Filtration 2.1 (2018) - 2.2 (2019 - now)

Filtration 2.1 was the release of mega menu options

After filtration 2.0 [utilizing Algolia technology] was released, Virani’s SEO specialist made changes to the navigation menu.
She was the only member of the marketing team who corrected product tags for the database managers to upload in order to resolve the main problems that filtration 2.0 faced.
As an SEO specialist who wanted to bring more traffic to the site, she studied key terms used for search by same tier competitors in Edison, NJ, e.g., Raj Jewels.
The challenge of assigned revenue goals allowed a margin for error in order to get results. Hence, Sub-categories were included in a mega menu style.
While some sub-category nomenclature were not analogous such as, “white gold”, “cocktail”, “bands” and “men’s” under the primary category of jewelry type, “ring”, the aim was quickly make products findable for shoppers.
The design flaw in filtration 2.0 was that the product types relied too heavily on the filter menu refinement options and users did not want a general emporium to shop from.
Users also did not shop using the neutral options in the filter menu based on length and size - instead, they shopped using ethnic nomenclature such as, “jhumki”, “bali” in earrings which would be considered sub-categories in information architecture.

Conclusion: 2.1 was a quick solution to problem that required time to be designed and coded, but an opportunity to gather more data, validate assumptions and while, generating revenue.

What Came Next

Filtration 2.2 was the next and current iteration of the filtration involved updating the navigation system, including ethnic nomenclature and exposed menu on web product grid. View Now >

Problems that 2.2 needed to address

The first notable problem on filtration 2.0 involved product tagging in the database. This was fixed by correcting errors in the data tables and uploading to Shopify
There was huge conceptual error in refining product types by generic sizes, instead of using ethnic and jewelry taxonomy that negated classification by size. E.g. chokers versus small.
The web filter was a modal covering the entire product grid which was inconvenient to exit in an out of. It also didn’t allow users to see the dynamic results of their selections.

The design process

Market analysis of features and navigation system/site sections of aspirational brands.
Content strategy for Home page based on google analytics and interviews
Focus group and survey of existing online customers

Implementation

Two Algolia coders were contracted to re-do, page-by-page each product type on developer site
There was rigorous testing prior to launch of new filtration on March 2019.

Market Analysis:

Site Map & Home page content strategy based on web analytics, competitive analysis, user testing and a proposed marketing campaign.

This suggested site map was used to model the current navigation system with the following analytics based changes:

Instead of a section on Millennial Women “Why Wait” a section for Men’s jewelry was featured. Men’s chain ranked amongst the top 5 products sold, consistently. Since, most products were for women, this would also include the persona associated to men.
High Jewelry was replaced with “Offers” as the persona behavior have an affinity towards bargaining.

Interviews during user testing revealed:

While our primary persona wanted to shop South Asian jewelry, many millennial women did not look further because they did not think South Asian jewelry would fit in with their daily ensemble. Hence, the neutral hero banner on Homepage
We would highlight Engagement rings on the Homepage as those are unique to Virani
The number of screen folds were further decreased but the strategy of featuring products belonging to the same campaign or collection was retained.

52 survey responses validated assumptions gathered about primary persona:

Site Analytics

Users were searching collections within a product type to drill down and browse within a sub-category. Chat was used to finalize a purchase by requesting pieces similar to the ones they found; same style with alternate gemstones were the most frequent query.