Thread Harvest

Website redesign to better balance showcasing fashion and driving education

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Client:
​Thread Harvest
Ethical fashion e-commerce marketplace

Team:
Steven Peng | Kristin Berckmans

Duration:
2.5 weeks

Skills used:

• Research
• Surveying
  
• User interviewing
  
• Note-taking
• Competitive/comparative analysis
• Affinity mapping
• Journey mapping
• Ideating
• Sketching
• Wireframing​
  
• Usability testing
• Prototyping​​​

Software used:

• Sketch
• Invision

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The brief

To find a better balance between showcasing fashion and driving education on the Thread Harvest website

The challenge

You’ve developed a great strategy to get there and brands are interested to work with you.  BUT...

People don’t know you and once they have found you they
​don’t see a clear value proposition.

The approach

Design approach

The classic double diamond approach by the Design Council was used in this project.

• Discover - Finding out as much background information on Thread Harvest, ethical fashion, ethical shopping, millennials and their shopping habits/values
• Define - Focussing on improving the customer experience on the website and marketing to drive more traffic
• Develop - Designing the prototype for the website and coming up with out marketing recommendations
• Deliver - Presenting our prototype and marketing recommendations to Thread Harvest

Design Council © 2018

What will success look like?

Uplift in awareness & traffic

• People know you and can emotionally connect
• Increased traffic to your site and social channels
• Increased time spent on your website

Increased positive sentiment & changed shopping behaviour

• People are convinced that ethical fashion looks good           and is affordable
• Shopping ethically is the new normal
• People talk about you

The research phase

Why we did it

• Identify problem areas of existing website
• Learn more on online shopping habits and values of millennials
• What competitors and comparators are doing and how
• Secondary research on ethical fashion shopping motivations
• Evaluate Cornell report recommendations (including impact badges)
• Background information/website analytics of Thread Harvest

Affinity mapping of survey results

Insights

• There is a need to explain more clearly what Thread Harvest stands for
• Values and a strong story are the key differentiators from other e-commerce fashion websites
• People need more information and the strength of a community to change their shopping behaviour
• The main goal is to shop. The 'feel good' factor afterwards is a bonus
• The shopping experience needs improvements with a simplified navigation and filtering system
• Lack of build trust and awareness. People buy online from brands they know and/or trust
• We need to help people find you​

Goals

Business goals
​Lead a revolutionary change for people and planet through ethical and sustainable fashion.

User goals
​Shop clothes that feel good, and do good at the same time, without paying too much.

The design phase

Website redesign and marketing

​Taking our insights from the research phase, we discovered there was a need to not only work on the website, but to also drive more traffic to the website via marketing

Website

• Integrate storytelling throughout to create emotional connection with customers and differentiates Thread Harvest from other online fashion marketplaces
• Improve the shopping experience by improving filtering system, simplifying the menu navigation, adding reviews, etc.

Marketing

• Social media strategy
• SEO/SEM
• Creating content: blogs
• Managing Director/ Marketing Director to become thought leaders
• Newsletters

Values

As part of the storytelling in the website, the impact badges were reduced from 8 to 6 in accordance with our research into the values that resonated most with millennials. Labels were added and hover state labels used when space was an issue. Colours were added to help distinguish the values from each other and tested with users with positive feedback.

Sketches/Wireframes

• Sketching concepts
• Lo-fi wireframing of 4 concepts
• Mid-fi to high-fi wireframing of two concepts for testing

Prototype

To the right is the homepage with explanations of some of the elements we introduced and tested.

Other elements on the website include:

• Improved filtering system
• Product reviews/comments
• Brand summary on product detail page
• 'Discover' section including 'Our story', 'Your impact' and    'Who we are' 
• Thank you page show impact contributed

​Usability testing

• Create clickable prototype
• 2 rounds of usability testing (9 people in the target audience, including 3 existing customers)
• Iterative design after each round

Homepage explained

Click to enlarge

Marketing recommendations

• SEO/SEA

• Blogging/guest blogging

• Newsletters/personalised emails

• Managing Director/Marketing Director to become inspirational leaders on LinkedIn/ Twitter

• Participate in more events/seminars/conferences

• Mix content on instagram with inspirational quotes, etc, include content on pinterest as well

• Build a community on facebook

• Contact a PR agency to further boost awareness and traffic to the website

Customer journey

We looked at the customer journey of the existing experience and how with our website and marketing recommendations,
​we can improve the experience. Emotional state was based on qualitative feedback from users.

Our improved customer journey experience starts with how storytelling and marketing can make customers more receptive to the website before arriving (entice). Once the customer is on the website (enter), it is easy to navigate, likes the clothing, the filter systems and values so buys something (engage). Afterwards (exit) feels great as she not only bought a stylish piece of clothing but made an impact by shopping at Thread Harvest. Later on (extend) when she receives a personalised email with a great offer and new items, she is excited to return.

Our recommendations

How our recommendations addressed the goals

Summary

Further testing and iterating are required, however the client, Thread Harvest, were highly satisfied with the work that we did.

-July 2018 update-
Thread Harvest are currently busy implementing our solutions.

Open prototype

Marketing recommendations

© 2020 Steven Peng