Team: Content Strategist, Front End Developer, Product Manager
Key Outcomes
A/B Testing
• Achieved higher conversion rates across key brand categories
• Was called a win and implemented into CMS
Project Background
As the newly hired director of design, I was tasked with giving Brilliant Earth’s homepage a facelift—a project that had been initiated multiple times but remained incomplete over several years. While it's tempting to jump straight into designing based on the business's perceptions of the problem, I recognized this project as an opportunity to empathize with our customers and better guide them towards their desired path while also aligning with our brand objectives.
Discovery
To better understand why the homepage had not been redesigned successfully previously, as well as to identify any missed opportunities I could address in my redesign, I conducted various discovery sessions.
Discovery Methodologies
• Quantitative assessment of customer journey: where customers were coming from, where they went, what was the most engaged and converted path, etc.
• Stakeholder interviews: CEO, brand/marketing, product management
• Direct and Indirect Competitor analysis
• Technical interviews: FED development, design, operational staff
Discovery Insights
Key Quantitative Data Insights
Customers primarily land on the homepage after searching for various terms related to engagement rings. However, the current homepage layout directs users exclusively to engagement ring settings (unclearly), potentially limiting their exploration and awareness of our other offerings. Quantitative analysis of navigation engagement revealed a significant demand for multiple customizable ring design paths, none of which were featured on the homepage.
Key Stakeholder Insight
Brand and marketing stakeholders expressed concerns that the homepage overly emphasized engagement rings, failing to effectively communicate more assortment, possibly hindering repeat purchase or non-engagement ring awareness and conversion opportunities.
Key Competitor Analysis Insight
Comparing with competitors, it's evident they prioritize providing multiple paths to categories on their homepages, a feature notably absent in Brilliant Earth's presentation. Surprisingly, our current homepage lacks any mention of customizable options, which are our core competency. Indirect competitor analysis reveals that other sites are effectively simplifying content-heavy page structures.
Key Technical Interview Insight
A lack of design direction for CMS design systems was ultimately why previously proposed designs kept failing to be implemented. The current structure was broken and impossible to consistently design content for, regardless of how much anticipation was put into how the page broke down responsively. This technical limitation rendered proposed designs unfeasible within the current framework, contributing to the misalignment between proposed design and actual execution.
Problem Statement
How might we redesign the homepage to effectively showcase all our offerings while enabling intuitive customer navigation, creating a stronger brand impression, and streamlining operational maintenance processes?
Goals:
• Enhance Brand Perception: Ensure the homepage reflects the brand's values and offerings effectively, leaving a positive and lasting impression on visitors.
• Improve Customer Navigation: Provide clear and intuitive pathways for customers to explore and engage with various product offerings, including customizable options.
• Streamline Operational Maintenance: Implement design solutions that are easily maintainable by our teams, addressing technical constraints and ensuring scalability for future updates.
Design Process & Strategy
Pathing & CMS Framework
Utilizing insights from our navigation data, I determined the top three crucial customer paths and focused on presenting them prominently above the fold. Recognizing that customers tend to engage minimally with content below the fold, it was imperative that the redesign effectively captured all pertinent paths while also delivering a compelling brand impression.
I sketched various concepts and wireframes aimed at guiding customers towards additional paths of interest.
Visual , CMS, & Responsive Development Design Requirements
Despite 80% of our traffic originating from mobile devices, we observed higher conversion rates on desktop. I prioritized ensuring that templates scaled efficiently from desktop to mobile, specifically in a way that was more efficient to design and maintain. This involved strategies such as minimizing text within images and reducing the number of responsive breakpoints. Ultimately, this would reduce the number of creative assets required, simplify content creation, and optimize page performance. The visual design prioritized larger more beautiful images to see product details and convey more emotion.
Testing & Looking Forward
Given the complexity of testing the new design with multiple variables, we implemented a 'do no harm' measure of success in our split A/B test. Despite this cautious approach, we observed a notable increase in conversion rates across the newly highlighted 'create your own' categories. The test was called a win, and then the design was launched into a new CMS template now being utilized across various pages other than the homepage.
Moving forward, the insights gained from this redesign have shed light on numerous areas for improvement, not only on the homepage but also across various high-converting pages.