case study

Elegn - Luxury Fashion E-commerce

Contents
> Project background
> Market research
> Product psychology
> Information architecture
> UI/UX Designs
> Evaluate

1 - Research

Project Background

The aim of this project is to improve the user experience of Elegn, a Ecommerce business in the luxury fashion industry. This includes its ecommerce platform, website and landing page.

This is done through understanding market trends, user behaviours and optimizing the product design with business objectives.

Elegn's Goals

  • Increase conversion rates - Elegn aims to drive more visitors towards making purchases on their website. A well-designed user experience is crucial to converting website traffic into paying customers.
  • Increase brand loyalty - Elegn desires to create a strong brand connection with its target audience. Creating a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience will encourage repeat customers and brand advocacy.
  • Achieving market differentiation - The luxury fashion market is highly competitive. Elegn aims to stay ahead of the curve by offering an innovative and user-friendly online shopping experience.

Challenges

  • Balancing luxury aesthetics with usability
  • Catering to mobile users with a design that makes it easy for users to purchase

My Role in the Project

- UX/UI Designer and Product Strategist.

I led the user experience design transformation, balancing visual elegance with functionality, ensuring the redesigned Elegn website embodies the brand's luxury image. Working closely with stakeholders, I translated business goals into user-centered design choices. My responsibilities included:

  • Conducting and interpreting user research.
  • Crafting the website's Information Architecture
  • Incorporating business strategy and product psychology
  • Designing high-fidelity UI elements.
  • Iterating based on usability feedback.

Market Analysis

Conducted research on the luxury lifestyle market. This incudes deconstructing the competitors’s strategies and analyzing market trends, and consumer preferences.

We also analysed other competitors’s digital presence which includes their websites, social media platform and marketing style, and lastly customer feedback to identify areas for differentiation and improvement.

User Persona Development

Crafted user personas for Elegn’s target audience, which comprises of individuals seeking high-end fashion, accessories, and lifestyle products.

These personas were built based on demographic data, psychographic insights, and behavior patterns gathered from market research and past customer surveys/research.

Customer Journey Mapping

Mapped out the entire customer journey from initial product discovery to final purchase completion. This exercise aimed to pinpoint pain points, such as slow loading times, complicated checkout processes, and lack of product variety, thus identifying opportunities for enhancement across various touchpoints.

Product Psychology

Applied psychological principles to understand consumer motivations for purchasing luxury lifestyle products online, such as social status, self-expression, and emotional gratification. This understanding informed the design and copywriting strategies to resonate effectively with the target audience's desires and aspirations.

Here's a breakdown of how each concept can be applied:

Social Status

  • Customer Reviews and Celebrity Endorsements - Feature positive reviews from satisfied customers and showcase celebrities or influencers wearing Elegn products.
  • Fear of Missing Out - Foster a sense of community by showcasing user-generated content (UGC) on social media or within the website. This will subconsciously influence potential customers to be part of the ‘tribe’.

Self-Expression

  • Personalized Product Recommendations - Utilize data (inputted by the user) to suggest products that complement a user's existing style or preferences.

Emotional Gratification

  • Luxury Shopping Experience - Create a visually appealing and user-friendly website with high-quality visuals and a seamless browsing experience.
  • Emotional Storytelling - Craft persuasive product descriptions and brand storytelling that tap into the emotional desires associated with luxury purchases.

Business Goals Alignment

Ensured that all research findings and strategic decisions aligned closely with Elegn’s business goals, which include increasing online sales, enhancing brand loyalty, and maintaining a cutting-edge position within the luxury lifestyle market.

2 - Define

Craft a clear roadmap for implementing design and copywriting strategies that reflect research insights and directly contribute to achieving business goals.

Conversion Funnel Analysis

Analyzed the conversion funnel to identify potential points of friction and opportunities for improvement in guiding users towards conversion actions.

UX Strategy

Developed a UX strategy focused on improving website navigation, optimizing search functionality, and enhancing mobile responsiveness.

The goal was to ensure that users could easily discover products, browse through collections, and have a frictionless shopping experience across all devices.

Information Architecture

Designed a user-friendly information architecture, organizing features and functionalities logically to improve usability and streamline user interactions.

Overhauled the website's information architecture to streamline product discovery and improve user flow. This involved reorganizing product categories, implementing intuitive filtering options, and enhancing visual merchandising to create a visually engaging and effortless browsing experience.

The Information Architecture includes:

Principles:

  • The IA should be built around user needs and shopping behaviors, informed by research and user testing.
  • The IA should reflect the brand's premium image through elegant design, clean layouts, and high-quality visuals.

Homepage

  • Shop by Category - Clear and concise navigation to core product categories.
  • Curated Collections - Curated product collections based on trends, occasions, or designer collaborations.
  • Editorial Content - Integrate blog posts or editorial content that showcases Elegn products in a lifestyle context and inspires users.

Product Category Pages

  • Enhanced Navigation - Filtering options by price range, size, color, and material to allow for better product discovery.
  • Grid and List View Options - Users will be able to choose between a grid or list view for displaying products, based on their preference.
  • High-Quality Product Listings - Each product listing features a large, high-resolution image, detailed product description, and clear call to action .

Product Pages

  • Immersive Product Experience - High-quality product photography and videography, including close-up shots and lifestyle imagery.
  • Detailed Product Information - Comprehensive product descriptions, including material composition, care instructions, size charts, and fit details.
  • Social sharing buttons
  • Customer reviews and ratings
  • Wishlist and save for later options
  • Personalised recommendation of products based on user history.

Checkout Process

  • Secure and multi-payment gateway
  • Intuitive order tracking

3 - Develop & Design

The aim here is to implement design improvements and persuasive copywriting that elevate the overall user experience and drive conversions across the ecommerce platform, website, and landing page.

UI/UX Design

Implemented a comprehensive UI/UX redesign for Elegn, incorporating modern design principles and an intuitive user interface. These steps taken will help to increase conversions and sales.

As written in the Information Architecture, this design incorporates breadcrumbs, good contrast and an elegant design that evokes luxury.

The CTA button on the mobile design is placed with purpose at the bottom (which is easier to click on).

Landing Page - Home Page

Crafted a new design and copywriting for the home page. This design emphasizes minimalism and the new arrivals which have been categorized into clothing and liquids (perfume, skin-care products, e.t.c)

Email Nurture Sequence

Developed a series of personalized email campaigns to engage customers throughout their journey, including welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, and exclusive offers tailored to their style preferences and purchase history.

These emails were designed to nurture customer relationships, drive repeat purchases, and maximize customer lifetime value.

4 - Validate

Validate design decisions and ensure a seamless transition for ongoing management of Elegn.

  1. Comprehensive UX Audit: Conducted extensive usability testing and gathered feedback from real users to identify usability issues and areas for improvement. Utilized heatmaps, session recordings, and user surveys to gain insights into user behavior and preferences, ensuring that the redesigned digital assets meet users' needs and expectations.
  2. Metric Analysis & Performance Monitoring: Analyzed key performance indicators such as conversion rates, average order value, and bounce rates to measure the impact of design changes. Observed positive trends indicating improved user engagement and conversion rates, validating the effectiveness of the design and copywriting strategies implemented.

UX Audit

Conducted extensive usability testing and gathered feedback from real users to identify usability issues and areas for improvement.

Utilized heatmaps, session recordings, and user surveys to gain insights into user behavior and preferences, ensuring that the redesigned digital assets meet users' needs and expectations.

Performance Monitoring

Analyzed key performance indicators such as conversion rates, average order value, and bounce rates to measure the impact of design changes.

This case study demonstrates how we utilized a holistic approach combining design, psychology, and business strategy to transform Elegn’s ecommerce website.

This will help result in increased conversion rates, higher user retention, and enhanced market competitiveness.