01. Introduction
For my capstone project, I looked to an industry near and dear to my heart… The cigar industry. Specifically, an online cigar sales website. Again, the goals were both simple and complex:
- Focus on providing selection, quality, and convenience to the customer
- Sell a wide range of cigars and accessories
- Allow for bulk and single cigar purchases
There are many online cigar resources out there… But many focused just on bulk cigar sales. Few sold single, one-off cigars as well as mass quantities or made it easy to do so. Along with a wide selection on cigar accessories, the goal of the project was set: have a wide selection of cigar-related products and be a one-stop shop for all things cigar related.
My Role
I led the project, starting with research and continued all the way to the hand off of final deliverables to the programming team. As a single man team, I played the role of user researcher, designer, and project manager, leading all UX/UI efforts. As before, I implemented design sprints and Agile, with the added benefits of fast turnarounds times, ideation, and iteration.
The Problem, Audience, and Solution
The problem that this project presented was how to display and sell a large quantity of products and do so in a manner that was easy to use and navigate. Users needed to be able to find what they were looking for AND explore for new products.The target audience was affluent, aged 35-65, and had a disposable income for cigars. Many were already using online resources for their cigar hobby, but not loyal to one site in particular.
The solutions that were developed are as follows:
- make navigation simple, with high-level categories broken down into increasingly specific products
- Sell both sample packs and bulk box quantities of cigars,, along with individual one-off purchases
- allow them to purchase cigars in a quick checkout process
02. The Research Phase
The research phase for the portfolio site was done in 3 major phases:
User Surveys
First, a site map was created, outlining the pages within the site and the method of which to organize the site content. This was then presented to users, who liked the broad categories and every increasing specificity of the navigation within. They also liked the robust search that was available on each page. However, users wanted the broad categories broken down farther, into a specific “cigars” category and an “accessories” link as well.
Key Insights
These included:
- Continue to use broad categories at first, and then get increasingly specific. This increased product finding success rates by 39% as opposed to other navigation methods.
- Make the search more robust. Include all product categories, including cigars and accessories. This promoted further searching and purchase rates.
Personas
A sample persona was developed, which detailed drives, goals, needs, and hesitation/pain points of our typical site user. Their drive was to have a single, online resource for their cigar hobby. Their goals included being able to buy in single and bulk quantities, while being able to find new and unique products. Their needs included industry leading prices. And finally, their hesitation/pain points were being able to find their favorites and new products all in one place.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis was undertaken and completed, researching the sites of three industry leading cigar retailers. All had their strengths and benefits, but few had all the features and resources we were building into the Vintage Leaf site. The opportunities that presented themselves were two-fold: Sell single cigars, as well as bulk and be a comprehensive, one-stop shop for a cigar hobbyist.
The first competitor was Neptune Cigars.The site is simple and the search is good, but there are not enough calls to action on the home page. They sell singles, which most competitors don’t do. So, this needs o be included within The Vintage Leaf site as well.
The second competitor was Thomspon Cigars. They had a good, predictive search, which should be included in The Vintage Leaf site. However, as opposed to Neptune, Thompson had calls to action on the home page that were ineffective and did not sway the users for clicks. This emphasizes the importance of strong CTAs within The Vintage Leaf site.
The last competitor is Cigar Page. This site has a week search engine and has too many calls to action on the home page. These distract the user and leads o confusion. It is important to limit the CTAs on The Vintage Leaf site and have them be persuasive and strong.
03. The Define Phase
The Vintage Leaf next went through the “define” phase, which consisted of the following:
User Stories
User stories were developed and necessary features and functionality for the MVP were detailed and outlined. These stories allowed me to ideate and arrive at the optimal solution to solve problems for the user. By putting myself into a typical user’s shoes, I was able to more easily determine the user’s needs and aspirations.
User Flow
Next, a user flow was created. This recapped the project goals and business requirements, and reiterated user stories into an actual user flow. The document was a great first step in gathering all research done to this point and to serve as a reference point for future efforts.
Paper Prototypes
Hand drawn paper sketches were produced, providing the first attempts at the mock-up of actual pages, features, and functionality. This provided a solid starting point for all future Define and Design steps and fleshed out how the categories and individual product pages would work, along with other necessary MVP elements.
Wireframes
Lastly, low-fidelity wireframes were produced, further bringing the paper sketches to life. These would be used extensively as both a reference point and resource for the next phase of the project… Design.
04. The Design Phase
With research and definition done, I could then move into the design phase, where the site really came to life:
Lo-fidelity Prototypes
Lo-fidelity prototypes were created based on all work done so far, including research and site definition. Using Figma, low-fidelity wireframes were produced, which helped to show what was working and what wasn’t. It challenged assumptions that the previous phases made and brought the project to life.
Usability Testing & Design Iterations
Further, the prototypes were given to a set of sample users and we let the research, definition, and design go into “the wild” for the first time. The results were surprising. Repeat customers used the search functionality much more often than the category drill downs and typically knew what products they wanted. Whereas, those users shopping for others and for gifts, liked the freedom of browsing and being “led” by the categories and increasingly specific pages within. The result was to place the search prominently at the top of the page and keep the category structure as is.
Hi-Fidelity prototypes
From these revised prototypes, high-fidelity mock-ups were produced. This took all the design work done so far and made into a living, breathing design. Both pixel perfect and using real imagery and content, this provided the basis for one last round of user testing and was also the deliverable to the developers for site programming and build out.
05. Results
All aspects of the project were beneficial in one way or another and each led naturally to the next. The initial user research helped me to make assumptions about the site and build first prototypes. As with most projects though, the user testing led to surprising user behavior and suggested refinements on previously held assumptions about the site features and functionality.
The results of the user testing, defining, and designing was a mobile-first site that was a one-stop shop for those well-versed in their cigar needs and others looking to shop for gifts. Search was made to be robust and high level categories guided the user to new and interesting cigar-related products. A shopping cart and quick check-out feature allowed users to get in and out of the site quickly should they wish and account-related features allowed users to track orders and manage their account. The initial goal of being a one-stop shop for cigar products and accessories was met, with the final MVP handed off to developers for implementation.
Want to learn more or get started on your own project? Feel free to email me at anytime »
