Nektar De Stagni
Fine Jewelry
Responsive e-commerce
Overview
Role
Research, UX/UI, Art Direction.
Technology
Figma, Adobe Suite, Webflow.
Deliverables
Strategy, UX/UI, Brand, Website.
Project Type
Luxury brand.
This case study is the sole property of its creator.
Problem
Nektar De Stagni (NDS), a burgeoning name in fine jewelry, known for blending classic elegance with contemporary design, faced thehurdle of carving out a meaningful digital presence and optimizing revenue channels in a highly competitive market.
Challenge
We asked ourselves, how might we craft a compelling digital presence that effectively showcases NDS's unique blend of classic elegance and contemporary design, setting it apart from competitors? And how can we leverage website analytics and user engagement data to pinpoint our ideal customer segment and tailor our online offerings to perfectly resonate with their desires and needs?
Outcome-Driven Product Development
Guided by principles from Lean Startup, Lean UX, and the Jobs-to-be-Done, my process encompasses three core phases: Discover, Define, and Design. Each phase is designed to ensure that every aspect of the product aligns with user needs while driving towards tangible business outcomes.
Research/UX/UI
Discover Phase
The Quest for Insight
Understanding brand differentiation and product market fit in a highly competitive environment begins with exercises such as Competitive Audits, Benchmarking, User Interviews, Surveys (Product/Market Fit), and Data Analysis.
Conducting Competitive Audits
In our competitive analysis, we assess key UX elements such as web atmospherics, visual design, and aesthetics, along with market positioning. We closely examine how leading and innovative competitors craft their website experiences, focusing on layout, color schemes, and user interface design. This analysis aids in understanding their impact on user engagement and brand perception, and how these elements meet user needs and preferences.
Comparative Benchmarking
Through comparative benchmarking against leading jewelry brands, we assess our previous site’s performance to identify gaps and opportunities. This process not only reveals prevailing e-commerce UX trends and UI patterns but also identifies key areas of improvement, forming the foundation of our data-driven redesign strategy.
User Interviews
By performing User (customer) interviews we can start to outline opportunities to delight users, solve pain-points, as well as understand their needs, motives, and desires. In our case, interviews were performed with our existing customers base.
As an example, by carefully listening to our users, we recognized their need for a sense of scale, which we addressed through photographs that feature models wearing the jewelry. Additionally, we identified an opportunity to enhance customer satisfaction by offering special packaging for gifts, including customizable options like personal notes.
User Surveys and Data Analysis
We conducted a Product/Market Fit Survey (PMF) to assess user attachment, focusing on the critical question, “How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?” Responses indicating significant disappointment suggested a strong market fit, guiding our marketing approach. Survey feedback was synthesized into a word cloud, visually highlighting prevalent user sentiments and needs.
Additionally, Google Analytics provided insights into user behavior, including drop-off rates, popular items (80/20 analysis), demographics, and device usage. This mix of qualitative survey data, visualized through a word cloud, and quantitative analytics, offered a comprehensive view of our user base, informing our product and marketing strategies.
Define Phase
Shaping the Brand Strategy
Now that we have collected data from our 'discover' research phase, we can craft a clear direction and product focus. This marks the beginning of defining our guiding principles, a process known as 'data-driven design.
Brand essence
Identifying our brand’s unique persona, allows us to align our messaging, tone, and customer experience with the underlying values and emotional attributes that resonate with our discerning target audience. This not only amplifies our distinct value proposition but also fosters a deeper connection, cultivating a lasting and loyal following.
Sitemap creation for team alignment
Creating the sitemap before design and development is crucial, acting as a blueprint for designers, developers, marketers, and budget planning. It ensures a logical structure and flow, essential for user navigation and SEO optimization.
Content hierarchy
Carefully planning the homepage flow is essential for defining the site’s primary hero content areas. This approach ensures a coherent and engaging user experience by progressively revealing content, designed to elicit psychological responses and maintain user interest.
Design Phase
Bringing Strategy to Life
In the design phase, we finally give life to the key data points that we collected in the previous phases.
Mock ups
Crucial for visualizing the user interface and guiding iterative enhancements.
Prototyping
The choice of technology stack, crucial for cost, development efficiency, and design iterations, led to selecting Figma and Webflow for their respective strengths in design and web development. Additionally, a mobile-first design approach was adopted, based on Google Analytics data showing that 50% of users access the site via mobile devices.
Homepage
See how the planning of content hierarchy was translated in the actual design of the homepage.
Product pages
Product pages go further in addressing user pain-points with model views, product quality closeups, gift wrapping, repair information, and gifting options.
Style guide
DNA & Tone. Minimalist palette complemented with Mid Century Nostalgia.
Results and Business Impact
- The strategic UX/UI approach led to a 30% increase in user engagement and a 20% increase in online sales.
- NDS established partnerships with over 40 global luxury retailers, including Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman and Le Bon Marché enhancing brand visibility through strategic collaborations and media features.
- Collaborations with KnollTextiles, MoMA, and Whitney Museum of American Art elevated the brand, attracting global media attention from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Vogue, and more.
- Captivated a high-profile clientele including Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Bella Hadid, Charlotte Casiraghi and Katherine Waterston further solidifying the brand’s position in the luxury market.
