ReserveBar was moving to a different customer and content management tool. With the replatform the site needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. This opened up the opportunity to make some changes.
To create a better user experience (UX) and order flow for our customers.
To ensure the site is able to accommodate partner brand ad placements.
To fix existing user interface (UI) issues making it difficult for customers to shop.
To increase site traffic and revenue (through both sales and brand ad spend).
To begin this project we started by conducting user research on the old site to determine what was working and what wasn't. We did this step in an aim to better understand how a user would move through the site to locate and then purchase a product. We collected and reviewed the feedback to determine pain points, missing features or functionality, and overall user preference for how they wished to navigate through the site.
We took the time to explore other retail sites within and outside of the bev/alc industry. Examining the collection of websites and interface elements we thought were functioning well we began to look for commonalities and specific ways we could build off of those ideas to improve the user experience on ReserveBar.
Beginning exploration of how the site content could look and function.
Utilizing the research and feedback we collected we determined some key focus areas.
The old navigation was sitting within the same row as the logo, search, and quick links. While this worked to keep the vertical space minimal it was causing issues with running into the logo. User research also showed that it was difficult to find what they were looking for and the search function was too hidden. To solve these issues, we moved the navigation onto its own row and pulled the logo over to the left. The search icon became an open search bar in the center. This allows for ample room for multiple navigation items and brings the search function front and center. The site taxonomy was also reviewed and updated to make it easier to explore and shop.
User research and competitive analysis revealed some areas of improvement within the shopping journey as well. Below are some of the key improvements with the largest impact.
• Search functionality improvements with quick and full search options. To bring more awareness to the blog and recipe content on the site the search function now pulls up anything tagged with the users search terms. Results are sorted by content type.
• To make it easy for customers to save and find something for later a favorites feature was added for logged in users.
• To reduce clicks to purchase, an Add To Cart button was incorporated into the product tiles found throughout the site. The lowest cost retailer that can ship to their location is selected automatically.
• To give customers control and understanding about where their items are shipping from, a new store selector feature was added to the product display page (pdp). This allows customers to change where their bottle is coming from which can effect shipping/delivery times and makes it easier to meet retailer minimums.
• To eliminate the pain point of trying to find other products a retailer can ship, users can now shop by retailer to fill out their cart and reach retailer minimums.
• The cart and checkout flow was streamlined to require as few clicks as possible. For a logged in customer with address and billing information saved there is only a couple of clicks required.
The ReserveBar cocktail lounge is filled with articles, interviews, and recipes. Previously, if a customer was interested in purchasing anything along with what they were reading a link would take them out of the page and to a pdp or collection page. To improve upon this experience the goal was to make the existing blog and recipe collection more shoppable. Product tiles with an "Add To Cart" button can be added to any page allowing customers to quickly shop if desired while still retaining the ability to click through to the product page if they want more information. Within recipes a shopping bubble appears alongside any ingredient that is sold within the site for a quick add to cart option without having to scroll to the bottom of the page to the product tiles. Both of these additions make the site more shoppable while allowing customers to remain within editorial content.
A substantial part of ReserveBar revenue comes from brand partners placing ads on the site and within ReserveBar marketing. The balance of showing these ads while remaining true to the ReserveBar brand is important. We accomplished this by creating opportunities throughout the site for either partner or ReserveBar content to live. This allows the site to be flexible to the changes that come each week, month, and quarter. To ensure adequate data collection for brand partners a third party ad server, Kevel, is integrated into the site. This integration helps visualize which placements are working and which aren't to improve future offerings. The result of these updates is more brand buy in and clear data on what ReserveBar customers want to purchase.
