Smart Moves

FitFlop, the footwear brand, recognised that they were not effectively conveying the benefits of their footbed technology. They had determined that the existing terminology and presentation of this information on their website was perplexing to both stakeholders and customers.
How can we convey FitFlop’s footbed technology and bring it to the forefront on our site.
How can we interlace the technology throughout the customer journey?

the challenge

FitFlop has a unique range of footbed technologies across many styles of footwear, yet their message to the consumer was unclear. Their main USP was not not being conveyed clearly enough. We needed to put into place some affordances so the customer could discover more about the unique footbed technologies and their benefits. Why should they buy a FitFlop product. How do FitFlop stand out amongst competitors?

MY ROLE

I led the technology project from the initial research stage through to launch. Whilst also navigating the FitFlop rebrand I defined the problem areas and designed solutions from collated research.

THE GOAL

I needed to establish a dedicated area on the FitFlop website where all the footbed technologies could be showcased, enlightening the customers about their distinct advantages. Additionally, it was crucial for me to seamlessly integrate these technologies across the website, ensuring that every customer's experience was informative, thereby enabling FitFlop to distinguish itself in the market and enhance our conversion rates.

MY JOURNEY

Diving deeper into the brand

I engaged in discussions with several departments within the company to identify what they needed in order to solve the problem and this is what the key stakeholders told me.
‍
We are a biomechanical engineering company that makes footwear; allowing our audience to get more from their energy. We are an every-day footwear company, engineering products that help our customers to progress in every moment of their lives. The end goal - an energy-optimisation that helps our audience to feel better and go further. Data and research shows us no decision is too small for curious consumers. They use search throughout their decision making journey to get advice on purchases, even a toothbrush or an umbrella. Buy smarter. We feel we address these needs for our customers, however there is more we need to do.

Who is the
Fitflop customer?

Who are FitFlop’s target audience and what are they looking for. According to their research the stakeholders tell us there are 3 types of audience:
WHO ARE THE CLASSIC
STYLE SETTERS?
High awareness and adoption, especially among 45+ Footwear must provide comfort AND classic, timeless style. They’re not led by brands or the latest fashion. They are confident – know what suits and know their style. Quality is an important factor, but they’ll often prioritise this only for certain occasions. They can struggle to justify spend on what they really want. They love to browse in-store and, particularly in the US, will seek out good sales/offers
WHO ARE THE
STYLE SETTERS?
High awareness among 35+, but high adoption only among 55+ Low awareness 18-34 fashion is everything! They love to look good and seek high quality footwear from the right brands who have credentials in fashion-forward, unique styles. A highly confident group, they find inspiration from a mix of sources – social media, high-end brands, and celebrities. High propensity to spend, but a large repertoire of brands makes them a challenge.
WHO ARE THE TIME-POOR PROGRESSIVES.
Low awareness and adoption across all age groups. A younger, confident group, they like looking good and being up-to-date but aren’t fixated by the latest trends. They enjoy shopping and seeking out new brands, but are restricted on time (with many busy younger families here). They are often left feeling uninspired, struggling to find footwear that feels that bit different.
*Figures shown are a rough guide but not exact figures calculated.

Let’s get technical...

The  site was not communicating the footbed technologies coherently. Current terminology was difficult to understand internally as well as externally. It was also ‘hidden away’ on the website and not easily accessible. The main technology page was old and dated and the link to access it was buried in the footer. The specific tech for each footwear style could be found within its product description page onsite, which was great, however this was the only place it could be found. Meaning customers were only viewing the technology when they arrived at the PDP.  Upon viewing these pages, annotated illustrations on the technology were again dated and terminology used was almost too technical in it’s description.
“Consumers have become much more informed and don’t accept blanketed claims without substantiated proof. But, this new informed consumer also means brands leveraging wellness (like us) have to work harder and become much more transparent in their business practices. Everything needs to work to build credibility.”
STAKEHOLDER COMMENT - FROM INTERVIEW
“Other brands have adopted our language and now we need to break away from the pack. Everybody sounds the same. We want to lead with benefits, we’re a biomechanics company that happens to make footwear. Changing our language would make us stand out and give us a more competitive advantage.”
STAKEHOLDER COMMENT - FROM INTERVIEW
“it is important that we interlace our technology throughout the site so it is easily accessible to our customers whilst they are browsing our site. It needs to be clear and informative, we need good visuals which can be found at various stages of the browsing/shopping process.”
STAKEHOLDER COMMENT - FROM INTERVIEW

How are other brands
doing it?

How were other retail brands conveying their technologies through their websites.
The customer needs to feel informed, understand the benefits of the product and feel satisfied enough to make a purchase. It was important to find out the best way to communicate this information to the customer when they visited the FitFlop website.
Where do we expect to find this information?
‍
What conventions should we be following?
‍
What are the best practices that we
should emulate?
‍
After some investigation I focused in on seven footwear brands which I felt would give me a better understanding on how competitors are conveying technology to their customers. FitFlop sell a wide range of footwear comprising of boots, shoes, trainers, sandals and slippers. I felt the following brands would give me a good insight into how and where these brands are communicating their USP to the customer.
The Giants:
Nike and Adidas
Mid Range:
New Balance, All Birds, Veja
Smaller Brands:
Archies and Mahbis

And what I discovered?

From comparing all these brands I noted that the majority of competitors followed the same affordances when displaying content on their product display pages.
• All had customer reviews ratings high up within the view port.
‍
• Product visuals were the main focus of the page.
‍
• Visuals consisted of a mixture of static imagery and animation or video to show the angles of the footwear.
‍
• The product description could be found either listed next to the visuals or underneath the visuals.
Nike took the content further with their PDP when it came to launching a new product. The initial advertisement was featured prominently on their homepage. Upon reaching the PDP, users were greeted with a viewport showcasing the usual product description page elements. However, Nike took it a step further by providing additional visuals such as videos and internal views of the technology embedded within the footwear. This attention to detail allowed them to delve into the specifics and emphasise the key benefits of the new product, ultimately enhancing their sales pitch.


An effective feature to list technologies could be found on New Balance's site. They had listed their footwear technologies within a local nav list under ‘Shop By Model’ which could be found under the global navigation. This was a clear and simple way to see the list of styles of tech within a prime location.



Another noted feature, New Balance and Veja also listed their products in a vertical menu on the left hand side of the product listing page, so customers could select a particular model from the list and filter the results in the main listing pane.

Dedicated Landing pages:

All Birds, Veja, Archies, and Mahbis have dedicated pages on their websites to educate customers about the advantages of their products. This was important to note because FitFlop also wanted to have a dedicated page to display all six of their footbed technologies.

Veja have a page dedicated to talking about their sneakers. There is a timeline which tells the customer about the different models they have engineered. This is an informative editorial page, which goes into a decent amount of detail. It also talks about how their footwear is made, what materials are used and illustrates the different parts of the sneaker. It informs the customer more about Veja origins and their USP. 
The page is split out into easy readable sections allowing customer to skim read the page quickly.

Archies is a brand which has a smaller product range. They sell flip-flops. A direct competitor to FitFlop’s  ‘iQushion’ sandal. Their home page is also the dedicated page and talks first and foremost about their technology. Their USP is comfort and they state their product is good for your feet and has won awards. Customer reviews are prominently featured on their homepage, accompanied by annotations and in-depth explanations of the advantages of their footbed technology.

Mahbis, A sustainable footwear brand that make slippers. Like Veja they have a dedicated section within their site to convey their USP and product details. Their production process is divided into distinct sections on the dedicated page. It provides informative content about the materials employed in the footwear, accompanied by visually appealing graphics and a concise narrative style. The product is presented in a straightforward and organised grid layout.

Let’s get technical...

I conducted a short survey in order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of what customers 
looked for when purchasing technology online.
Shopping frequency
It’s all in the detail
60% of shoppers purchased a product which incorporated technology only once per year. This result correlated  with the habits of the FitFlop customer from the stakeholders report: “Quality is an important factor, but they’ll (the customer) often prioritise this only for certain occasions. They can struggle to justify spend on what they really want.”
70% of customer said clarity and detail in the description of the technology was extremely important. When asked what they expected to find they said the effectiveness of the product was important, the product should be meeting it’s purpose. They wanted to 
see it’s features.
time to compare
Customer reviews
When asked how long a customer would spend researching a product, 60% of people said a few days and only 10% said between 15 mins to an hour, suggesting that customers will take their time researching and comparing before making a purchase.
When asked if people read customer reviews before making a purchase. 60% of people said they always did this. 20% usually, 10% sometimes and 0% never. 
This suggests reviews are an important process in making 
a purchase.
importance of content
When asked; what type of content is important to you when buying at item, 60% said product visuals, product details, and price. 20% said a video and 30% said seeing annotations were also useful.

Breaking it all down...

Patterns were all ready starting to emerge. It was now time to collate all my research focus on creating 
a process that would work effectively for the customer.
The most problematic stage of the process started between the home page and product listing page because a dedicated technology page was missing from the user flow. The first time a customer would read about any footbed technology was on the product description page.
From beginning
to end
putting them
in a list
It was clear that we needed to interlace the tech from the start. Having it present on the Homepage was key, but more importantly giving it a home in the main navigation would mean it would always be accessible through every customer journey.
Under the main navigation a local navigation menu is ideal for listing all six technologies. Not only would it give them access to read about all techs it also allows the customer to easily find each technology and go straight to shopping for styles with that tech.
House of technology
High regard
for reviews
This dedicated page will house information on all the technologies. Leading with the benefits of each tech. Dynamic visuals will also help give further clarity to where the technology lives within the footbed.
The customer survey told us that reviews were important and should be placed high up on the product display page. Visible within the main viewport. Research on competitor sites also revealed others followed these rules.
Content display
importance
of content
Content and the way it’s displayed contributed greatly to customer experience. Key information needed to be visible and displayed in a way which would meet customer affordances. The customer survey told us that price, imagery and detailed product description are most important when customers are reviewing products onsite.
Customers today are much more informed, the survey tells us that people will compare products with other brands before purchase. We need to offer clear, informative and visually appealing products, build credibility of the brand and instil confidence in our customers.

Designing the solution

The most problematic stage of shopping process appeared to be at the start of the journey, before the product description page. I took all the information gathered and incorporated the fundamental points I had discovered within the customer journey map, creating a flow diagram which would interlace the footbed technologies from start to finish. It was a flow that would allow the customer to 
feel well informed, giving them the confidence to purchase the product.

Wire frames

I sketched out my design plan in detail to see how it would work before building the prototype. I created detailed notes on each stage of the process. Below is a visual of the wireframes.

Time to get building

Below is an overview of the prototypes I built for landscape screens and mobile. The journey starts at the FitFlop's homepage and ends at checkout.
DESKTOP PROTOTYPE
MOBILE PROTOTYPE

The prototype test

For the relevance of this user flow we will assume the customer is looking for a smart comfortable pair of sandals for a summer event.

During the test you may find inactive tabs and call to action buttons. This is because these areas are not part of the current flow we are testing.
‍
Here is the information you need to complete the footbed technology journey.

1. You are looking for information which can tell you more about FitFlop’s footbed technologies. Your aim is to find a page on the site which can inform you about all the footbed technologies. You want to find to discover more about all the different benefits.
‍
2. After reading about the techs, you decide you want to shop for the ‘Microwobbledboard’

3. You like the look of the first sandal
‘Gen-ff Padded-Strap leather slide in the light pink’, go ahead and select this style.

4. Once selected, you are interested to find out more details. You'd like to view some customer reviews. You look for details of the product description and information regarding the 'Microwobbleboard' technology.

5. Once you are happy, select a size 5
‍
6. Check that you have added your selection to your basket.

7. Go ahead to checkout.
Test wide screen (desktop) of prototype.
Test mobile version of prototype.

What I've learnt...

My role was to find out where on the site the footbed technology should live, making it accessible to the customer. The goal was to make sure the customer understood that FitFlop was an engineering company that made specialised footwear comprising of six different footbed technologies. My challenge was to interlace these across the architecture of the site. The customer should feel well informed with in a good understanding of the brand’s USP instilling customer confidence.

There was a need for a dedicated landing page on the site where the six footbed technologies could live and be viewed together. Researching other footwear competitors gave insight into how other brands were displaying their USPs. I created a simple grid structure comprising of all six technologies. Each tech has a visual, either a motion graphic or a static image displaying all key benefits of that particular technology. Additionally a short introduction accompanies each visual. All techs have a CTA which takes you to the next stage in the customer journey, this being a product listing page of the selected technology.

I learned through the survey that customer feedback and ratings were important, so placing this high up in the view port on the product display page was key. A star rating is visible which is also an interactive button taking you directly to the reviews for that particular style.

I felt I had answered the brief well in terms of interlacing the tech throughout the customer journey. A tech tab was placed into the main navigation menu so it’s always accessible. Additional access to the tech landing page can also be found on a category tile further down the homepage. Tech information is also obtainable on the PLP and visible on the PDP. FitFlop was undergoing a brand refresh. It had been noted by the business that the main unique selling point, FitFlop’s ‘comfort technology’ should be at the forefront of their brand advertising in order for them to stand out in the market place.

Future considerations:

Further design features I noted other brands had adopted on the PLP and PDP pages were the use of vertical side menus. These vertical menus were simple, effective and highly visible. You could easily select and compare different styles and technologies without having to open additional menus or leave the page you were currently viewing.  FitFlop uses a secondary horizontal nav menu which is tricky to use and easily overlooked. It takes up valuable space pushing product visuals outside of the viewport.

I noted that the product description page on FitFlop’s site lists the technology description and product details below the viewport. Other brands such as Nike listed the product description within the main viewport. I found this might be worth some further investigation. The survey results had highlighted product description is important to the customer. It would be interesting to find out if these details were placed higher up on the PDP page whether it would improve customer experience and help increase conversion rates.

This project recently went live as part of the FitFlop rebrand launch. We are currently analysing the data to see what impact these improvements have made to the site. We have already noticed a significant uplift traffic to the dedicated technology page, proving that customers are interested in finding out more about our footbed technology.

Smart Moves

FitFlop, the footwear brand recognised that they were not effectively conveying the benefits of their footbed technology. They had determined that the existing terminology and presentation of this information on their website was perplexing to both stakeholders and customers.
How can we convey FitFlop’s footbed technology and bring it to the forefront on our site.
How can we interlace the technology throughout the customer journey?
THE CHALLENGE
FitFlop has a unique range of footbed technologies across many styles of footwear, yet their message to the consumer was unclear. Their main USP was not not being conveyed clearly enough. We needed to put into place some affordances so the customer could discover more about the unique footbed technologies and their benefits. Why should they buy a FitFlop product. How do FitFlop stand out amongst competitors?
MY ROLE
I led the technology project from the initial research stage through to launch. Whilst also navigating the FitFlop rebrand I defined the problem areas and designed solutions from collated research.
THE GOAL
I needed to establish a dedicated area on the FitFlop website where all the footbed technologies could be showcased, enlightening the customers about their distinct advantages. Additionally, it was crucial for me to seamlessly integrate these technologies across the website, ensuring that every customer's experience was informative, thereby enabling FitFlop to distinguish itself in the market and enhance our conversion rates.
MY JOURNEY

Diving deeper into the brand

I engaged in discussions with several departments within the company to identify what they needed in order to solve the problem and this is what the key stakeholders told me.
We are a biomechanical engineering company that makes footwear; allowing our audience to get more from their energy. We are an every-day footwear company, engineering products that help our customers to progress in every moment of their lives. The end goal - an energy-optimisation that helps our audience to feel better and go further. Data and research shows us no decision is too small for curious consumers. They use search throughout their decision making journey to get advice on purchases, even a toothbrush or an umbrella. Buy smarter. We feel we address these needs for our customers, however there is more we need to do.

Who is the Fitflop customer?

Who are FitFlop’s target audience and what are they looking for. According to their research the stakeholders tell us there are 3 types of audience:
WHO ARE THE CLASSIC
STYLE SETTERS?
WHO ARE THE
STYLE SETTERS?
WHO ARE THE TIME-POOR PROGRESSIVES
High awareness and adoption, especially among 45+ Footwear must provide comfort AND classic, timeless style. They’re not led by brands or the latest fashion. They are confident – know what suits and know their style. Quality is an important factor, but they’ll often prioritise this only for certain occasions. They can struggle to justify spend on what they really want. They love to browse in-store and, particularly in the US, will seek out good sales/offers
High awareness among 35+, but high adoption only among 55+ Low awareness 18-34 fashion is everything! They love to look good and seek high quality footwear from the right brands who have credentials in fashion-forward, unique styles. A highly confident group, they find inspiration from a mix of sources – social media, high-end brands, and celebrities. High propensity to spend, but a large repertoire of brands makes them a challenge.
Low awareness and adoption across all age groups. A younger, confident group, they like looking good and being up-to-date but aren’t fixated by the latest trends. They enjoy shopping and seeking out new brands, but are restricted on time (with many busy younger families here). They are often left feeling uninspired, struggling to find footwear that feels that bit different.
*Figures shown are a rough guide but not exact figures calculated.

Let’s get technical...

The  site was not communicating the footbed technologies coherently. Current terminology was difficult to understand internally as well as externally. It was also ‘hidden away’ on the website and not easily accessible. The main technology page was old and dated and the link to access it was buried in the footer. The specific tech for each footwear style could be found within its product description page onsite, which was great, however this was the only place it could be found. Meaning customers were only viewing the technology when they arrived at the PDP.  Upon viewing these pages, annotated illustrations on the technology were again dated and terminology used was almost too technical in it’s description.
“Consumers have become much more informed and don’t accept blanketed claims without substantiated proof. But, this new informed consumer also means brands leveraging wellness (like us) have to work harder and become much more transparent in their business practices. Everything needs to work to build credibility.”
STAKEHOLDER COMMENT - FROM INTERVIEW
“Other brands have adopted our language and now we need to break away from the pack. Everybody sounds the same. We want to lead with benefits, we’re a biomechanics company that happens to make footwear. Changing our language would make us stand out and give us a more competitive advantage.”
STAKEHOLDER COMMENT - FROM INTERVIEW
“it is important that we interlace our technology throughout the site so it is easily accessible to our customers whilst they are browsing our site. It needs to be clear and informative, we need good visuals which can be found at various stages of the browsing/shopping process.”
STAKEHOLDER COMMENT - FROM INTERVIEW

How are other brands doing it?

How were other retail brands conveying their technologies through their websites.
The customer needs to feel informed, understand the benefits of the product and feel satisfied enough to make a purchase. It was important to find out the best way to communicate this information to the customer when they visited the FitFlop website.
Where do we expect to find this information?
What conventions should we be following?
What are the best practices that we should emulate?
After some investigation I focused in on seven footwear brands which I felt would give me a better understanding on how competitors are conveying technology to their customers. FitFlop sell a wide range of footwear comprising of boots, shoes, trainers, sandals and slippers. I felt the following brands would give me a good insight into how and where these brands are communicating their USP to the customer.
The Giants:
Nike and Adidas
Mid Range:
New Balance, All Birds, Veja
Smaller Brands:
Archies and Mahbis

And what I discovered?

From comparing all these brands I noted that the majority of competitors followed the same affordances when displaying content on their product display pages.
• All had customer reviews ratings high up within the view port.
• Product visuals were the main focus of the page.
• Visuals consisted of a mixture of static imagery and animation or video to show the angles of the footwear.
• The product description could be found either listed next to the visuals or underneath the visuals.
Nike took the content further with their PDP when it came to launching a new product. The initial advertisement was featured prominently on their homepage. Upon reaching the PDP, users were greeted with a viewport showcasing the usual product description page elements. However, Nike took it a step further by providing additional visuals such as videos and internal views of the technology embedded within the footwear. This attention to detail allowed them to delve into the specifics and emphasise the key benefits of the new product, ultimately enhancing their sales pitch.



An effective feature to list technologies could be found on New Balance's site. They had listed their footwear technologies within a local nav list under ‘Shop By Model’ which could be found under the global navigation. This was a clear and simple way to see the list of styles of tech within a prime location.



Another noted feature, New Balance and Veja also listed their products in a vertical menu on the left hand side of the product listing page, so customers could select a particular model from the list and filter the results in the main listing pane.
Dedicated Landing Pages:
All Birds, Veja, Archies, and Mahbis have dedicated pages on their websites to educate customers about the advantages of their products. This was important to note because FitFlop also wanted to have a dedicated page to display all six of their footbed technologies.

Veja have a page dedicated to talking about their sneakers. There is a timeline which tells the customer about the different models they have engineered. This is an informative editorial page, which goes into a decent amount of detail. It also talks about how their footwear is made, what materials are used and illustrates the different parts of the sneaker. It informs the customer more about Veja origins and their USP. 
The page is split out into easy readable sections allowing customer to skim read the page quickly.

Archies is a brand which has a smaller product range. They sell flip-flops. A direct competitor to FitFlop’s  ‘iQushion’ sandal. Their home page is also the dedicated page and talks first and foremost about their technology. Their USP is comfort and they state their product is good for your feet and has won awards. Customer reviews are prominently featured on their homepage, accompanied by annotations and in-depth explanations of the advantages of their footbed technology.

Mahbis, A sustainable footwear brand that make slippers. Like Veja they have a dedicated section within their site to convey their USP and product details. Their production process is divided into distinct sections on the dedicated page. It provides informative content about the materials employed in the footwear, accompanied by visually appealing graphics and a concise narrative style. The product is presented in a straightforward and organised grid layout.
‍

Let’s get technical...

I conducted a short survey in order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of what customers 
looked for when purchasing technology online.
Shopping frequency
It’s all in the detail
Time to compare
60% of shoppers purchased a product which incorporated technology only once per year. This result correlated with the habits of the FitFlop customer from the stakeholders report: “Quality is an important factor, but they’ll (the customer) often prioritise this only for certain occasions. They can struggle to justify spend on what they really want.”
70% of customer said clarity and detail in the description of the technology was extremely important. When asked what they expected to find they said the effectiveness of the product was important, the product should be meeting it’s purpose. They wanted to 
see it’s features.
When asked how long a customer would spend researching a product, 60% of people said a few days and only 10% said between 15 mins to an hour, suggesting that customers will take their time researching and comparing before making a purchase.
Customer reviews
Importance of content
When asked if people read customer reviews before making a purchase. 60% of people said they always did this. 20% usually, 10% sometimes and 0% never. 
This suggests reviews are an important process in making 
a purchase.
When asked; what type of content is important to you when buying at item, 60% said product visuals, product details, and price. 20% said a video and 30% said seeing annotations were also useful.

Breaking it all down...

Patterns were all ready starting to emerge. It was now time to collate all my research focus on creating 
a process that would work effectively for the customer.
The most problematic stage of the process started between the home page and product listing page because a dedicated technology page was missing from the user flow. The first time a customer would read about any footbed technology was on the product description page.
From beginning to end
Putting them in a list
House of technology
It was clear that we needed to interlace the tech from the start. Having it present on the Homepage was key, but more importantly giving it a home in the main navigation would mean it would always be accessible through every customer journey.
Under the main navigation a local navigation menu is ideal for listing all six technologies. Not only would it give them access to read about all techs it also allows the customer to easily find each technology and go straight to shopping for styles with that tech.
This dedicated page will house information on all the technologies. Leading with the benefits of each tech. Dynamic visuals will also help give further clarity to where the technology lives within the footbed.
High regard for reviews
Content display
Be informative
The customer survey told us that reviews were important and should be placed high up on the product display page. Visible within the main viewport. Research on competitor sites also revealed others followed these rules.
Content and the way it’s displayed contributed greatly to customer experience. Key information needed to be visible and displayed in a way which would meet customer affordances. The customer survey told us that price, imagery and detailed product description are most important when customers are reviewing products onsite.
Customers today are much more informed, the survey tells us that people will compare products with other brands before purchase. We need to offer clear, informative and visually appealing products, build credibility of the brand and instil confidence in our customers.

Designing the solution

The most problematic stage of shopping process appeared to be at the start of the journey, before the product description page. I took all the information gathered and incorporated the fundamental points I had discovered within the customer journey map, creating a flow diagram which would interlace the footbed technologies from start to finish. It was a flow that would allow the customer to 
feel well informed, giving them the confidence to purchase the product.

Wire frames

I sketched out my design plan in detail to see how it would work before building the prototype. I created detailed notes on each stage of the process. Below is a visual of the wireframes.

Time to get building

Below is an overview of the prototypes I built for landscape screens and mobile. The journey starts at the FitFlop's homepage and ends at checkout.

The prototype test

For the relevance of this user flow we will assume the customer is looking for a smart comfortable pair of sandals for a summer event.

During the test you may find inactive tabs and call to action buttons. This is because these areas are not part of the current flow we are testing.
‍
Here is the information you need to complete the footbed technology journey.

1. You are looking for information which can tell you more about FitFlop’s footbed technologies. Your aim is to find a page on the site which can inform you about all the footbed technologies. You want to find to discover more about all the different benefits.
‍
2. After reading about the techs, you decide you want to shop for the ‘Microwobbledboard’

3. You like the look of the first sandal ‘Gen-ff Padded-Strap leather slide in the light pink’, go ahead and select this style.

4. Once selected, you are interested to find out more details. You'd like to view some customer reviews. You look for details of the product description and information regarding the 'Microwobbleboard' technology.

5. Once you are happy, select a size 5
‍
6. Check that you have added your selection to your basket.

7. Go ahead to checkout.

Test wide screen (desktop) of prototype.
Test mobile version of prototype.

What I've learnt...

My role was to find out where on the site the footbed technology should live, making it accessible to the customer. The goal was to make sure the customer understood that FitFlop was an engineering company that made specialised footwear comprising of six different footbed technologies. My challenge was to interlace these across the architecture of the site. The customer should feel well informed with in a good understanding of the brand’s USP instilling customer confidence.

There was a need for a dedicated landing page on the site where the six footbed technologies could live and be viewed together. Researching other footwear competitors gave insight into how other brands were displaying their USPs. I created a simple grid structure comprising of all six technologies. Each tech has a visual, either a motion graphic or a static image displaying all key benefits of that particular technology. Additionally a short introduction accompanies each visual. All techs have a CTA which takes you to the next stage in the customer journey, this being a product listing page of the selected technology.

I learned through the survey that customer feedback and ratings were important, so placing this high up in the view port on the product display page was key. A star rating is visible which is also an interactive button taking you directly to the reviews for that particular style.

I felt I had answered the brief well in terms of interlacing the tech throughout the customer journey. A tech tab was placed into the main navigation menu so it’s always accessible. Additional access to the tech landing page can also be found on a category tile further down the homepage. Tech information is also obtainable on the PLP and visible on the PDP.FitFlop was undergoing a brand refresh. It had been noted by the business that the main unique selling point, FitFlop’s ‘comfort technology’ should be at the forefront of their brand advertising in order for them to stand out in the market place.

Future considerations:

Further design features I noted other brands had adopted on the PLP and PDP pages were the use of vertical side menus. These vertical menus were simple, effective and highly visible. You could easily select and compare different styles and technologies without having to open additional menus or leave the page you were currently viewing.  FitFlop uses a secondary horizontal nav menu which is tricky to use and easily overlooked. It takes up valuable space pushing product visuals outside of the viewport.

I noted that the product description page on FitFlop’s site lists the technology description and product details below the viewport. Other brands such as Nike listed the product description within the main viewport. I found this might be worth some further investigation. The survey results had highlighted product description is important to the customer. It would be interesting to find out if these details were placed higher up on the PDP page whether it would improve customer experience and help increase conversion rates.

This project recently went live as part of the FitFlop rebrand launch. We are currently analysing the data to see what impact these improvements have made to the site. We have already noticed a significant uplift traffic to the dedicated technology page, proving that customers are interested in finding out more about our footbed technology.
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