SEATTLE ELDERBERRY
Is a growing, thriving small business located in Seattle. They sell immune support products and have a robust social media presence about wellness and elderberry education. I was contacted to help with a website redesign as they shifted their site and store to Shopify.
MY ROLE
As the sole freelance UX Designer, I worked with the founder and CEO of Seattle Elderberry to get the site and store moved over to Shopify. I primarily worked on Research, Information Architecture, Interface Design, and some creative direction and photography.
Timeline: 2 month part-time freelance project
GOAL
While moving the website over to Shopify, optimize the site for mobile shoppers, emphasize the brand, and enhance the product displays. Synchronize the website launch with new product photography and social media campaigns by February 1, 2020.
PROCESS
- Evaluate website and conduct competitive research
- Determine MVP
- Update Site Map
- Create content for the Shopify template
- Test, release and evaluate the website and online store
I first conducted competitive research on similar brands or brands with similar elderberry products to better understand the landscape of competition and potential user expectations. I also evaluated the current website for usability.
Selection of Homepage and Product pages used for competitive analysis:
Top Notes for MVP at launch:
Homepage
Ability to shop must be evident and immediate. You must have an above-the-fold/in-viewport CTA
Site Stripe: if available through new Shopify template, nearly all competitors are using this.
Value propositions: Seattle Elderberry stands out due to excellent ingredients and values. Highlight this.
Have a small newsletter sign up: Give users a way to sign up for the newsletter. Place this in the footer, test out pop ups sparingly.
Footer Disclosure: Include statement required by the FDA within the footer so that it is visible on all pages as well as products.
Social icons in footer: ensure these are available.
Kids and Family info: Since this is a large proportion of customers, make information for families and kids prominent.
Catalog
Design options will be limited to template chosen. Once the final version is chosen, ensure ability to sort and filter, and create a best-sellers grouping.
Include breadcrumbs so that user can navigate in and out of catalogs.
Product Listing
Include value propositions, ingredients, and consider a list of what they do NOT contain. This is common on product pages of other supplement competitors.
Include information or link to information about the farm partnership between Seattle Elderberry and Elderberry farmers.
Include ability to buy product now on Amazon.
Consider including FAQ’s on product listing.
After presenting the analysis to Seattle Elderberry, we worked together to import content to the Shopify homepage and implement as many of the MVP features as possible.
ORIGINAL SITE
The original homepage view in a desktop viewport. The user cannot clearly see or understand the product, and they cannot quickly access the shopping options.
SITE AT LAUNCH
Within the Shopify template chosen, we were able to get very close to our proposed site map, and Seattle Elderberry incorporated new photography highlighting the product. We prioritized a clear CTA and the user can immediately see Best Selling product on the first scroll.
Mobile wireframes including some final content:
Launch
After Seattle Elderberry imported data and content to Shopify, we guerrilla tested the site to find that users were able to easily locate the products they were interested in and quickly purchase them. Due to the release timeline approaching, we were not able to complete full usability testing and I provided the business with an updated potential site map and potential next steps to implement after launch. Those next steps included creating product bundles, building out more information on the product details, and publishing more information for families.
Once the website was launched at the beginning of February 2020, Seattle Elderberry sold out of all of their inventory in a matter of weeks. While I would love to believe this was solely our design decisions, we believe the main driving factor was the uncertainty of COVID-19 and customer’s desires to have access to supplements that could help bolster their immune systems. A lot of customers at this time were also stocking up on health supplies. Seattle Elderberry quickly rebounded and ramped up production. They are a thriving small business today!