The Revamp of Omnivore Books
Website Redesign - Case Study
Overview
Omnivore Books is the Bay Area's only culinary bookshop, featuring new, antiquarian, and collectible books on food and drink. Omnivore connects the past to the present by offering centuries of knowledge on growing, raising, and cooking food. I did a redesign of the website’s navigation to improve user interaction.
Tools Used:
Figma
Whimsical
Optimal Workshop
Google Suite
About the Company - Omnivore Books
Niche bookstore
Likes to carry cookbooks that aren’t by celebrity chefs
Values cultural variety
Values unusual cookbooks
Visit their Site →
Target User
The Deal Diver
What matters most to them: Cost
• Comparison shops for price, even when it takes time
• Plans and purchases in advance
• Tries a new brand if there’s a good enough offer
• Avoids complicated descriptions and product details
• Abandons purchase if choices are too complex
Upon looking at the brand’s website, it became clear that there were not many shopping options available for our target user. I developed a hypothesis to increase traffic from target users.
Hypothesis
I hypothesize that by adding more sale offers to the webpage and increasing the ability to sort by price, users will be able to find the deals they are looking for.
Problem Statement
How can Omnivore Books reach customers on tight budgets while retaining their brand image?
Current Site Features
The navigation is very poor, there is no way to sort through the items if you want to find something specific. You have to search page by page which can become very tedious.
The shopping cart has no options for adding in a discount code for savvy shoppers. Also there is no way to choose Pickup instead of Delivery in the checkout process.
Heuristics Evaluation
Memorability - It’s very hard to remember the order of the books, no proper way to sort through them aside from clicking each one individually.
Efficiency - The current global menu does not represent the full scope of what is offered; an additional local navigation would be very helpful for the overall process.
Satisfaction - Without a filter to search through the books, the user process is not satisfying unless you have an exact name in mind. Faceted navigation will help to narrow down search results.
Research and Analysis
What steps were taken we fix these areas? To start, I used common UX research methods to look for patterns that supported my hypothesis. Multiple analyses were performed, to compare how Omnivore Books’ website fared against other online retailers.
Competitive Analysis Takeaways:
Consider a special sales offer
Sort by price, alphabet etc.
Use an About Section to increase brand loyalty
Comparative Analysis Takeaways:
Helpful to add subcategories to Navigation
Create distinction between books, magazines and goods
Card Sorting
Through a method known as Card Sorting, I was able to find how to best sort the products offered on the website. Volunteer participants sorted randomized card names into predetermined categories. Their patterns provided valuable insights as to how to best categorize the shop’s inventory for filtering.
Most Important Features
Based off of the user feedback from card sorting as well as the information about the target user, I narrowed the design scope down to 3 key features to be implemented during this sprint. These features were decided to provide the lowest risk, with the highest value upon implementation.
Local/Faceted Navigation
Monthly Special
Coupon Codes
Key User Goals
Get the user’s attention immediately from the home page
Allow the user to use coupon codes at checkout
Incite user to browse sale section
User Flow
I created a series of user flows to document the process of how a user will navigate specific tasks. This task highlights how the Deal Diver would expect to use a coupon code during the checkout process. Click to view larger.
Wireframes
Based off of some sketches I did, I created a low fidelity wireframe to use as a rough draft to test site functionality.
Usability Testing
Key Takeaways
The coupon code in the header was noticed by every participant
Users enjoyed seeing their savings applied in the shopping cart
Add a text link for Home
Live Prototype
Click here to see a Live Demo
Next Steps
These are a few things I would love to add to this design in future sprints.
Additional coupon codes to show how different discounts can be applied
An About/FAQ page so users can learn more about Omnivore Books
A Blog section that highlights upcoming specials/deals
Conclusion
My findings concluded that Deal Divers felt as though they were able to engage with the website in a productive way. They could sort through items without complication to find the cheapest books. Adding multiple ways to save extra money without adding complex steps made the ecommerce experience very satisfying. All the same, Omnivore Books is still able to sell their eclectic book selection without compromising their brand identity.