Behind the Launch: EILEEN FISHER

Corra recently launched a brand new redesign of the EILEEN FISHER ecommerce store on the Magento platform. To get the insider’s view on this exciting launch, I sat down with a few members of the Corra team who worked hard to bring this project to life.

Darla Sawler, Senior Interaction Designer, Chelsie Pouliot, Senior Visual Designer, and Amanda Robbins, Project Manager, all shared their insights on working with the iconic fashion brand to create this new ecommerce site.

You worked closely with the folks at EILEEN FISHER on the design and UX for the new site. Can you talk a bit about that process?

Darla: Chelsie and I worked on-site with the EILEEN FISHER design team, along with other team stakeholders, to work through the design challenges and processes. By being on-site with their internal teams, we were very collaborative in our approach. We sat at tables every day discussing how things would work, drawing on printouts of visual boards, posting things on the wall to review, and so on. This played a big part of the success of this project.

Chelsie: After the discovery phase, both teams determined it would be best to streamline our process and work as closely as possible with one another. Darla and I worked on-site in order to collaborate efficiently with members of their creative team on a daily basis, which helped us problem solve in an efficient and timely manner. In the long run, it was a great way to manage our time and get quick results. We were constantly being exposed to the brand. Their environment provided us with glimpses of the latest marketing materials, random photo shoot stills pinned on the walls, and hanging in-store displays with various fabrics and materials intertwined. Needless to say, it was an inspirational space to collaborate in.

There was a lot of user testing performed on this project. What did that entail?

Darla: User testing primarily informed the taxonomy. We set out to learn from the customer whether they preferred a horizontal or vertical type of navigation. We created prototypes with visual designs for both directions, and recruited users from Eileen Fisher’s target demographic. We did a few rounds of testing, which involved asking customers to click on things in the navigation so they could experience a more realistic view of the site. From there we learned that, once shopping, customers preferred the horizontal navigation with a mega menu over the vertical navigation approach.

How does the new taxonomy and navigation help EILEEN FISHER customers?

Darla: The way in which the mega menu is structured makes it easier for customers to scan the offerings. Simply adding clear bolded headings to sections makes a huge difference in scan-ability for the customer. We cleaned up and reorganized the taxonomy structure, which simplified the shopping experience. The actual interaction of their previous menu system was confusing, but the new version utilizes a mega menu to provide better context for the user.

The mega menu on the new eileenfisher.com drops down to display all categories.

What additional functionality is new to the EILEEN FISHER site?

Darla: We introduced a more unified experience for the three size ranges: Plus, Petite and Women. On the product listing pages, there is now a filterable attribute called “Size Range” that allows shoppers to filter all the products by Plus, Petite or Women, which makes finding the right size much easier. This also carries over onto product detail pages. If a product is available in multiple size ranges, shoppers no longer have to click a link for Petite or Plus and be redirected to a new page for that item. Instead they simply make the Size Range selection on that same page. Last but not least, we also made the site responsive! The experience for mobile shoppers is a big improvement.

How did branding come into play throughout the responsive design process?

Chelsie: We were able to vastly improve the user’s shopping experience while still maintaining EILEEN FISHER’s original and recognizable tone, look and feel. It was very important to their team to stay on brand and not steer in any new directions that might confuse their returning customers. We implemented consistent branding across all viewports of the responsive site in order to form a seamless shopping experience for their loyal customer base. Major functionality enhancements along with minor cosmetic changes were made in order to improve the user experience based on user testing and research feedback. A few examples of these changes include:

• Navigation structure: Changes to the hierarchy and placement of the information for more accurate and easier findings.
• Typography & Icons: Type enhancements to increase maximum legibility along with the use of iconography for clearer recognition of key elements.
• Breadcrumb: A new addition to the site allowing the user to clearly identity and track their shopping path. It helps as an alternative way to navigate back and forth easily without having to resort to the main navigation.
• Content Visibility: Defining key elements to be visible above the fold while still encouraging the user to scroll, all while still being conscious of this aspect for all device viewports.

Overall, how has the response been from the Eileen Fisher team?

Amanda: They are very happy with the new site, and we have an excellent relationship with their team. Corra and Eileen Fisher are continuing to work together to enhance the current site in the next phase, as well as partner on new projects in the future. It is a testament to their faith in Corra’s abilities and the strength of the relationship we have built over the course of the re-platforming project.

Have questions of your own for our Design and Implementation team? Email [email protected].

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Sasha Butkovich is Marketing Copywriter at Corra, a New York, Los Angeles and London based digital commerce agency creating unified commerce experiences for fashion, lifestyle and beauty. Corra’s ecommerce strategy, design and technology professionals deliver rich shopping and buying experiences across all channels and devices. Our team is trusted by retailers of all sizes to implement and support the Magento Enterprise, Demandware and hybris platforms.