WW (Weight Watchers)
eCommerce Site Redesign
Redesign the WW Shop to embody a new brand, and build loyalty through personalization and wellness-focused content.
After a recent rebrand, WW (formerly Weight Watchers) emerged with a new mission of focusing not just on weight loss, but overall wellness. My team was tasked with redesigning the eCommerce shop site to give members, as well as prospects, an inspiring, highly personalized shopping experience that would not only introduce them to new foods, but inspire them to lead healthier lives through WW’s full range of wellness products.
I served as design pitch lead, and client-facing UX Lead / oversight over the course of a 6+ month engagement (sales, discovery, strategy, design, testing, and site re-launch)
Pitch Proposal
Pitch concept work
Faced with an extensive RFP requiring full fidelity comps and working prototype flows, we promptly began exploratory design work that fused product and content storytelling, and explored ideas of personalization and guided selling.
Diet affects us 3-6 times per day; Wellness touches every moment.
This guiding, strategic theme reminded us to think beyond the physical WW products, and think of how this new experience could benefit someone’s overall wellness lifestyle:
Pitch Concept Wireframe sketches
Winning the work
Wireframes were evolved into full fidelity UI designs and working prototypes of end-to-end shopping flows. Our pitch presentation revolved on the following central idea: We’re not selling a product. We’re providing a personalized wellness solution. Our inventive, strategy-driven proposal was well received, and the team was awarded the opportunity to redesign the WW site.
Concepts organized into thematic buckets Brand Re-Introduction, Experience Personalization, and Product & Content Presentation
Pitch Comp Personalized Home-Page Experience
Pitch Comp Guided Selling Product Finding Tool
Pitch Comp Curated Content + Product Storytelling Page
Discovery
Business and Brand Immersion
Although pitch concepts were well received, a comprehensive discovery was essential for the success of the site redesign. We conducted multiple interview sessions with key internal stakeholders, immersing ourselves into the brand mindset, and understanding business challenges at a deep level.
Stakeholder Interviews: Key Takeaways
Focus on 3 Core WW Business Tenets: Authority, Customer Experience, Curation
The method & product are rooted in science; need to better call out product benefits: science, nutrition, points, ingredients
Understand modern need states vs traditional demographics; holistic and emotional needs, such as empathy, structure, support
Key shift from “weight loss” to weight loss and wellness is resonating but still needs more time to take hold in market
Design for a unified global platform, but still support individual market catalogs, promotions, payment, delivery
Customer Interviews
In addition to the research materials provided by the client, we conducted our own interviews to talk to real WW customers (and prospects) to truly understand their needs, and how those needs would translate to a new site experience.
Data Analytics
A full data analysis was performed, giving us valuable insights on page views, click-rates, feature usage, and cart abandonment. These metrics were used to identify friction points, and referenced when proposing areas of optimization.
Competitive Analysis
We performed extensive research on best-in-class site experiences both inside and outside of the health and wellness vertical, focusing on brands that excel at product finding, guided selling, personalization, and loyalty, and using that research as inspiration for the WW redesign.
Discovery Summarization
Challenges
We face competition from every angle: start-ups, do it yourselfers, and classic “diet” systems
There is a lack of member traffic to the online store
Continued need for awareness building on the new brand purpose and promise
Perception that packaged food is not healthy
Positioning a store in a non-meal-plan wellness program
Opportunities
WW has the audience - we just need to move them down the funnel, and increase AOV
New brand name, ethos, and digital only plan options align with the mindset of today’s consumer
Deep member relationships pave the way for making products part of a personalized path to wellness versus “add on”
Products are great balance of nutrition + taste, backed by science
Strategy
Customer Journey Mapping
Leveraging insights from discovery, these journey maps allowed us to visually illustrate how user “pain points” - things like boredom of food, lack of motivation, searching for inspiration, staying on track - were key areas to focus on, and would be likely to increase conversion.
Strategic Experience Vision
Learnings from discovery, design concepts, data observations, and brand needs were distilled into a strategic experience vision, a focused brief that laid out the plan for the immediate redesign, as well as future growth potential for the WW site experience.
Re-introduce WW as the authority in weight loss commerce, leveraging member data to create a highly personalized shopping experience with a focus on overall wellness over weight loss.
Experience Vision Highlights:
View site transitions as a cyclical relationship that leads to increased loyalty.
Leverage implicit (past purchases, points tracked) and explicit member member data (quiz results, taste preferences) for comprehensive personalization.
Provide content that supports holistic wellness and broadcast the brands expertise and ethos.
Design
Product Attribute Review & Optimization
In order to effectively fuse product and content into a holistic wellness shopping experience, we needed to fully understand the WW product catalog, and more importantly, the product attribute tagging system. By optimizing the attribute tags, we set ourselves up for success in being able to create meaningful, personalized experiences with relevant, meaningful product and content recommendations.
ORIGINAL product attributes List: Categorically correct, lacking branded language, restrictive in nature
REVISED product attribute list: Prioritized for discoverability, dietary restrictions reframed as unique needs and nutritional benefit, incorporated branded things like WW points
Solution-themed navigation
Using our revised product attribute system, the site way-finding was improved with a re-designed navigation that accommodates 3 key user types: return visitors who knows exactly what they want, WW members in need of inspiring solutions, or guests looking for a place to start their shopping journey.
Navigation: Final menu wireframe concept, hybrid of three themes: Solution entry points, categorical, and taste-centric
Product suggestions via solution finder
Our refined product attribute system allowed us to create modules that present and suggest products as solutions to common diet pain points, such as food boredom, night cravings, and stress eating. This guided selling module allows a user to find wellness solutions by forming a statement using a natural language selection interface.
Product Attribute Solution Mapping: Problems statements pointed to solution suggestions, which were mapped to associated product attributes.
Guided Selling Tool: a simple yet effective “mad-libs” type interface; suggested products are reinforced by attribute tags.
Dynamic site personalization
Leveraging WW account data such as tracked activities to previous orders, and mapping them to product attributes, we were able to create dynamic, personalized site experiences that were unique to each shopper.
Personalization throughout the experience: Products on PLPs and PDPs featured badging based on a customer’s activity and flavor preferences and point system, and the home page featured dynamic modules that suggested new items as well as allowing for one-click easy reorders.
Testing
User Testing and Informed Design Revisions
We integrated a user testing plan into the sprint schedule, providing us with valuable feedback that was used to make informed design decisions, ensuring post-launch acceptance, performance and conversion
Hybrid testing approach using flows that combine existing screens and new components.
Integrated testing plan including prep, testing, feedback, and revisions, happening concurrently with production sprint schedule
Testing script creation defining goals, task flows, discussion guide prototype click paths.
Unmoderated online testing via UX-Pin, using high-fidelity clickable prototypes.
Site Launch
Final Designs
From influencer interviews and celebrity snack picks, to creative food hacks and social celebration, the content-driven commerce pages of the WW shop site were designed to inspire those on their wellness journey, through stories of delicious flavors, quality ingredients, and a dedicated community of members.
Dynamic Personalization makes the experience sticky and drives loyalty.
Guided Selling Tools provide meaningful, solutions-oriented product suggestions.
Inspiring, wellness-focused content focused on quality, science, and a healthy lifestyle.
Impact summary
Customer
Redesigned the eCommerce experience using a modular system that allowed for global flexibility and regional specific marketing needs, with personalization that can accommodate guests, account holders, and WW members, both current and lapsed.
Client
Now has a fresh, responsive site featuring rich content, a fully optimized checkout, and intelligent up-sell and cross-sell opportunities aimed at increasing conversion and AOV.
Agency
Because of our smart, innovative designs and effortless collaboration with the product and global engineering team, our agency was invited to redesign the WW member program site, as well as continued Phase 2 shop site enhancements.
Credits
Nick Pierro / UX Director
Colm Eccles / UX Designer
Pam Tamayo / UI Lead