AllTheTools App — Our Case Studies

Business challenge

The client needed to boost online sales and edge out industry giants. At that time, the company already had a cross-platform mobile app. Yet, it didn’t allow them to achieve their business goals because of its technical limitations.

Frustrating user experience

Users couldn’t edit their profiles without leaving the app. For example, to change their mobile phone, they had to open a support ticket and wait for someone to make the change.

Expensive development

The client wanted to automate certain things in the app but couldn’t. One idea was to make it trigger a feedback form once a customer placed or received an order. Yet, it was too expensive and difficult to put in place.

Slow performance

It took the app 40 seconds to load just the main screen—a performance falling short of user expectations from a national retailer.

The previous app wasn’t built natively, either for iOS or for Android, which was the reason for these limitations. Indeed, a cross-platform method is great for building a simple MVP in a short time, but not efficient for complex e-commerce projects. With every new feature, the app becomes too cumbersome and costly in maintenance.

Key tasks

To help the client reach their goals, we’ve built two native apps for iOS and Android. Our scope of work included UX/UI design, prototyping, and frontend development, with a focus on:

Implementing mechanics for boosting sales.
Ensuring a smooth user experience.
Improving the app performance.

How we tackled the tasks

Designed a simple yet recognizable UI to make the app work faster

Red is the major color of the client’s brand, so they wanted us to use it in the app’s design as much as possible. However, large red elements would make the app heavy and slow, so we had to use the color sparingly.

Our solution was to design most of the app UI in white and make red an accent color. This helped us keep the brand identity without affecting performance.

Simplified search and catalog to help users find the right product

The company’s catalog had 80,000 items, so it was important to help users quickly find what they were looking for. To achieve this, we’ve expanded the in-app search and revamped the catalog structure.

Search screen shows the user’s past requests, even if the app was deleted and reinstalled

Smart search suggests and displays related categories and products as users type

Voice search helps busy users who are always on the go or working on a construction site

Users can skip the search whatsoever and find the needed product on the main screen. We’ve set it up so that it shows products based on users’ preferences, search history, promotions, new arrivals, and quick actions.

We’ve also reorganized the catalog into two levels so that users could access products with a couple of clicks. The top of the screen features options for narrowing down search results: sorting options, filters, categories, and quick selections.

Upgraded the product card to shorten the buyer’s journey

A good product card leads to a faster sale—the more info customers get outright, the less time they spend on research somewhere else. That’s why we’ve made a comprehensive product card with as much product info as possible.

Linked UX to product availability statuses to maximize sales conversion

User flow in e-commerce apps largely depends on product availability at a given time. That’s why we’ve thought through the options available to users in all cases, including when a product is out of stock.

For users, it meant a clear path for what to do next. For the client, it was a way to enhance sales conversion even when they couldn’t offer the desired product.

Available

User can add product to the cart or make a quick order

Pickup only available

Users can make a pickup request

Out of stock

A user can send a request to find a similar product or sign up for notifications

Expanded product reviews for faster buying decisions

The revamped review section allowed users to complete their reviews with pictures. On top of that, we’ve added an expert view with a discussion section, where brand representatives could answer questions from customers.

Reduced friction to help users at every step of their journey

When we thought through user experience, we paid attention not only to the key components of the app, like a product catalog, but also to the details that’d improve the overall user experience. Albeit small and easy to apply, they’ve had a huge impact on how users moved through their buying journey in the app.

Recommendations instead of empty states

The app suggests products even when there’s nothing in the cart and no products in the favorites. Users can add a product to the cart right from the empty state page.

Question tags in support chat

Virtual assistant shows tags for common requests so that users could get help faster.

Order tracking and payments without signing in

A customer can track their order and pay for it using only the order number, without signing in. It’s convenient for those who placed an order via the website or offline but didn’t pay for it.

Business accounts

Business clients have all their account details and documents at hand in the app. If a client is buying on behalf of several companies, all of them can be linked to one business account. Thus, clients don’t waste time creating multiple accounts.