WEB DESIGN | UX/UI AUDIT | RESEARCH | STRATEGY
Postal Petals is a Black, woman-owned wellness startup that promotes self-care, mindfulness, and creative expression through the arranging of farm fresh, high-quality flowers.
Postal Petals was seeking guidance on how to improve the user experience of their website for both new and returning customers in order to increase product sales. Their only constraints were that they wanted to maintain their brand colors, logo, and identity.
My team performed a heuristic evaluation of the original website and we identified several main areas of concern.
As the UX Researcher for this project, I developed the research plan and lead the research efforts to survey and interview new and returning Postal Petals customers in order to:
1) Identify the self-care and wellness habits associated with the purchasing and arranging of flowers.
2) Isolate areas of delight and pain points across the original website.
The generative research revealed that the confusing navigation and product descriptions alongside the lack of visual cohesion were causing distrust and purchase abandonment. Customers identified that they needed clarity throughout their experience to make confident purchases, book workshops, and take advantage of Postal Petals unique educational offerings.
After analyzing and synthesizing the data collected during the generative research, it became clear that the design team needed to:
Improve the customer understanding of products: What is the product, how do you use it, how will it benefit or be desirable to customers
Improve the customer journey experience: Design for enjoyment, trustworthiness, intuitiveness, and ease of navigation
My main objective was to ensure that issues identified in the generative research were addressed across the site. This included problem-solving and developing potential solutions followed by overseeing that their implementation by the UI team. Since the Product Page was identified as a major source of confusion on the website, I worked directly on the page design to provide graphic and content clarity. I also created several hero images for the homepage to assist in providing quick, concise education about the products and company as soon as new and returning customers entered the site.
Clear product pricing
based on box size and
subscription plan
discount
Photos that show the
specific flowers
included in the floral
recipe with size
references as well as
what
the product looks like
directly out of the box
Detailed information
about the types and
number of flowers, care,
and delivery
Information and
recommendations to
elevate the self-care
experience of floral
arranging
Flower sourcing
Hero images that
highlight and inform
the customer on
identified areas of
confusion:
Flowers in season on
the What’s Blooming
page
Petal Riot Workshops
Information on how to
care for and arrange
your flowers when you
receive them
Participants in the usability testing reported the following:
The site is intuitive and easy to navigate.
The colors, layout, and photos on the site are visually appealing.
Return users found the site to feel happy, fun, and uplifting.
Return users reported that their understanding of the products, as well as the flow and navigation of the site, had improved.
When we identified that the Postal Petals website was causing purchase abandonment due to the confusing navigation and product listings, alongside the unbalanced fonts and colors, use of pop-up ads, and an outdated event calendar, we embarked on a mission to increase product and website clarity. We were able to simplify the navigation bar options, increase visual and written information about the products and services across the site, institute a style guide with set color and text hierarchy guidelines, eliminate pop-up adds, and improve the event calendar for accurate dates and times. Usability testing showed a decrease in user confusion and an increase in user delight.
However, we also identified that some participants continued to have trouble identifying where to access the What’s Blooming and Petal Riot Workshop, did not get a clear sense of flower arranging as a self-care, and felt that the brand awareness could be improved throughout the site. For our next steps, we would like to increase user engagement with the Care and Education and Petal Riot Workshop areas of the website by enhancing visuals and educational content alongside increasing use of the brand name and logo across the site. It is our goal to further increase product sales and site engagement by improving these areas.
This project was a great lesson in the power of teamwork and iteration. Each brainstorming and design studio session yielded greater innovation and creativity while each iteration brought us a step closer to maximizing our design goals.
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