Bringing PRISM Bags’ mission to life
While in bootcamp, myself with two other students worked with a fashion brand startup to reimagine the buying experience and help customers feel good about the bag they carry.
Opportunity
A mission and product customers aren’t buying.
PRISM Bags has designed a beautiful bag backed by a solid mission but their e-commerce site had a low engagement. How can we create an experience that has customers not only buying into their brand but also buying their product?
Problem
High drop-off rates and low content engagement.
66% of their visitors don’t make it to their product page leading to higher than average cart abandonment.
Solution
An engaging e-commerce experience that makes them shine amongst the competition.
Researching best practices and leveraging existing content, we created an e-commerce experience where customers can learn about their four mission pillars, while PRISM Bags capture their share of the market.
At a glance
We conducted our own user interviews, defined the problem, and developed a solution that addresses the needs of PRISM Bags and the wants of their customers.
The homepage
Customers found their current navigation (left) confusing and crammed with content. Our redesign (right) showcases the two most important features: their mission statement and call to action.
The product page
We move the most important information above the fold, working in their impact to drive awareness and customer conversions.
The mission page
What makes PRISM Bags unique is their mission and how they give back. We rewrote their mission page to better highlight how they standout.
Discover
A bag for the modern working woman
In our first meeting with our client, it was clear that the most important part of their brand was their sustainable and ethical practices that launch their product. Backed by their own research and data, they had a clear idea of their target user (22-26-year-old women entering the workforce); and the downfalls of their current site (confusing navigation and long loading time).
They looked to us to address these issues by developing an e-commerce desktop experience within their style guidelines and a strong emphasis on their mission with room to grow.
Checking out the competition
The e-commerce market is saturated and it was our goal to showcase why PRISM Bag is the new staple for the modern woman. In our competitive and comparative analysis, we looked at features of sustainable brands and discovered a few best practices to implement.
We also discovered a few elements that some competitors didn’t have that we could leverage to make them more memorable.
Learning from customers
Even though our client had a deep understanding of their clientele, it was important that we took the time to understand their users by asking them about their online buying habits and how well they used the PRISMBags.com site. From six user interviews and task analysis we were able to understand a few key insights:
Define
A girl with a mission
We created a user persona and scenario to best address her goals, wants, and frustration. We created a character who is motivated to purchase a bag but has been unsatisfied during her search for a brand that checks both the sustainable and ethical box.
The “Get it Gurl” is ready to break glass ceilings now that she has her diploma in hand and a solid feeling of confidence as she propels into the workforce. She just landed her first job and wants to look the part, but doesn't want to break the bank.
FRUSTRATIONS
When products don't live up to their hype (poor quality)
Complicated websites
Brands that don't have a strong mission
GOALS:
Wants to make a difference
Wants to be taken seriously at first glance
Deeply cares about quality and how things are made
Rebuilding the site foundation
To build upon our research, we knew that navigation was an issue that needed to be restructured. At first, we thought to move a few things here and there but quickly realized that paring their navigation down into a hamburger menu would be the best way to focus the user’s attention on two important elements: the product and the mission.
Design
Captivating attention upon first click
The homepage has a large hero image that showcases the bag, PRISM Bags mission statement, and a call to action to “Shop Now.” Everything Get It Gurl wants upon first click.
Navigation was tucked into a hamburger menu to clear distractions. We found in our usability testing that all users easily leveraged this functionality even though this isn’t a typical design feature in e-commerce.
A product page, but with impact
Customers expect consistency when shopping, so we pulled a page from the e-commerce playbook by creating a product page that users are familiar with. A key differentiator is the dedicated space below the product description where Get It Gurl knows how PRISM Bags gives back, their unique recycling program and how it was responsibly made.
Client Feedback
“You all just provided so much color and detail and robust material. Not only do we have a beautifully designed prototype but also just a really clear direction as to what more we need to do a little bit more prodding on. I think it was amazing the working process of putting together the prototype and giving you all feedback just where we saw it.”
- Rachel Lee, co-founder of PRISM Bags
“Just did a phenomenal job so we're very much blown away with not only the presentation, but the experience of working with you all you all were true professionals.”
- Helen Lee, co-founder of PRISM Bags
Prototype
Take a tour of the new site through the eyes of Get It Gurl. She first checks out the homepage top to bottom, then uses the hamburger menu to navigate to the mission page and learns about their Women’s Empowerment initiative. At this point, she has bought into the brand (yay!) and is now ready to look at their merchandise. She reviews their bags, chooses the Emblem Wear Two Ways bag, and adds it to her cart.
Lessons Learned
Over-communicate--always
We had established clear communication channels with our client via Slack, bi-weekly meetings, and shared agendas. We handed over a mid-fidelity prototype for them to respond to without walking them through notating our latest revisions. At the time, we thought that we had shared so much that it was obvious, but they came back with a flood of changes and referencing old mockups. It left us with more work to make changes that they wanted, while also defending our design decisions. All of that frustration and time could have been avoided if we took time to walk them through the first time.