Product Type
E-commerce site
Contribution
UX audit, user research, UX strategy
Overview & Objective
Village Craft and Candle is an e-commerce website that offers specialty candle making supplies. The client had recently acquired the business and wanted to take it to a new level without doing a complete design overhaul. They sought our advice on how to improve user experience within the existing site.
Approach
I conducted a thorough competitor analysis and website audit. The most apparent issue was with the information architecture and filtering in the navigation menu. Once I had a thorough understanding of the gaps of the site, I created two different Typeform surveys, one targeting newer customers and another for longstanding customers. I also conducted user interviews with two members of the marketing team who managed the content of the site and responded to customer inquiries to understand their pain points.
Below are images of user experience issues identified in the audit, accompanied by recommendations to resolve them.
× Filters existed on product pages that they weren't relevant to, forcing a user to sift through redundant information and confusing customers who are new to the hobby.
✓ Filters should only be relevant to the product page a user is currently visiting.
-
× Specific scents (which there were dozens of) were listed as individual products, creating a massive menu while also being duplicates of filters available on Fragrance pages.
✓ Qualities that apply to many products should be applied at secondary or tertiary levels rather than as primary menu items.
-
× Products were on category pages where they logically didn't belong, causing confusion and making product more difficult to find.
✓ Products should only live on pages that they fall into categorically.
-
× Inconsistency in page naming and lack of convention made navigation confusing. The Supplies category in the navigation linked to a page titled Candle Molds and Accessories, which contained wick-related products, but no molds or accessories. Additionally, breadcrumb trails appeared at random on some pages but not others.
✓ Page titles should match the copy in the link the user used to arrive there, product should relate to the page title and breadcrumb trails should match the journey the user took to get there.
-
× Products within the same category had qualities applied at different page levels. For example, Element jars had colour included in their title, while Lux jars did not and instead had a colour filter on the product detail page. This makes it possible for a user to miss the product they want and can cause cognitive overwhelm.
✓ Varieties such as size or colour should be filters available on the general product page, rather than creating exponential individual product pages for every possible combination of qualities. Products should be named and sorted following the same methods.
-
× Twelve different menu items under Wicks and By Type all linked to the same five pages. On those five pages, the titles didn't match the words used in the navigation menu, and some titles included educational information in the page title itself. When menu name doesn’t match the page name it makes navigation difficult and is not SEO friendly.
✓ While providing multiple avenues to a product can be helpful, page titles should match their nav titles. Product qualities should be listed slightly further down a page rather than in a page title.
-
× Search bars didn’t specify what they are searching within. Eg, FAQ, Product, Blog posts.
✓ The user should be able to easily tell what a search bar is intended to be used for.
-
× Breadcrumb trails only appeared on some pages and sometimes disappear once user gets to a specific product page.
✓ Breadcrumb trails should remain consistent throughout and accurately reflect the path the user took to get there.
-
× On mobile, 3rd level menu titles didn't link to their pages, but instead all linked to a page called Collections. Once on this page, the user lost their spot in the nav menu and are forced to start over.
✓ Navigation should be optimized for mobile, follow the same function as the desktop nav and link to expected pages.
-
× This product page said to click link to view a video, but there was no video at the link destination.
✓ Dead links should be removed to not falsely advertise resources that don't exist.
-
× The Soy wax page said that no product on that page can be used for molded candles, however the FAQ page says Votive & Pillar Soy Wax can be used for molded candles.
✓ Information should be consistent in order to gain trust and credibility.
-
× In this resource, three types of soy wax were compared, but there are nine types of soy wax available on the website. Six out of nine types of soy wax were left out of the comparison.
✓ Resources should accurately reflect the available product on the website.
-
× Information on product pages for waxes varied in styling, placement and detail, making it hard for a user to know where to find the details they are seeking.
✓ Product pages should follow conventions for product information so a user knows where to access it every time.
-
× Product imagery was inconsistent, weakening a sense of brand and professionalism.
✓ There should be photo guidelines that create a strong brand and make it easy to compare products.
-
Outcome
The result was a redesigned navigation and filtering strategy, along with other recommendations for merchandising the site's home page and improving brand strength. The sub categories in the navigation menu are also filters within their larger product categories, which creates consistency in product hierarchy and how they are referred to and searched. If a user selects "soy" from within the main navigation, they are taken to the All Wax page, but with the soy filter applied, and filters can be further adjusted from there. This also reduces the overall number of pages on the website, which was desirable for this client.
These recommendations were taken and applied by Village Craft and Candle's in house marketing and design team in 2023.
