Increasing user engagement for a major beauty website Client: StyleCraze
Domain: Lifestyle, Health & Beauty
Duration: 2 Months
Tools: Ethnographic Research, User Experience Design, Rapid Prototyping, Visual Design.
Engaging users is a huge challenge for any website. Visitors want relevant information and look for immediate gratification. Given the number of alternatives available on the Internet, if not immediately satisfied, users are quick to leave and slow to return. For our client, we were able to have a tremendous impact in a short time by focusing squarely on the user. Through an iterative process of research and design, we were able to increase the relevance of the content and improve the design of the website, leading to a 62% increase in page-views per session.
IN A NUTSHELL The Problem
The Approach
The Result
Our goal was to increase user engagement on the site to encourage users to stay on the site longer and to return more often.
Our team spent time understanding current and potential users and then focused on designing and developing prototypes and iterating the design.
The new design led to a 55% increase in the ad revenue and 62% increase in page-views per session.
THE OPPORTUNITY A website whose primary product is information finds it even more challenging. Users expect the information to be free, want original content, have very short attention spans and little loyalty. Given that our client operates in the fickle world of fashion where trends evolve rapidly made the challenge even greater.
The client was one of India’s largest beauty websites which addresses beauty and wellness for women across the world. The Company approached us to help them increase the level of user engagement, and through that time spent on the website and frequency of visits to their site. The management had three primary objectives: (a) engage users to increase retention of users, (b) ensure content on the websites are helpful to their users, and (c) establish a world-class mobile website.
THE PROCESS The approach began with understanding the dierent types of users that visit the website. Once we identified the primary users of the website, we conducted indepth interviews with several users. Current and potential users were engaged in conversations regarding their views and experiences relating to beauty and wellness. We went abroad to engage users regarding their views and experiences relating to beauty and wellness in general. We also narrowed down on key components and features that she would like to see on a website that provides articles related to beauty and wellness.
Once the research was complete, the team synthesized the information gathered from the interviews to reframe the problem. During this phase, the team also identified
several insights about the general behavioral pattern of users and potential users of the website.
Based on these insights, the team developed a few prototypes of what the website could look like. These prototypes were tested with current and potential users to gather quick feedback, which was then integrated into the following version of the design. We repeated this cycle a few times to arrive at the final design which was communicated using design guidelines, do’s and don’ts, and visual representations of pages at each level of the site.
THE RESULT The company team ran an A/B test to evaluate the impact of the redesign. After only three days of testing, the results were staggering. The new design led to a 55% increase in the ad revenue and 62% increase in page-views per session.