The Challenge:

The site initially lacked significant branding, or cohesive design. The existing site design consisted of a highly compressed logo as the header, and a number of disjointed text and background colors. The navigation on the left consisted of 50+ categories. The number of links combined with the standard underlines, closely spaced links, and serif fonts combined to render the menu largely unusable from the perspective of user convenience.

Modifying an existing, high traffic site without experiencing any disruption of service also presented it’s own significant technical challenges.

The Solution:

The site was modified slowly over time to avoid any site down time, and to allay any potential customer concerns that might stem from an overnight overhaul. Constant major changes to an existing e-commerce site does not present an image of stability, or professionalism to it’s customer base.

Due to the high server load that a site like this can experience, it was important to keep the overall size of each page to a minimum. The average page size was reduced by 1/3, without removing any information.

Tackling first the menu sidebar, a range of subtle changes significantly increased the usability of the menu. These changes included changing the font to sans-serif font like Arial, removing the underlines that show on links by default. By adjusting the font size, color and vertical spacing, we were able to transform a rather unwieldy menu into a usable, albeit still long, menu. Then we re-organized the menu into a 3 level drop down menu with 10 main categories. This allows customers to get to any product on the site in as few as 2 clicks from any other page on the site. It also allows people to quickly find the appropriate category without needing to read all 120+ categories and sub-categories.

The header was addressed next. A Header is often one of the primary features in a site that can be used to enhance brand recognition throughout every page of the site. A site such as an e-commerce site does not usually have the luxury of having the majority of its visitors enter through the front page. Typically customers arrive via search, or ads, which almost always send them directly to the product page of their interest. Therefore it is imperative to set a ‘visually compelling’ header that will be your minimum first impression, regardless of where they are on your site. For Grower’s, the header was slowly modified over the course of two months to become a more significant focal point on the site, while keeping a familiar feel to the site. Additionally, the new header also boasts a search bar, to allow for instant searching throughout the entire site.

Before

After

Thirdly, the home page content was addressed. The existing content served primarily as a search engine ranking content, and provided minimal value in promoting sales. To enhance the functionality of the home page, the content was removed, and a dynamic list of best-selling products was placed as a sort of suggestion box, thus providing a more functional service to the visitors.