An end-to-end design of a responsive e-commerce website for Ruum. Ruum is a furniture retailer offering quality furniture for any style. Ruum dominates in physical store sales and wants to bring its business online.
Ruum is a furniture retailer offering quality furniture for any style. While Ruum dominates in physical store sales, they are looking to expand its business through online sales to compete in today’s market.
Becoming a relevant player online in today’s market
We aim to:
A design that drives customer conversion
Increasing CTR by creating a visually appealing landing page, as well as showcasing and recommending products throughout all stages of the customer journey.
We also found that customer reviews and social media help build trust and boost buyer confidence.
A catalog-inspired hero section inspires customers to match products cohesively.
The Best Sellers section takes advantage of the contagious effect of popularity.
This Goes With That section encourages bulk purchases while taking the guesswork out of interior design.
Value propositions, customer reviews, and social media galleries create a sense of quality for shoppers, which in return, boosts buyer confidence.
Product recommendations throughout the customer journey keep shoppers engaged.
Mobile responsive design reaches more shoppers
The clean mobile responsive version widens the top of the funnel, allowing mobile users to shop with ease.
In order to solve the problem of engaging new and current customers, I conducted market research to understand current design strategies and sales methods. I then conducted user interviews to understand customer needs and pain points related to online furniture shopping.
Shoppers like solid visuals and clear monetary value
Looking at Wayfair, Ikea, Crate & Barrel, Article, and Amazon, I wanted to evaluate what works and what frustrates shoppers. Strong visuals attract shoppers and product recommendations help keep their engagement.
I found that successful sites:
Shoppers want to trust their purchases and avoid buyer's remorse
Conversations with targeted users helped gauge any additional user needs. Among the many suggestions, the most mentioned needs were:
Customers read reviews to trust the business with their money. They want to ensure the product they receive meets expectations in terms of quality.
Shoppers usually narrow down options based on aesthetic fit and functionality requirements.
Customers want to know the expected ship date for every item to make purchasing decisions. It helps customers set expectations and make appropriate accommodations for items with a longer lead time.
Before making the purchase, some shoppers like to see the item in person to determine quality.
With a collection of product ideas gathered from our research; I mapped each into a 2x2 prioritization matrix to narrow down our options.
The matrix considers what is easiest to implement from an engineering and business perspective, against what would make the most impact on customers.
Using the top features in the upper right corner, we can move on to designing with those features in mind.
With the compiled product requirements and user frustrations, I sketched different lo-fi solutions that were then narrowed down to the following.
Addressing real customer needs
Designing with a user in mind helps us understand the needs and frustrations of our target users. The persona I created is based on previous interviews and market research. This will help shape the design and help us understand if the solution directly satisfies customer needs and frustrations.
Guiding shoppers what to buy, while building trust
From a series of lo-fi sketches, I narrowed it down to one set of wireframes that would represent the shopping experience in a salient way. This design engages shoppers through visuals and product placement, and gains customer trust to purchase from Ruum.
Customers are introduced to products through a catalog-like display in the hero section. Followed by company value propositions below. Customers can also scroll to see best-sellers, bundles, and new product recommendations. As well as customer reviews and a social media gallery to build credibility at the end.
Customers can choose the product configuration they’d like to purchase. Followed by more detailed information, customer reviews, and associated Instagram posts.
Customers are also encouraged to continue shopping through product recommendations located toward the bottom of the page.
Product quick view not only allows customers to quickly shop for items, but it also increases the browsability of the site. Shoppers can easily exit out and continue to view other listed items, increasing CTR.
Cart summary features additional product recommendations, enticing shoppers to purchase more. This section also features a prominent checkout CTA to boost conversion rates.
Using this set of wireframes, I built a hi-fi prototype to test with users to see their responses to the visuals, flow, and copy of the site.
Users suggested the addition of an accent color to visually bring out the CTAs and selectable buttons.
The "see full details" button was made more prominent as it was often overlooked by users.
Even though users felt that a large amount of vertical spacing made each page look visually pleasing. They also argued it contributed to an excessive amount of scrolling that discouraged them from browsing further.
Following validation testing, I proceeded to polish the final version of the page based on user feedback to improve certain CTA visibility and reduce scrolling.
Becoming a relevant player online in today’s market
We aim to:
A design that drives customer conversion
Increasing CTR by creating a visually appealing landing page, as well as showcasing and recommending products throughout all stages of the customer journey. As well as using customer reviews and social media to help build trust and boost buyer confidence.
Customers felt compelled to shop more
The solution was tested with users who fit the target demographic. Overall, the results indicate that the strategies used attracted shoppers, kept them engaged, and encouraged conversion.
Claimed the website is clean and easy to navigate
Felt compelled to shop through the featured catalog
Were attracted to the bundling feature
Thought all necessary information was included
In the next iteration, I would love to prioritize some of the other concerns that presented themselves during the user and validation testing.
