process easier.

Finally, we added an update to the blog section. Our preliminary research showed that 50% of users were having trouble locating the blog section because it was labeled as “Guidebook”. To reduce confusion, the team changed Guidebook to Blogs and added a sorting option to optimize searching for a specific article.

Step 9

Hi-fi Prototype

And this is our hi-fi prototype. When you land on the website, you will see a pop-up that offers a $10 discount on your first order when you sign up for audwell’s mailing list and the discount will be automatically applied to your order. On the homepage, you will see the pulsing buttons, or hot spots, on the dining room set that provide information about the different products with the option to shop directly from the item’s description. Additionally, the site now offers multiple ways to shop. The team also added an Instagram gallery featuring images of customers using audwell’s products. We did this based on interview and survey responses, requesting to see the product in use by real customers. As mentioned previously, the blog is now easier to navigate because of the filtering options. We also made it easier to see product details without having to scroll too far down on the page. Lastly, a confirmation page is displayed once the customer completes the purchase. From the confirmation page, the customer has the option to continue shopping or return to the homepage.

Next Steps

For the next steps, I collaborated with Erica (UX Researcher) to come up with ideas that could help our client generate more business. We focused on ideas that would have a positive impact on audwell’s overall growth and success. We proposed a referral program, bundle packages, and virtual mommy & me classes.

1.

A referral program is a great way to incentivize existing customers to bring in new customers to the business. By offering a reward for a successful referral, the client can encourage an existing customer to advertise the company, resulting in a higher number of qualified leads and conversions.

2.

A bundle package is a great way to increase the average order value of customers. By combining similar products and offering them at a slightly discounted rate, encourages customers to purchase more than one product. This can lead to increased revenue.

3.

Virtual Mommy & Me classes is a fun way to connect customers and build a sense of community around the client’s brand. Offering classes that align with the client’s demographic can create brand loyalty, repeat customers, and positive feedback and reviews.

Learnings

As the Project Manager and Researcher for this project, I learned the importance of collaboration, client communication, project management and research. Working in UX requires collaboration, and I was able to work effectively with my team to achieve our project goals. As the point of contact with the client, I practiced my communication skills and built a strong relationship with them. Using tools like Trello, I was able to manage the team’s work and keep everyone accountable. I did daily check-ins with the team to make sure everyone was on track. Additionally, I did a lot of research for this project, using several different methods to analyze data and make informed decisions. I am happy to say that we got great feedback, with the client implementing several changes to their site based on our recommendations!