Waypoint Living Spaces
Guiding People through their Home Renovations
PROJECT
Responsive Website Redesign
ROLE
Senior Experience Designer
CLIENT
American Woodmark Cabinetry
CONTEXT
As a member of a cross-office team, I worked with a group of talented experience designers to redesign Waypoint’s website. I led the UX work during the Design phase, producing major deliverables around page structure and component creation.
Waypoint Living Spaces is a brand under a leading manufacturer of cabinetry for kitchens, bathrooms, and other living spaces. Many competitors sell their cabinets through large homecenters like Home Depot and Lowe’s. Waypoint sells their products through cabinetry dealerships across the country. During the year leading up to this project, the demand for cabinetry soared as homeowners increasingly sought to renovate their living spaces. This surge in demand put a huge stress on the supply chain and also on cabinetry brands to compete for the booming market.
Across two optimal experiences (one for consumers and one for dealerships) the website would aim to build preference for Waypoint products and engage users across the buying journey.
DESIGN CHALLENGE
One of our key responsibilities was to facilitate the transition of their suite of websites to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM). This endeavor necessitated immersing ourselves in AEM's component system and working closely with the development team to ensure the feasibility and adaptability of our designs for future American Woodmark sites.
OUTCOMES
Launched redesigned website in July 2022.
Design Process
The Challenge Spotlight
Adapting and Migrating to a new Content Management System
Waypoint Living Spaces is part of a larger family of American Woodmark brands that our team was contracted to work with. One of our key responsibilities was to facilitate the transition of their suite of websites to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM). This endeavor necessitated immersing ourselves in AEM's component system and working closely with the development team to ensure the feasibility and adaptability of our designs for future American Woodmark sites.
Other Unique Problems to Solve
Two Distinct Experiences
Consumer and Dealer audiences need to be able to efficiently carry out their respective tasks within the same platform.
Fostering brand loyalty
In order to establish Waypoint as a preferred choice for both Consumers and Dealers, it is essential to differentiate themselves from competitors.
Engaging across the buying journey
There's a strong need transform the website from a "product dumping ground" into an interactive that resonates with users throughout their buying journey, ultimately guiding and driving to "Find a Dealer".
Re-engaging site visitors
Since single-visit conversions are rare, it's crucial to prioritize user re-engagement by capturing user data and implementing a well-designed CRM strategy.
PHASE 1
Discovery
After consulting with stakeholders about business objectives and requirements, we interviewed homeowners who were planning to renovate their kitchens or had recently completed a renovation to gather insights into their decision-making processes and pain points. We also gathered input from several local cabinetry dealerships to identify designers' needs and goals, as well as their experience with Waypoint's existing dealer portal.
Our research findings served as a foundation for creating two core personas that were central to the project.
Phase Deliverables
Our team divided and conquered to conduct a comprehensive site audit, examining the website's performance, content, and usability heuristics.
Site Audit
I took charge of researching competitors, both within and outside the cabinetry industry. This process served as an excellent opportunity to deepen my understanding of the industry and examine how companies chose to engage with consumers.
Competitive Analysis
The insights we amassed during our research phase served as the foundation for developing two personas. These personas not only guided us throughout the design process but also ensured the client was aware of the user-centric needs that accompanied their business objectives.
Target Personas
Our personas and research informed user journey which outlined the timeline of important touch points between the user and our product. These helped us define the features we could build to help fulfill our user’s needs.
User Journeys
Competitive Analysis
Amidst the recent surge in the cabinetry business, delving into the research of Waypoint's competitors became a fascinating undertaking, offering insights into how companies were responding to the increased demand. In the realm of cabinetry, products were distributed through various channels. Cabinetry dealerships, including brands like Waypoint, sold their products through physical stores. Other prevalent avenues included Homecenters such as Home Depot and Lowe’s, as well as direct-to-consumer brands, a practice that gained prominence in recent years.
For this competitive analysis I looked at a range of cabinetry brands that are sold across these different channels. For each website I evaluated information architecture, usability, visual design, content presentation, interaction patterns, and overall user satisfaction.
Findings and Potential Areas for Improvement
Navigation: Competitors strategically structure their site navigation to mirror the sequential stages of a standard home renovation process.
Quiz: Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands excel in creating captivating questionnaires that effectively guide users into their conversion funnel.
Tools: Competitors prioritize the integration of various tools, although some may require improvement in terms of usability.
Top Research Findings
Homeowners need an experience that acts as a proactive guide
Like many of it’s competitors, Waypoint had a foundation as an information provider. However, consumers sought more than just information; they were looking for someone to guide them through their home projects.
Style quiz is too long and not leading to a clear next step
The style quiz, a highly-visited page where users answered questions to determine their personalized style, faced challenges in user engagement. Despite its popularity, the experience had a 16% completion rate, accompanied by a 37% exit rate from the style results page once users had received their personalized style. There’s an opportunity to present results based on the customer’s needs rather than just their style preferences.
Users struggled to find the information they were looking for
The structure and visual design of the site’s navigation posed challenges for users in our light usability testing during discovery. Users struggled with the navigation's reliance on imagery, making categories unclear and challenging to scan. A notable deficiency was the absence of educational information about the renovation process, hindering users from being guided and gaining insights into what they could expect.
Who We Designed For
Sarah is a busy working professional with a growing family. She is married with two children under the age of 10. She recently purchased a new home in the suburbs and is looking to renovate the kitchen to fit her family's needs. She is interested in finding high-quality cabinetry that is both functional and stylish.
The Homeowner
Ally is a 34-year-old designer at a local cabinetry dealer with over 5 years of experience in kitchen and bathroom renovations. She is highly knowledgeable in the industry and prides herself on staying up-to-date on the latest trends and products available. Sarah is responsible for meeting with clients, understanding their needs, and presenting them with options that fit their vision and budget.
The Designer
User Journeys
With discovery insights in hand, we developed user journeys that placed our personas into the buying process in the context of the Waypoint website. Our digital strategy team had conducted extensive research into the cabinetry buying process, exploring the different touchpoints and emotions experienced throughout each stage. Largely pulling from this work, our journeys were used as a reference point throughout the rest of the design process, helping us to remain focused on the user and their needs.
PHASE 2
Define
Our research phase laid a robust foundation for understanding our users, propelling us into the definition phase. Here, we harnessed our insights to identify and define the problems we were addressing, shaping the core of our site architecture and content strategy.
Phase Deliverables
Site Architecture
Determined the hierarchy of pages catering to the distinct needs and preferences of both consumers and dealers within the website structure.
Outlined goals for content creation on the site, detailing specific content types and establishing a distinct tone of voice. This involved a strategic approach to aligning the content strategy with overarching user experience objectives.
Content Strategy
Feature Sets
The client had provided a list of desired features, which led us to formulate a strategy to identify those crucial for users while also planning for multiple phases of releases to effectively implement these features.
Site Architecture
The site's organization presented a significant opportunity to enhance the user's ability to navigate the site. The existing site had limited sections - Cabinets, Inspiration, and a Style Quiz. This posed a challenge in ensuring users could easily access the information they needed at any stage of their cabinet buying journey.
Our dealer audience faced a significant challenge in efficiently accessing the dealer portal, as it was only navigable through a link in the website's footer. Striking a balance in the landing experience for both audiences became a recurring discussion with the client. Ultimately, a decision was reached to establish a distinct gateway to the dealer portal within the main site navigation.
Site Map | Consumer Site
Site Map | Dealer Site
Site Map Highlights
Product Flow:
The product section played a significant role in the site and we made numerous design decisions to enhance users' ease of browsing and product discovery. Notably, we conceptualized a Product Detail Page, enabling users to personalize a cabinet by selecting from available options according to their preferences and requirements.
Curated Content:
While inspiration content had been a staple in the cabinetry space, there was a noticeable absence of curated collections of products and styles tailored to users' individual preferences. Trends pages served as a valuable source of industry insights, presented in a user-friendly format, and were also accessible through the revamped Style Quiz.
Giving Waypoint an Identity:
From the beginning, our objective was to present Waypoint as an approachable guide rather than a brochure-like source of information. While the product and inspiration sections handled a significant portion of the workload, the Project Planning and About Waypoint sections assumed the responsibility of offering actionable and helpful information, providing background details about the company to establish trustworthiness.
PHASE 3
Design
Within the Design phase we translated user insights and business requirements into tangible solutions. This phased was broken down into sprints, breaking the site into multiple sections and dividing work between designers. Experience concepting sessions sparked creative ideas that were then ironed out and iterated during wireframes. We frequently connected with our development team to ensure components were being designed appropriately and consistently looped in stakeholders to keep them aware and engaged in the process. aligning the visual and interactive elements with project goals. The outcome was a well-crafted design that balanced aesthetics with functionality, poised for successful implementation.
Phase Deliverables
Experience Concepting
In collaborative brainstorming sessions, our team crafted design solutions, shaping layouts and tools that addressed user needs and business objectives.
Leveraging the output of our brainstorming sessions, we constructed layouts for each page within our site architecture. Our attention honed in on the component level, building a rich library of versatile components.
Wireframes
Visual Design
Add this in
Experience Concepting
Our team collaborated by carrying out internal working sessions where we thought through page structure and flows. We conducted internal working sessions in Invision’s Freehand tool. First, we used sketches to visualize architecture and flows of the site, ensuring we had a high-level view before diving into wireframes.
As we thought through flows, our attention was on guiding homeowners through inspiration and product offerings towards the "Find a Dealer" page, where they could view and contact dealers in their area. Meanwhile, we optimized the Dealer experience by providing them with quick and easy access to the dealer portal, where they could carry out various tasks such as checking on customer orders and researching new Waypoint product offerings.
Wireframes & Component Library
As we progressed through the experience concepting and into wireframes, we prioritized component-based design as a crucial aspect of the project. We carefully curated a library of individual components that could be reused across the entire site. By focusing on modular design, we were able to achieve consistency and maintain flexibility in customizing components to fit specific needs and use cases. This was particularly important given that our components would be utilized in future work we did across the entire American Woodmark brand. In addition to streamlined brand builds, this also meant reduced any complex maintenance and promoted consistency for building out future pages.
Experience Concepting Highlights
Product Detail Page:
Central to our journey, the Product Detail Page served as a tool for users to discover and customize cabinet options, from door styles to finishes and hardware. We crafted multiple entryways via product and inspiration pages, presenting users with pre-filtered selections to jumpstart their exploration. Additionally, we mapped supporting content that could dynamically populate lower on the page based on user selections within the main tool, ensuring we delivered actionable content aligned with their interests.
Style Quiz:
The style quiz posed a compelling challenge, prompting us to explore multiple approaches and iterations. Knowing the feature's popularity alongside its subpar completion and conversion rates, our strategy honed in on crafting an engaging but concise experience. We blended emotional and functional questions to elevate engagement and prioritized user trust by not requiring personal information in exchange for their designated style. We also enriched the experience by offering various supporting information and gateways to other areas of the site alongside their personalized results.
Decorative Accessories & Organization:
User research revealed that homeowners appreciate curated content so to enhance the way we shared Waypoint's decorative accessories and organization products we delved into the art of storytelling. By presenting these products through design styles and personalities that resonate with homeowners, we crafted a creative approach to showcase add-ons in an inspirational light. This thoughtful design strategy aims to elevate the selling experience and engage users on a more personal and inspiring level.
Visual Design
The third element of our design phase entailed collaborating closely with our visual designers, making the leap from the structured groundwork of wireframes to the dynamic world of visual design. The project’s tight timeline posed challenges, therefore the transition into visual design had to be swift, meaning the UX team worked closed with the .
The design team, lead by Javi Salido, begun with embracing the design of core components that would be used frequently across the site. We were developing the project in-house so daily meetings with our dev team allowed up to ensure we were all on the same page.
Project Reflections
Remote Work
It is always interesting speaking with people within the same company that hold starkly differing opinions.
Glimpse into the future of remote work and how crucial zoom/teams are as well as the plethora of digital tools are available for remote UX practices.
Importance of Stakeholders
Creating an Adaptable System
A year after launch, the client decided to revert back to their original branding. While this was tough to see given we all loved the shift in visual identity our brand team had created, this change to the digital property was implemented smoothly given our flexible design system and library of components.