Websites can make or break a business. To build a successful brand, you will need a loyal following and trust and both of these are built over time with the use of a website. The past few years, we have seen an increase in the importance of UX (user experience). Having a great UX for consumers only works in a company’s favor – a Forrester study shows that having a good UX design can boost conversion rates by 400%!
As someone currently transitioning into a plant based diet, I decided to take a look at the website of a brand I have been keeping an eye on for my almond milk, Califia Farms.
When conducting an audit, there are 4 main categories to assess:
- Design/Aesthetics
- Content
- Mobile-First
- Path to purchase
Design
The second the webpage loads, you can instantly get a feel for the personality of the brand. Califia is young, fun and vegan! Both the website and packaging reflect the brand image through the use of whitespace and minimalistic appeal. The placement of the various products creates an aesthetically pleasing site that places an emphasis on the milk they are selling, and not overwhelming the users with colors and patterns. The copy is pretty standard, but can be fun at times on the website when it pays homage to being dairy-free (ex: one image states “milk sans moo”). Though the website is not innovative by any means, Califia focuses all their attention on a simple, clean website that creates an easy path to purchase!
Content
Content is key (yes, even for e-commerce)! With the large shift into plant-based diets, there is so much information on the internet about what to eat, what not to eat, how to make the transition, etc. Companies have an opportunity to capitalize on this movement and provide information for their target audience to build trust and loyalty. In addition to vegan recipes, Califia Farms has also started including tips on living the vegan lifestyle, which is very motivating to see!
Brands need to keep elements of fascination in mind while creating their website (see earlier post on importance of fascination). Califia Farms does this is 2 ways:
- Trust: For full transparency, Califia Farms includes nutritional and ingredient information on product pages along with all reviews (yes, even the bad ones).
- Passion: To showcase their passion for the vegan lifestyle, this brand has a great About Us section, filled with history behind the company and the name.
Mobile-First
In today’s digital age, brands need to adopt a mobile-first strategy, not mobile-friendly. With on the go shoppers, you want to capture your audience that is researching on mobile devices. I was not able to click through the mobile version of the website because every few seconds on the homepage, it would automatically scroll to the bottom (I tried this both on my iPhone and a colleague’s android). Though the rest of the website might be fine, I was instantly turned off and did not want to stay. This is definitely an area of improvement for Califia Farms and should be a key focus because consumers research brands while in store and this could have easily shifted a purchase to another brand!
Path to purchase
The Califia Farms website was built to sell, which becomes clear from the heirarchy of the navigation and the numerous amounts of CTA’s (call-to-actions) posted just on the homepage alone. There are not many clicks before the user can purchase (Homepage > Product > Cart), and this minimizes the times a consumer will leave the funnel before completing the sale. This website makes it very easy to convert users and has designed this site with the purpose of sales in mind!
Overall, Califia Farms has a wonderful desktop website that allowed me to purchase a product easily, and kept me interested and engaged through its content. However, with a large focus on mobile, this brand will need to up its game in responsive design to make it easier for shoppers on the go! When creating a website, remember: it’s all about the user! When you keep this in mind, loyalty and trust follow.
Comment below and let me know of your favorite websites and why!
The passionately curious 