01. Brief / Overview
Cosmedica Skincare is a small, family-run business that was established in 2012 by founder Lucia Conway. The company was started in their home in Northern California, when Lucy, who had been in the beauty industry for over a decade by that time, was driven by her passion for developing a line of simple, pure, safe, and effective skincare products that was approachable to both the average consumer and the beauty enthusiast alike.
For a brand with a unique and passionate product story, they had thin content, poor navigation, and a lack of differentiation. This effort was a challenge where we had to reimagine the brand’s digital presence through desktop and mobile eCommerce and create a better consumer experience. My role was to restructure the user journey, allowing it to meet users’ needs and behaviors, creating an organic content flow from one page to the next.
02. Business Analysis
To initiate the process, I approached the challenge by performing business analysis. I had the privilege of working directly with the founder Lucia Conway, who defined their current goals as:
- User: Completes a transaction without feeling misinformed or frustrated
- Business: Improve site-wide storytelling to create a stronger connection with customers
- Product: Maintain the current ecosystem within Shopify while building custom design concepts.
First, I wanted to understand their current competition and stand in the industry to set benchmarks. I defined current competitors’ landscape by identifying companies with similar beauty industry atmosphere, such as Versed Skin, Ordinary, and Youth to the People. I recognized that all of these brands were at higher user engagement and management state based on their user journey.To create a seamless customer journey, we needed a consistent look, feel, and voice across the entire website. Our team also emphasized the importance of straightforward, educational content conveyed by appropriate information hierarchy.
03. Ideation
Synthesizing goals and running a website audit based on the business analysis served as a lens through which we could consider what the website should do and how it should feel. We believed this would be the difference between delivering a good experience and a great one. Early on, thinking about emotional design helped our client understand the importance of aesthetics and tone of voice to the occasion. Ideas were correlated and cluster together, patterns were identified, then pulled out and ideated upon further.
A. Navigation
One of the many goals was restructuring the user journey of the website. When beginning the new proposed sitemap, I always had to keep in mind that one of the main goals of an eCommerce platform is to complete the purchase with ease.
Based on provided user heat maps, mostly all new users would directly go to the “SHOP” section. Lucia shared that one of the things she would love to push was to navigate her users based on their skincare concerns to improve the overall purchase journey. Before we applied the changes, the mega menu navigation had four categories that was too much to digest at once. The solution was to condense the number of visible items at once and focus visitors’ eyes on the concerns they may have with images.
B. Content Taxonomy
Cosmedica had severe challenges with their web content even though the content is king, and it is one of the most important aspects of a website. When we were redesigning, we focused the content on their core competencies. Content and information helps potential customers learn more about their business, products/services, and ultimately help close deals.
After examining the website and referencing some of their competitors, I realized that Cosmedica Skincare advertises itself as one of the leading brands for Hyaluronic Acid Serums, but nowhere on the website is it showcased how they stand out from the rest. I decided to use that differentiator to angle the content to establish credibility, leveraging the brand’s value to educate new visitors.
To build on this trust, I decided to focus the main story on five main pillars that the brand stands for. With the same rationale, I thought about developing pages that explain the benefits of the HA Serum and the rest of the incredible ingredients that go into their products. Another critical element to build trust was to utilize on-point customer support. Many of their buyers were already commenting on their blogs, asking for instruction. Therefore, implementing a page that is fully dedicated to educational content and direct support engagement was crucial.
C. Product Layout
Cosmedica’s other goal was to be about what goes into their products. That’s why we included a full ingredient list with each product on the website, along with recommendations for how to apply and any potential concerns to be aware of.
Despite being a well-known brand, Cosmedica had to communicate each product’s benefits better to the visitors to demonstrate what makes them unique. By focusing on products, we wanted to make it easier for the consumer to know how to use them to achieve the best results. It was essential to ensure that the product’s experience was providing high value for the consumer. We reorganized images to a parallax mode and removed product ingredients from the bottom and moved them directly under the descriptions.
When it comes to something as specific as skincare products, everyone’s skin is entirely different from each other. Since the goal was to push the products by concern, we wanted to ensure that some products tackle different situations. That’s why we also implemented a secondary layer of navigation via tags to help visitors navigate based on their problems.
04. Desktop Experience
Cosmedica Skincare needed a total redesign for their existing web experience. We focused on creating an intuitive site structure that would emphasize visual brand storytelling. Wireframes and paper prototypes were made, then tested with users to determine which of the high-level approaches were the most functional, easy to understand, and impactful. This process was repeated through multiple design iterations to validate or eliminate design approaches quickly. We leveraged vital technology such as YotPo to integrate with Shopify’s Storefront API to build out complex front-end features and facilitate an exceptional user experience among other custom development efforts. The team deployed the new site without any disruption in tracking, traffic, or transactions.
07. Results and Next Steps
From plan to wireframe to launch, we worked seamlessly with the Cosmedica Skincare team to bring their vision to life while bringing our perspective and panache to the project. We created a rich, responsive, ever-evolving experience for both desktop and mobile users. The new Cosmedica Skincare website has already seen significant growth in search engine traffic and the development of a simple but institutive navigation and site structure. Elevated content showcases their striking transparency and commitment to clean beauty.
As the next steps, the website experience will be expanded by complementary features, as:
Skin Quiz: Providing users with the ability to take a quiz that will result in a full regime based on Cosmedica Skincare products and remove the haste of identifying the right products that you might need.
Find Us: Expanding from just “Now at Target” to pushing other local drug stores that Cosmedica Skincare products can be located. They are currently found in CVS and Target to expand into other stores during 2021.
Rewards: Focusing on returning customers by developing a point system through the engagement of social sharing and purchase of Cosmedica Skincare products.
