Candle Website Redesign
With Purdue University's UX Program, we were matched with a local candle company to help redesign the company's mobile website in regards to modernize and attract users to purchase candles online.
The website is live and was launched in 2024.
Year
2024
Client
Sauce & Slice
The Challenge
Scents can't be smelled through a screen. Antique Candle Co., a company established in 2020 in Lafayette, IN, has struggled with improving their online presence and attracting new customers. We were tasked to enhance the mobile candle shopping experience and increase customer discovery of Antique Candle Co. candle scents.
Through research of user metrics and analytics, we found their their main user group is millennial women ages 26-41 with a higher than average disposable income.
Project Focus
There are two areas to focus on for this project:
Fragrance Page - this had the most room for change and improvement because a goal is to learn how to attract users online.
Checkout Flow - this is the flow from when the user views product listings up until checking out.
Approach
We began by conducting in-depth market and customer research to better understand the problem space and who we are designing for. Through several rounds of surveys, interviews, conversations with our sponsor, and market research, we established some core user habits for online candle shopping.
Visual Imagery
Visual imagery and videos are crucial to understanding the scent
Scent Notes & Strength
Scent notes and level of strength are what users immediately look for when buying a candle online
Customer Reviews
Customer reviews help convey the idea of the scent to online users, and are used to judge if they would follow through with purchasing.
Organize by Scent Types
Users can organize by scent types because they expect to see similar scents near each other.
Design Process
After research, we went into defining requirements and figuring out how to tackle the rest of this project. We decided to begin with the checkout flow because some of our team members had previous experience working on products and product listings. After, we tackled the fragrance page.
How did we do this?
We began with whiteboard sketches and translated common themes into lo-fidelity mockups. We were able to make a mid-fidelity iteration before taking our designs to A/B and Concept Testing. Here are a few takeaways from testing:
Finding #1
Quick add icon or pop-up helps customers add things to their bag more efficiently.
Finding #2
After adding an item to the bag, a bottom drawer pull-out shows a preview of the shopping bag.
Finding #3
“Best paired with” or “frequently bought together” product listings within the shopping bag can incentivize users to purchase more.
Finding #4
The fragrance quiz should be located at the top of the page, as it was previously hidden in the footer of the website.
Finding #5
Use imagery pictures for each scent category and scent, as we learned that images are one of the best methods of conveying fragrances online to the user.
Final Video Walkthrough
Below is the full video walkthrough of our team’s final design recommendations.
The Outcome
After research, we went into defining requirements and figuring out how to tackle the rest of this project. We decided to begin with the checkout flow because some of our team members had previous experience working on products and product listings. After, we tackled the fragrance page.
Fragrance Page
A carousel that also acts as a filter at the very top so users can sort through different scent families.
Added a fragrance quiz and placed it on this page as before it was hidden in the footer of the site.
Gave each scent its own spotlight by having the scent description, and some imagery to help convey the scent to the user.
Before
After
Checkout Flow (1 of 4)
This begins with the product listings.
Quick add button for easier and quicker access to add a product to your bag.
Restructured the way product listings for the same candle in different sizes work.
Before
After
Checkout Flow (2 of 4)
The quick add feature now allows users to add the product to their bag with ease.
They can view the scent description, change the size and quantity, and look at more pictures, all without being redirected to a new screen.
The user does have the option to view more details and be taken to the product listing page.
Before
After
Checkout Flow (3 of 4)
Dive deeper into scent details and candle care information, like the strength of the candle, as well as more scent note information.
The user can also scroll and view customer reviews and testimonies about the scent to learn more about how others enjoy and interpret the scent, as we learned that reviews are crucial to buying candles online.
Another crucial factor for online candle shopping is imagery and videos to help convey the scent’s vibe.
Before
After
Checkout Flow (4 of 4)
Items are now editable in bag, which allows users to make changes easily within the bag.
"Frequently paired" section where users can see scents that pair well with the ones that are currently in the bag.
The progress bar for a free candle.
Before
After
Future Considerations
If we had more time, there's a few things that I would have loved to explore.
Bundling Page: The bundled products are one of the best sellers on the site, and since we restructured the way product listings were displayed, the bundle page would need reimagining as well.
Filtering System: We would also want to improve the filter functionality, focusing on what users actually want to see, like scent notes, strength, and scent families.
Organization of Scent-Related Information: The company doesn't have a set way of organizing scents, so if we had time I would have loved to explore how to showcase all the scents visually.
My Role
Throughout the semester working with Antique Candle Co., I was able to lead as co-facilitator. In this role, I led meetings with our sponsors, planned activities, and organized documents and the agenda. As a team member, I contributed to a wide variety of activities in our team like from sketching to low to mid to hi-fidelity prototypes. At the end, I organized documentation and handoff to our sponsors.