Purdy & Figg
UX & UI Project
Purdy & Figg was started by NHS nurse, Purdy Rubin, and horticulturist, Charlotte Figg, to address their shared passion: reduce the number of toxic chemicals in the products we use on our bodies and in our homes and the amount of plastic waste these products generate. Their range of bacteria-killing products, made from sustainable ingredients and scented with 100% pure essential oils, has been developed to be a natural alternative to the toxic mass-produced alternatives.
The Project Brief
Purdy & Figg want to use current customers to create engaging feedback for site visitors, to help convert them into new customers and increase sales. They want this user-generated content to be seamlessly incorporated into their product pages so that site visitors can access the content without navigating away from the product, or even scrolling down the page. We were asked to look at their cleaning products in particular.
My Role
Member of a UX/UI design team of three that undertook shared responsibilities throughout the project.
The Research
Getting Started
We started by interviewing the Managing Director at Purdy & Figg. The main focus of the conversation was to find out about the brand’s customer engagement and feedback collection. We wanted to discover what content they currently have and the avenues they use to generate it. We also needed to understand what it is about competitor offerings they respond to and how they identified 40–60-year-old females as their target audience.
The Design Challenge
Using the information gathered from the stakeholder interview we unpacked the brief and identified our client’s key needs:
How do you use existing customers to get new customers?
How do you encourage new and existing customers to engage with the brand and generate more content?
What kind of content helps convert visitors to customers?
How to display more user-generated content on the current site without changing the UI?
Our Approach
With the ask clarified, we thought about what we needed to do to deliver a solution. Our approach was twofold. First, we had to understand what user-generated content Purdy & Figg currently has and how it is gathered and shared, and then identify what needs to be done to generate more. What would incentivise customers to create content?
Current User-Generated Content
What avenues are currently available to generate user-generated content and what are Purdy & Figg taking advantage of?
Currently Using
Trustpilot
Purdy & Figg currently rely solely on Trustpilot, which does house a large number of great reviews. However, to read them, potential customers are directed away from the Purdy & Figg site to the Trustpilot site.
Under-Utilised
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Purdy & Figg have a presence on all these channels but are not re-posting any customer reviews or encouraging customers to tag them. There is scope to do so much more here.
Potential Inclusions
Purdy & Figg website
Features and mentions in any newspapers, magazines, journals or websites
It would be super valuable to Purdy & Figg to have feedback, as well as a reference to any publications they’ve appeared in, on their site so potential customers don’t have to navigate away to view the content.
User Research
With all this in mind, we did some research of our own and distributed two surveys, getting 98 responses in total. We asked a range of participants what influences their decision to buy a product at the point of a purchase, how they purchase cleaning products and about their cleaning habits.
Who Filled Out Our Survey
What This Tells Us
From the nearly 50/50 gender split and the age range split, we can see that there is scope to widen the audience in terms of both gender and age, and this can potentially be increased by focusing more on various platforms to gain potential user-generated content.
Their Buying And Cleaning Habits
What This Tells Us
By assessing how often respondents buy cleaning products, their preferences and their cleaning habits, we can gauge what site visitors would most like to see and the frequency of customer engagement that would be most beneficial to them. For example, buying frequency indicates that 1–2 emails per month may be sufficient and cleaning frequency indicates that ‘cleaning tip of the week’ may be very useful on a weekly basis.
Influences On Purchase Decision
What This Tells Us
As long as Purdy & Figg’s cleaning products are effective and comparatively priced, they can compete with mass-market brands.
What Converts Visitors Into Customers
What This Tells Us
Customer feedback is very important to conversion rates and is definitely worth the time and effort it takes to gather them.
Our Recommendation
We believe that in order to show more user-generated content, Purdy & Figg need to take a step back and gather more user-generated content.
And in order to gather more user-generated content, they need to increase their user engagement by incentivising customers to provide content.
Designing A Solution
As a team, we started to brainstorm ideas to encourage the creation and display of user-generated content.
Incentivising Customers: Initial Actions
OPTIMISE Purdy & Figg site and social channels to reinforce existing actions.
Making the most of the existing shop front and tools will lead to ‘quick but small wins’.
Use current email communication to encourage customers to leave reviews
Have giveaways/competitions through social media and email communication
Use and reuse specific hashtags on all Purdy & Figg social posts
Reach out to Instagram and Facebook followers with incentives to create content
ADD new features to gather more feedback and improve the customer experience.
This can potentially involve more time and budget to develop but the result could be more effective going forward.
Encourage customers to have an account with both ‘Subscribe and Save’ and ‘One-Off Purchase’ options
Sign in to purchase and write reviews
Share button (Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Email)
‘Back to Top’ button/link
Displaying The Content
Using Figma to build the digital wireframes, we presented two slightly different options to the client.
Option 1
User-generated content displayed through the image carousel
4 views – image, before and after, customer review and Trustpilot
Option 2
User-generated content accessed from the ‘From Our Customers’ sticky tab on the screen right
The tab activates the pop-up of reviews and before and after images
Both Options Have:
Trustpilot and the free delivery offerings are proudly and prominently displayed in their own row under the navigation
A share icon next to the product name to share via social media, email and as a link
The star rating under the product name is a product-specific rating, native to the site, with the word ‘Reviews’ linking to the full review at the bottom of the page
Suggested Ongoing Incentives
Our research confirmed that to encourage engagement, incentives are the way to go.
We came up with the following list of suggested incentives, some more complicated to implement than others, which is by no means exhaustive:
First month discount on ‘Subscribe and Save’
‘Write a Review and get a Discount’ Button/Link
‘Refer a Friend’ Discount
Gift Vouchers
Free Samples
New Product Launch Offer
Prize Draws/Competitions
Loyalty Programme
Repost Influencer Reviews for Cross Exposure
‘Chat with Us’ / ‘Customer Support’ Button
While it might not seem like an incentive, something like a ‘Chat with Us’ / ‘Customer Support’ button can make for a more pleasant customer journey, which generates good feedback.
The value of cross exposure was also highlighted. Reposting positive reviews from customers on Purdy & Figg’s website and social media increases the reviewer’s exposure, building their following and fosters goodwill, which, in turn, will mean they are more likely to promote Purdy & Figg on their channels.
Cross exposure = more visibility = more buzz = more potential customers = more customer feedback = more sales
Changes The Client Has Made
It takes a while to generate and curate user content. Purdy & Figg have listed well-known magazines and newspapers which have featured their products. They have added a FAQ section to some products, sharing links for others, and some reviews are available to read on their site without the visitor being redirected to the Trustpilot site.
Additional Lessons Learned
Communication between all parties is key. It is so important to ensure that what you want to communicate is being understood as you intended.
In regard to client briefs… Sometimes, what the client asks for is not possible without first requiring several additional actions on their side.