Redesigning Curran's
e-commerce sites
Context
The redesign of Curran's two e-commerce sites solved many problems that had manifested over the years. This redesign was part of a larger digital transformation including an updated frontend, CMS migration, and other tech stack upgrades. Curran is a small company focused on catering to design and architecture professionals, as well as design-oriented consumers.
My Role
Product Owner
Lead UX Designer
Design System Oversight
Research
Tools
Figma & Figjam
Jira & Confluence
Platforms
Responsive web design
Problems
We analyzed the old websites (curranonline.com and sisalcarpet.com) and uncovered 3 main issues:
1. Unfamiliar
The customer service team spent hours on the phone and chat each week with customers who couldn't figure out the product customization interface. Users who didn't contact customer service were simply abandoning the sites.
Opportunity
How might we make Curran's shopping experience more familiar, browsable, and modern?
Goals
We converted our key problems into UX outcomes:
Unfamiliar → Familiar
If we do a great job of implementing a new design system then the UI will feel like a familiar shopping experience so that customers can complete the path to purchase without help from customer service.
Not Browsable → Browsable
If we do a great job of restructuring the sites' navigation and provide filtering, then customers will be able to quickly and easily find what they need so that they don't have to look elsewhere for a smoother shopping experience.
Dated → Modern
If we do a great job of creating a new design system that is based on modern technology and design standards then the websites will be visually consistent and aesthetically appealing to design-forward customers so that they will want to shop with Curran repeatedly.
Design System
The foundation of this major update was building an atomic design system. This was the first step in achieving our goals for consistency, efficiency and flexibility. I partnered with Curran's content manager and two UI designers to ensure we expertly built all the necessary components.
Design Iteration
The new sites went through several design iterations before we had a shippable design candidate. The UI for customizable products needed to be unique to Curran's product offerings but also feel familiar. We employed progressive disclosure to make sure the customer wouldn't feel overwhelmed.
Final Design
After several months of getting buy-in for this major digital transformation, and 5 months of hard design and engineering work, the content team is now building new pages and the sites will launch simultaneously in the Fall of 2022.
Results
Once these sites are launched the expected results are:
Familiar
Customers will rave about the new design and their time spent talking or chatting to customer service will decrease and conversions will rise.
Browsable
Customers will spend far less time searching for what they need and bounce rates will decrease significantly. We will match our competition instead of driving customers to them.
Modern
People will have an overall positive sentiment toward the new websites because they will be modern, simple, and much improved.