ELLA COLDRAY
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The problem
Sonia Petroff's website had been created in the infancy of their brand. Since then, the brand had developed and they had outgrown the original website. Built in Shopify, the site had limited functionality and restricted them to certain theme options.
Aside from functional restrictions, the client felt the site did't represent their brand values, or tell the poignant history behind its creation. Despite being a luxury brand, it didn’t position them at the luxury end of market, meaning the pricing felt at odds with the somewhat rudimentary user experience.
The site did not perform well on mobile, despite around 70% of their users coming from mobile devices, which was negatively effecting conversion rates. The shopping experience also remained undeveloped and lacked intuitive features that would help encourage user through to sale. The users 'my account' flow was disorganised and convoluted, meaning that customers were frequently struggling to find order details, update personal details or change passwords.
The solution
The biggest challenge I faced with this website was establishing a visual language that captured both the bold, fierce and modern values of the brand today alongside the poignant heritage of its 1960s roots.
While Sonia Petroff had an existing logo, their brand needed reestablishing to help consolidate its visual identity. A bold new colour palette featuring a soft pink, a bright yellow and a rich ochre is reminiscent of the vibrant, warm tones of the 60s was established. This was balanced with clean, minimal layouts and generous use of white space that helped align it with the luxury space, appealing to customers of that demographic. The font choices mirrored this fine balance between classic and modern. The serif font’s dramatic contrast is elegant and timeless, which is complemented by a clean, modern sans serif.
All elements of the user journey were streamlined, ensuring a clear and intuitive shopping experience that would help encourage conversions. Filtering, related products and colour options were introduced for natural and efficient browsing. Product pages were rearranged and proper hierarchy implemented to categorise information in a way that would allow users to find what they were looking for more easily. A pop-up basket function was introduced to allow users to continue shopping uninterrupted. The ‘my account’ function was reimagined to ensure customers could find what they were looking for in as few clicks as possible, reducing enquiries through to customer support teams.
