01 overview
Rent-a-Romper is a sustainable grassroots e-commerce baby fashion company founded by, busy mom of two, Lauren Gregor. She started Rent-a-Romper as a side business and now with over 70 members and 40 active clothing "capsule" wardrobe subscription, she needed a way to become more scalable in product offerings and cater to more customers. She came to my team at General Assembly to seek a website redesign and expansion.
My Role
UI and UX designer, project manager, researcher, information architect, prototyper, storyteller
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Remote Team
Trey Burghardt, Shawn Shimazu, Kathy Chang
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Timeframe
3 week sprint, weekly cadence with client, September 2020
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Tools
Figma, Trello, Miro, Photoshop, Illustrator, Excel, Power Point, Google Suite, Google Forms, Otter, Loom, Slack, Zoom
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Platform
Desktop website, responsive mobile iOS
Delivery
Complete website overhaul, including a responsive mobile experience, with expanded products and services.
Challenge
Rent-a-Romper's current e-commerce subscription website on CrateJoy has limited capabilities when it comes to tailoring to non-monthly delivery recurring subscriptions. She offers clients a monthly membership access to her services, but the frequency of "capsule" deliveries vary by how quickly the child outgrows them. Her current website only allows for new member sign-up, everything after that is handled by email correspondence directly with Lauren; she needs a way to free up her time to expand her products and scale her business.
02 process
We followed the design-thinking Double-Diamond model for our sprint format beginning at research and discovery using empathizing methods such as interviews, affinity mapping, C&C analysis, user surveys, usability tests.
SPRINT ACTIVITIES
Discover & Define
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1 scope of work with client
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6 parent and parent-to-be user interviews​
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3 existing website usability testing​
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8 competitive & 2 comparative analysis​
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1 existing customer user flow diagram
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1 existing customer journey map
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16 Existing customer survey responses
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2 personas
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2 problem Statements
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6 how might we's...
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2 hypothesis/solution statements
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1 update scope of work with client
Develop & Deliver
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1 scope of work with client
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6 parent and parent-to-be user interviews​
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3 existing website usability testing​
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8 competitive & 2 comparative analysis​
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1 existing customer user flow diagram
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1 existing customer journey map
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16 Existing customer survey responses
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2 personas
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2 problem Statements
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6 how might we's...
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2 hypothesis/solution statements
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1 update scope of work with client
03 research
Information Architecture
Existing Website​
We discovered...
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confusing product & service info
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confusing terminology
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limited FAQ page
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unclear how subscription works
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unclear what "capsule" is
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user preferences captured in paragraph format, not quantifiable
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no way to edit style, brand, color, size preferences in account settings
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Limited pages and product info
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Spring Cleaning -->external survey
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Very limited capsule management functions
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catch-all solution is to email Lauren with everything (exchanges, concerns, questions, suggestions)
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almost everything is done by email once you become a customer
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no online customer service
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no online exchange process
Competitors & Comparative Competition
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Closest matching competitor is UPCHOOSE
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The rest are a close second or third in feature or function
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Closest comparative platform is Joymode, which is special experience gear rental
Existing User Flow​
Characteristics​
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on-boarding focused
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using CrateJoy platform
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piecemeal website
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led user off website entirely for survey for donation
User Interviews & Usability Testing
Interviewed 6 parents and expecting-parents about the product idea, their current habits, and what they thought about Rent-a-Romper's website
Tasks​ during usability test...
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​1. Learn about the company and the business model
2. Show how you would subscribe and make a purchase
User Thoughts...
Existing Rent-a-Romper Customer Survey
Half of active subscribers participated in the survey, of these existing Rent-a-Romper customers...
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87.5% are satisfied with the PRODUCTS
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93.75% are satisfied with the SERVICE
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93.75% would recommend to a friend/family
User Flow
Current user flow has three products that leads to a common shopping cart and check-out process:
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Complete Capsule
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Just the Essentials
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Gift Card
Existing User Journey
We discovered the users encountered drastic quality in user experience when they begin their return/exchange process, this is not automated and needed to be done via email directly with the Founder. We found this gap to be the most opportunistic for improvement.
Summary User Feedback...
They wanted...
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1. Mobile responsive website
2. Feel good about their purchase
3. Special rentals items not just capsules
4. More info about the product
04 synthesize
Personas
Problem Statement
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Amy needs a way to know that Rent-a-Romper has products that meet her buying standards, and that the ordering process is quick and easy because she is choosy about who she buys from, and has limited time to be online.
How might we...​
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... ensure that Amy understands what Rent-a-Romper is and how their business model works?
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... help Amy keep her time on the Rent-a-Romper site speedy and efficient?
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... help Amy know that she is supporting a company that aligns with her ethics?
Hypothesis
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We believe that updating the Rent-a-Romper’s homepage to explain the subscription model, along with building out and making the FAQs more visually appealing, will help Amy...
1) understand the Rent-a-Romper process, and
2) feel good about supporting them.
We will know this to be true when Amy continues to order from Rent-a-Romper beyond her initial gift subscription.
Problem Statement
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Kory needs a way to easily manage his orders and a friendly process to do returns because he has two kids with different needs and doesn’t have time to actively manage them.
How might we...​
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... make the exchange process more delightful?
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... provide Kory notifications to be up-to-date on his exchange order?
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... give more control and automation to Kory's subscription?
Hypothesis
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We believe that by clarifying and adding delight to the exchange process, more users will feel relieved and up-to-date when exchanging clothes. We know this to be true when less users email Lauren with exchange questions. We will know this to be true when Kory continues to be an active subscription customer and can spend more time to with his kids.
05 ideate
New Information Architecture
Added these new pages and flows for...
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More info about product/service
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Additional one-time rental products
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Clear mission for company
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Customer reviews
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Account management functionalities
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Swapping
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Pause membership
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Postpone capsule swap
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Updated All User Flows
New features include:
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Swap or Pause Membership
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Purchase Recurring Capsules or One-Time Rentals
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View Account & Capsule History
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Request Donation Bag
Compare to old flow:
On-boarding new capsule customer...
On-boarding by sending them a free donation bag...
On-boarding by renting a One-Time item...
Managing customer account settings...
Sketches
Wireframes
We set out to create onboarding flows in our wireframes to initially test out basic functionalities of the site.
Design Solutions
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Clutter-free MENU showing most need-to-know info
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Added PRODUCT on top menu
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Comprehensive FOOTER with REVIEWS, FAQs, About Us
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Created a HOW IT WORKS page
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Subscription now known as MEMBERSHIP
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Exchange/Return now known as SWAP
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Suggested a CHAT BOT to help with support
Followed Existing Website Branding
Information Architecture
Header Menu
Global Navigation Menu
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Products & how it works
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Our why
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Donation information
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Sign In or on-board
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Friend referral banner
Footer​ Menu
Utility Footer Navigation Menu
- FAQ, Contact, Search
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About us​, Mission, Podcast, Reviews
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All services & products
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Social Media
Chat Bot
Helps users quickly get to the information they need with automated responses.
Hi-Fidelity Design
Products & Services
Secondary Information
Product & Service Explanations
Onboarding for Capsule Wardrobe
Onboarding for Capsule Wardrobe
Checkout Process
Account Management
Account
Capsules
Mobile Responsive
Challenges with mobile version:
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lengthy page content
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wordiness
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navigation
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font size
Solution
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collapsible content
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hamburger menu
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Call To Action button on top menu bar
06 prototype
07 next steps
Post 3 Week Sprint Recommendations
We recommended the following as next steps for our client to consider...
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Add for-purchase option to business model
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Formally introduce add-ons for purchase (i.e. hair bands, extras)
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Swap process on website to be expanded in more detail
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Improve the filterability of One-Time Rental Products & Categories
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Complete full mobile-responsive version of the website for all pages
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Adopt funneling live-chat/chatbot on page to facilitate specific questions
Client Feedback
After our sprint, Lauren sent us the following praise on Slack and a copy of what she sent her investors, which really let us know that our work was well received and valuable to her business.
