Holland & Barrett

The Past - The Present - The Future

About

I joined the H&B web-team in January 2021; the teams, processes and foundations had been established among the squads. I moved to the app squad in April 2022 as their first UX designer. Originally a small team with a product manager, merchandiser, and a few developers that were told to "just copy the website."

Challenges

As the first designer, I needed to bring UX processes into the team. There was a rudimentary and outdated Design System, no documentation, and no designs available. There was a lot of noise from the business on why the app wasn't like the website. There was no research based decisions; while some were a direct copy of the web, others were different because it was the easiest/fastest way that dev could build with limited resources.

Past - Present - Future

The Past: No Foundations Established

Key challenges

Rudimentary and outdated design system
No flows or documentation
No UX work
No user research
Feature-driven to match website
Non-native patterns
UX improvements not on roadmaps
Minimal analytics/reports

(Screenshot of original design system)

Audit & Competitor Analysis

Audit and document the flows

Note any fundamentally UX issues
Compare competitors and note native specific implementations

Understanding the User

Establishing motives and pain-points

Why are users downloading the app instead of using the website?
What goals are users trying to achieve?
What are users pain-points?

Limited options, but still heard

Run in-app surveys
Insights from app store reviews

Quick Wins & Optimizations with Limited Resource

Checkout pain-points

Original flow copied website to be optimized for guest checkout
Designed for a 414px screen

Quick wins

Flow change - removing email on first screen reduced user confusion
Adjusting order summary to not be pinned allowed users to better view checkout page - reduction in drop offs for error states

Meeting user need

PDP Click & Collect feature is being used by users to check store stock

Quick wins

Changing the information architecture gives the user better insight if something is in-stock locally

Featured: Barcode Scanner

User pain-points & feedback

"When I go to the store, I like to read the reviews of different products. It's a lot of work having to type in the name for each one and search."
"I don't always want to talk to someone at the store when it comes to personal health."
"I hate having to go through my past orders, especially when I have the empty bottle in front of me"

Store colleagues pain-points & comments

"We don't always have the available staff to answer everyone's question's when it gets very busy."
"Some of the customers just like to be directed to the right area, but then want to be left alone. I'm not sure how they are deciding which product to get."

Solution

A barcode scanner that integrated that with the database of SKU's.

Omnichannel: Working Beyond Digital

User pain-point & feedback

"Why are there different discounts on the website, app & store?"
"There are so many promotions, I don't even know all of them that are happening right now"

Requirements

Use H&B web promotion UI
Native integrations

Long Term Goals: Discovery

In-store colleagues offer information and guidance to support the goals and challenges that people have.

How do you translate that into a digital experience?

User pain-points & feedback

"I have no clue which product to buy, there are so many to choose from."
"I'm using product XXX but I don't know if there is something else I can do or use to help me with (my problem)."
"There is a lot of information out there, and I don't always trust what is being written."

Business goals

Branding: Promote itself as the wellness partner in ones health journey
Users: Personalize content & products for users
Financial: Increase profits through retention, particularly in a highly competitive market

Supportive data

Users that download the app compared to web have a higher spend per
Users that view the Health Hub have at 4 weeks a ~40% increase in retention & 3-6% revenue increase.

Current Health Hub experience

Focus on SEO, not experience
Walls of text
No personalization

Information architecture

Mapping the IA and researching competitor experiences guide how to structure an engaging modern experience

Concepts & prototypes

A million ideas, all a different experience

From MVP to The Dream

Working across a variety of teams to roadmap together supporting API's & dev work

Thanks for reading!

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