Duration
2-week design sprint
Toolbox
Figma, Adobe Photoshop, Miro, Notion & Google Suite
Role & Responsibilities
UX Researcher — Oversaw research, strategy & ideation processes
Team
Felicia Tay (Product Manager), Hong Qiao En (Project Manager) & Shanice Woo (UI Designer)
Designing for Goods
Flour Power, 2023
“What makes an e-commerce store stand out from its competitors in a highly competitive and saturated baked goods market?”
That is the question we tried to answer for Flour Power in 2 weeks. The social enterprise bakery has been serving up baked goods since 2016, and provides equal opportunities to people with special needs and other conditions.
Currently, Flour Power is looking to focus its core brand identity on the quality of its products and services, and wishes to de-emphasize its status as a social enterprise that may require charitable support or donations.
Problem
To stand out in a competitive & saturated baked goods e-commerce market, Flour Pour needs to refresh its virtual storefront. Its new e-commerce website needs to present its baked goods in an attractive manner and its checkout process needs to be seamless and efficient.
Action
With buy-in from our Flour Power clients, we ran through the entire design thinking process — research, ideation, prototyping and user testing our MVP.
We also worked with software engineers to develop our MVP prototype into an actual functional website.
Results
From our usability tests, we saw a significant improvement in the website's usability, with a 37.75 point increase (from 43.75 to 81.50) on the System Usability Scale (SUS).
We also achieved a 59.14% time-on-task reduction for the checkout process (from 168 seconds to 68.4 seconds).
Given the results from this initial round of usability tests, we can hypothesize that this redesigned website will allow Flour Power to build a stronger brand identity, improve its customer experiences and increase conversion rates.
Understanding the Problem Space
To better understand Flour Power as a business, its target consumer groups and the e-commerce market for baked goods and cakes (unfortunately, I'm not much of a cookie lover), we conducted the following research tasks in a week.
- Web audit of Flour Power's current website
- Site visit to Flour Power's kitchen
- Stakeholder interviews with Flour Power's CEO and resident bakers
- Competitive analysis of online baked goods retailers
- Comparative analysis of F&B social enterprises
- 14 user interviews (with single purchase buyers or bulk order buyers)
Turning Insights into Solutions
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Thank you for reading :)
If you would like to find out more about this project, please feel free to contact me at desmond.lzx@gmail.com
What I've Learnt
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Proin et placerat nibh. In finibus bibendum leo, quis tincidunt tortor convallis eget. Donec maximus turpis ac ligula pellentesque hendrerit. Sed mollis dui nec lorem finibus dapibus.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla blandit commodo dui, et volutpat nulla iaculis eu. Cras cursus arcu sit amet elit tempor laoreet. Maecenas eleifend rhoncus nibh, sit amet pellentesque magna mattis. Vivamus non est pharetra, volutpat velit id, rhoncus velit.
Proin et placerat nibh. In finibus bibendum leo, quis tincidunt tortor convallis eget. Donec maximus turpis ac ligula pellentesque hendrerit. Sed mollis dui nec lorem finibus dapibus. Vivamus mauris massa, vestibulum a pharetra eget, euismod a lorem. Nunc non purus nulla.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla blandit commodo dui, et volutpat nulla iaculis eu. Cras cursus arcu sit amet elit tempor laoreet. Maecenas eleifend rhoncus nibh, sit amet pellentesque magna mattis. Vivamus non est pharetra, volutpat velit id, rhoncus velit. Nam sed hendrerit lorem, in venenatis odio.
Proin et placerat nibh. In finibus bibendum leo, quis tincidunt tortor convallis eget. Donec maximus turpis ac ligula pellentesque hendrerit. Sed mollis dui nec lorem finibus dapibus. Vivamus mauris massa, vestibulum a pharetra eget, euismod a lorem. Nunc non purus nulla.
Business Analysis
Website Audit
- Flour Power's website and Hitpay payment platform are outdated in look and feel, and fail to convey a sense of good taste and quality.
- The product images lack focus and fail to make the cookies and baked goods look delicious.
- There is a lack of cohesion in the design elements used across the different pages: eg. there are 5 different fonts used in its About Us page.
- There is insufficient information about Flour Power as a brand and social enterprise, and its products and services.
- The website include pages that provide little to no relevant content for its customers— Blog, Gallery & Reviews.
Competitive & Comparative Analysis
To better understand Flour Power's direct and indirect competitors, we looked at 4 baked goods retailers and 3 social enterprises:
- Folk & Stories, Lookie Cookie, Spatula & Whisk & Whiskdom
- Bettr Coffee, Forward Coffee & MINDS
In all of the 4 baked goods retailers, we found beautiful imagery, cohesive visual design and compelling copywriting that elevate the various brands and their product offerings.
The common theme we observed among the 3 social enterprises is a sense of professionalism and credibility, which is communicated through writing, visuals, and a clear presentation of the enterprises' missions, values and social impact on their respective beneficiaries.
Site Visit (Contextual Research)
During our visit to Flour Power, we interviewed three stakeholders — Mr. Yeo Hiok Keat (CEO), Joey Yeo (manager) and Alvin (resident baker). From our conversations with them, we learned more about Flour Power’s operations and processes, and the goals of each individual for the social enterprise.
We saw the resident bakers worked in the kitchen and observed some of the adjustments that Flour Power made that ensured the kitchen environment was conducive for its employees with existing conditions. We were also treated to cookie samples, and introduced to the various packaging methods that they currently offer.
As a team, we left Flour Power with a better appreciation of what the social enterprise offers to its customers and how they continuously seek to improve on their products and services.
"I want Flour Power to be known for having good cookies."
- Mr. Yeo Hiok Keat, CEO
"People with disabilities can bring the needed skills and contribute meaningfully, when the company focuses on their abilities."
- Alvin, resident baker
Stage 2. Defining Users & Problems
Having completed our initial primary and secondary research on Flour Power, we identified two key groups of users / customers that we wanted to speak with. These two groups consist of:
- Customers who regularly make small baked goods purchases
- Customers who have made bulk order purchases for corporate gifting or wedding favours
Over the next 4 days, we conducted 14 remote user interviews. There were 8 interviewees from the first group and 6 from the second, and from these interviews, we distilled the information into these insights:
- "I want to feel assured that the cookies will taste nice”
- “Visuals help to convince me that the cookies are of good quality”
- “I will support social enterprises if they have good products and services
Problem Statements
With clearer insights and user personas, we came up with problem statements for each user persona:
1. Cody needs to find a better way to know what the cookies from an online store taste like, so that he can buy cookies that he knows he will enjoy eating, as he is unable to gauge the cookies’ taste by looking at the website.
2. Belle needs a more efficient way to assess if her chosen cookie company can meet her order requirements, so that she can quickly place an order for her company event. She needs to ensure that the order fulfils her company’s corporate gifting guidelines within her required deadline.
Stage 3. Iterating Solutions
How might we make the shopping experience more assuring for Cody?
In order to attract customers like Cody and get them to consider buying from Flour Power, we have decided to improve on the existing Product Catalogue page and individual Product page. More information (such as ingredients, shelf live, allergens) will also be included in the Product page, to help customers better understand the products.
How might we convince Belle that Flour Power is capable of fulfilling bulk orders within a short timeframe?
At its current state, there is no information on Flour Power's website that caters to bulk orders. We decided that a viable solution would be to create an All-in-One Corporate page that will allow customers like Belle to quickly assess necessary information about Flour Power's experiences, capabilities and customisation options.
Stage 4. Wireframing & Prototyping
Low-fidelity wireframes (top) and high-fidelity wireframes (bottom)
Stage 5. Testing & Reiterating
In total, we conducted 3 rounds of usability testing with 18 individuals, and these interviews were divided into the following categories:
1. For the existing Flour Power website — 5 individuals
2. For our first iteration of our redesigned website — 8 individuals
3. For the second iteration of our redesigned website — 5 individuals
Key Findings from Usability Tests
1. Product information is either unavailable or unclear and customers could not find out characteristics of products.
Improvements
We added unique descriptions related to the product and also ingredient list, allergens, storage advice and shelf life of the product into the Product page.
2. Selection of packaging options were confusing to customers, as there is a lack of categorisation and specific information.
We simplified the selection process and turned it into a two-step process — customers first select the total amount (measured in weight) of cookies that he or she wants, and then select the packaging options (in a resealable pouch or BPA-free bottle),
3. There is a lack of information on bulk orders, Flour Power's experiences and clients, and its brand story.
We created a page specifically catered to people who require bulk purchasing for corporate gifting or wedding favours. This page contains succinct information about Flour Power's brand story and experiences, and also customisation options that Flour Power offers. There is also a contact form at the end of the page to facilitate a faster enquiry process.
4. Reducing amount of unnecessary text that overwhelms users in About Us page.
From our usability tests, we observed that corporate / bulk buyers like to find out more about retailers before they consider buying products or hiring services. We rewrote the copy for the About Us page, and kept the copy concise yet informative. We have also moved the featured news articles to the page, and included a list of brands that Flour Power has worked with in the past.
Website Prototype for Phase 1
Demonstration of Final Prototype (Phase 1) for Primary User Flow
Demonstration of Final Prototype (Phase 1) for Secondary User Flow
Thank you for reading. If you would like to know more about this project, please do drop me a line at desmond.lzx@gmail.com
