signatureleis.com
“I needed help designing a business website. I had a few ideas, but with the help of Arlene, we came up with a sleek, yet easy-to-use site! I can’t believe that my website is up and running! As a small-business owner, I felt the ease of knowing that I had someone on my side to help me make my dreams come true. Arlene has been friendly and very helpful to answer any of my questions.
The help of the new website has helped me acquire new accounts! I love my new website!!! Thank you, Arlene Hipe!”
- Annaliza A. (Owner of Signature Leis)
What
Signature Leis is a floral company that makes custom flower leis for graduation season. They are the only authorized lei vendor for the commencement ceremonies of their partner schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Task
To create an e-commerce website from concept to launch before graduation season!
Getting it Together
The Tools
Pen/paper
Email/text/phone calls
Squarespace
Deliverables needed
"About" section
All image files
Product information
Payment information
The Challenge
Although I have redesigned a user flow for an e-commerce website, I have not designed, executed and launched an e-commerce website solely on my own.
Interview
Questions and brainstorming ideas with client
What is the purpose and vision of this website?
How will your customers know about this website?
How many schools do you have a contract with?
Who will use this site?
Can I use the schools' logos?
How many product images and descriptions will you sell on the site and to whom? Are they specific items (client has a main lei business)? Will you sell specific items to one school or all the same items to all schools? Will you make custom orders?
Will you ship/deliver?
Competitive Analysis
On flowers4grads.com, when a customer clicks their school, the page will go directly to the product page (the same product is offered to all schools).
In graduationleis.com's case, they are currently servicing only one school, and the site seems dated.
UX Design Process
Client suggested to have a drop-down menu of the schools on the homepage (to mimic flowers4grads.com). When the school is selected, it will go to the product page.
Signature Leis is selling the same products to all schools.
It made sense to have the drop-down menu of the schools and their graduation date on the checkout page rather than the homepage.
Empty Shopping Cart link back to "Leis" page
Shopping Cart Process
Persona
High school student at the partner school
Parent/relative/friend of student
User Testing
Squarespace has some restrictions with certain templates and I was unable to customize specific email layouts, so Signature Leis' customers would not get confused. I ended up including disclaimers on the invoice.
Challenges
Limited layout and coding for specific templates to customize confirmation emails and invoice
Test emails directly sent to client instead of myself, so I could not view the test emails that reflected each change in the coding
Learnings
Learned how to customize HTML, CSS and manipulate Squarespace's template restrictions (style, formatting)