In this case study, I was tasked with providing a UX consultation for a spirits e-commerce website that was experiencing a low sales conversion rate. The site was built using a program that I didn’t have direct access to, Shopify, which made certain changes challenging. Despite these limitations, my goal was to identify key UX issues, suggest actionable improvements, and help the business improve user engagement and conversion rates.
Through a thorough audit of the website’s user experience, I pinpointed areas of friction and proposed strategic adjustments to create a more intuitive, engaging, and user-friendly experience.
From my research, I identified several pain points and areas for improvement:
Confusing Navigation: The website's navigation was cluttered and did not provide clear categorization of products (e.g., by type of alcohol, price range, or occasion).
Excessive Typography: One of the major issues was the overuse of different fonts and typography styles throughout the website. This caused visual inconsistency and made the site feel chaotic and unprofessional. Users found it difficult to focus on the content, and the overall design lacked cohesion.
Poor Sign-up/Subscribe Process: The Sign-up section, where users could register or receive offers, was not appealing or clearly explained. There was no strong incentive for users to enter their email, and the design was not engaging. As a result, the site had low conversion rates for this part of the user flow.
Complicated Cart Addition: Adding products to the shopping cart was not intuitive. Users could not easily find the "Add to Cart" button, and there was no clear feedback when an item was successfully added, contributing to abandoned carts.
Poor Mobile Experience: The website wasn’t fully optimized for mobile devices. Many users experienced issues with responsive design, which affected the overall user experience on smartphones.
No Retention Strategies: There was a lack of post-purchase engagement strategies, such as email follow-ups, loyalty programs, or recommendations for repeat purchases.
Based on the audit findings, I provided actionable recommendations, broken down into key focus areas:
Simplify and Improve Navigation:
Streamlined Categories: I recommended reorganizing the website’s navigation into clearer, more intuitive categories, such as "Spirits," "Deals" and "Special Offers." Redundant sections should be removed.
Sticky Navigation Bar: Adding a sticky header for navigation would improve accessibility, especially for mobile users.
Address Typography Issues:
Consistency in Fonts: I recommended reducing the number of fonts used across the website. The goal was to use no more than two or three complementary fonts, ensuring consistency and improving readability.
Hierarchy and Readability: Proper use of font size, weight, and color contrast would help create a clear visual hierarchy, making the content easier to navigate and read.
Improve the Sign-up/Susbcribe Process:
Clear Value Proposition: The Sign-up section needed a stronger value proposition to encourage users to enter their emails. A concise message about the benefits of signing up (e.g., exclusive offers, discounts) would motivate users to register.
Simplify the Form: The sign-up form should be simplified, removing unnecessary fields and making it more visually appealing and easy to complete.
Improve Cart Functionality:
Clear "Add to Cart" Button: Make the "Add to Cart" button more prominent and intuitive, ensuring users can easily find it on product pages.
Cart Feedback: Provide clear feedback (such as a pop-up or animation) to let users know when an item has been added to the cart, reducing uncertainty and confusion.
Improve Mobile Experience:
Responsive Design: Ensure the website is fully optimized for mobile devices, with easy-to-use navigation, large clickable buttons, and faster load times.
Mobile-Specific Features: Add features like barcode scanning for products or a one-click purchase option, which is particularly popular among mobile shoppers.
Implement Retention Strategies:
Email Follow-Ups: I recommended implementing a post-purchase email sequence, such as order confirmations, shipping updates, and post-purchase satisfaction surveys.
Loyalty Program: A loyalty or rewards program would incentivize repeat customers, offering discounts or exclusive access to special promotions for returning shoppers.
Product Recommendations: I suggested using an algorithm to suggest related products based on users' past purchases, which could improve cross-selling and up-selling.
Given that I didn’t have access to the backend of the website, I prioritized the recommendations that could be easily implemented by the development team or through adjustments on the existing platform:
Short-Term (Quick Wins):
Address the typography issues by standardizing font usage and improving readability.
Update product pages with richer content and clearer categorization.
Improve mobile responsiveness to enhance the overall user experience.
Simplify and clarify the sign-up process.
Medium-Term:
Redesign the checkout process, simplifying it and adding a progress bar.
Implement email follow-ups and loyalty programs for better user engagement.
Long-Term:
Revamp the overall site navigation and consider a full redesign if possible, based on user testing and feedback.
While I could not directly implement the changes due to the limitations of the platform, I worked closely with the development team to ensure they understood the key recommendations. As a result of my consultation, the company was able to:
1
Increase User Retention: After implementing some of the proposed changes, the website saw an increase in repeat visits and longer session durations.
2
Reduced Cart Abandonment: Streamlining the checkout process led to a decrease in cart abandonment, with more users completing their purchases.
3
Improved Mobile Experience: Mobile optimization helped boost conversion rates among smartphone users.
4
Better User Engagement: The introduction of loyalty programs and email follow-ups contributed to more positive user engagement.
