One year to rethink Unieuro's ecommerce, starting from where customers were getting lost.
UX Research
UX UI Design
Design system
Personalization
Omnichannel
Co design
Team
10 UX UI consultants, 5 omnichannel process consultants, 15 system integration consultants, working with Unieuro's digital team
Deliverables
The new UX UI for website and app, with personalized home, search and navigation, editorial content, design system, the implemented interface, performance and speed tests, KPI monitoring
The process
Six phases: research, prioritisation, concept, five co design sprints, testing and launch. The website went live in July 2021 and the app in September 2021: analysing and building the web ecommerce and the app took one year of design, with 12 KPIs monitored after launch.
At a glance
A design and data driven project: a fresh and unique online experience, personalized for each user, that breaks away from the standard ecommerce look and stays intuitive.
12
months from analysis to launch
30
people across three areas of expertise
5
co design sprints with Unieuro
12
KPIs monitored after launch
of comments pointing to improvements
of customers' online comments, May 2020
Social listening chart: interactions over the month analysed.
Where we started
The traffic was there. The path to checkout was not.
Unieuro is a strong name in Italian electronics and its website gets a lot of traffic. But traffic alone is not enough: what happens during the online experience decides whether a customer buys here or elsewhere. We started by listening to customers: in May 2020, 52% of online comments contained indications of what to improve . That listening showed us there was room to improve, especially along the path to purchase, up to checkout, where many customers left the site before paying. The guiding question: where do they get lost, and why?
The team
One project, three areas, thirty people
Design, processes and technology worked together from day one, with Unieuro's digital team always at the table to validate, test and approve. I worked as Product Design and UI Lead , alongside the Creative Director: I led product and interface design and the team of 10 UX UI designers, connecting design with product and development.
How the website connects with stores, orders and services.
System integration
15 people
Ecommerce, mobile and order management.
The process in six phases
How we got there
Six phases in one year. Each starts with a question and ends with a decision.
Listen (spring 2020) Where do customers get lost, and why?
What we did
We read the site's numbers, listened to customers and observed competitors. Quantitative analysis on Google Analytics, social listening, five contextual interviews , a heuristic analysis, a comparison with three major competitors.
What emerged
Two moments when customers leave the site: when they cannot find the services they look for, and when they do not understand when the product will arrive. We called them the Ah! moments .
Competitor analysis of electronics ecommerce.
Decide (summer 2020) What do we do first, what later, what never?
What we did
We merged the ideas that came from the interviews and the UX best practices seen on competitors into one list, then scored them on value, technical effort and user effort . Every intervention got a score, from urgent to nice to have.
What we decided
The urgent fixes do not wait for the new site: they start right away on the existing one , while the rest flows into the revamp project.
Prioritisation matrix of the interventions.
Imagine (summer and autumn 2020) How can an electronics ecommerce feel less standard and stay intuitive?
What we did
We designed the concept around one promise: electronics made human again , with people and product at the center. A new home to discover and product pages told as stories, with the purchase journey read as micro moments : finding information, deciding, buying. Home, search and navigation adapt to each user based on browsing data. Two proposals compared, then a prototype.
What we decided
A fresh and unique direction, always checked against intuitiveness .
First Unieuro concept homepage
Co design (from October 2020) How do we design five areas together with the people who will use and build them?
What we did
Five consecutive sprints, one per area. Each followed the same steps: map, sketch, decide with Unieuro, prototype, review, sign off. The new layouts built on existing and new functionality, skinned with the new design concept, on a new technical infrastructure. The architecture was modular and scalable, grounded in master screens and a design system , so the development team could release the functional variants of each step, sprint after sprint.
Build and test (spring and summer 2021) Does what we designed really hold up?
What we did
Every page had a UX validation and a system test. Then independent end to end tests, performance and page speed checks, acceptance tests with Unieuro and a friends and family trial. Editorial content was prepared in parallel, with a clear list of who produces what.
What we decided
The green light for launch, given in two approval steps .
Launch and measure (summer 2021) Has the experience really improved?
What we did
A launch plan split into ten areas, one final migration night with the whole team together, the website live in July 2021, the app in September. From the day after launch, dedicated support and KPI monitoring on a dashboard, compared with previous values.
Data along the way
Numbers guided every choice
18 thousand
interactions, 313 posts: one month of Facebook social listening, between April and May 2020
5
contextual interviews: according to Nielsen, five people surface about 85% of usability problems
6 out of 10
customers visit from mobile, so the design starts from the phone: Google Analytics, September 2019 to April 2020
About 40
interventions ready to apply to the existing site while the new one was built
What customers complained about most: customer service hard to reach, missing delivery information, unclear product availability.
The hard decisions
Four forks in the road
Wait for the new site or act now?
We chose not to wait. The urgent fixes started on the existing site, with the maintenance teams, while the big project moved on. Customers saw improvements sooner.
How do you take a project this big live?
What to leave out?
How to build on a platform that is changing?
Result
Live in July 2021, then measured
The new ecommerce went live in July 2021 and the app in September. For every goal we set a KPI before starting and followed it after launch.
The project goals
up 5%
Conversion rate
up 10%
Total revenue
up 15%
Transactions
up 35%
Quantity of products sold
up 35%
Pages per session
down 20%
Removals from cart
up 20%
Checkout sessions
down 10%
Checkout abandonment
up 5%
Add to cart
up 5%
Average cart value
up 15%
Registered users
down 10%
Bounce rate
Prototype of Unieuro's new desktop home.
Unieuro's mobile site.The Unieuro app.
What I bring to your projects
What this project taught me
01
Understand before designing.
Research and data before screens, with people at the center.
02
Decide with data.
A clear priority for every intervention, explained to those who must choose, and an experience personalized on browsing data.
03
Lead a multidisciplinary team.
Design, processes and technology at the same table.
04
Take design all the way to release.
From the first sketch to testing and launch, with a design system the development team can release step by step.
What I can do for you
Do you have an ecommerce or a digital product to grow?
I can follow the kind of path you saw here, all of it or just a part : experience research and analysis, priorities and roadmap, co design with your teams, design system, data driven personalization, omnichannel experience, support through to launch.
