It is not difficult to admit that we were a little bit in love with the Faction Ski brief - without question one of the most comprehensive and well researched briefs we’ve had to date.
While we had done some work previously with Faction, this specific project was referred to in the brief as a UI/Backend refresh, and had several aims that demonstrated the same level of attention to detail as their equipment. While each was addressed in an individual section of the brief document, the four key aims of the project were as follows:
- Simplify backend.
- Improve User Interface.
- Improve Core Web Vitals.
- Prepare for language translations.
To improve the current user experience and purchase journey, we proposed the redevelopment of a custom Shopify 2.0 theme. This would enable a UX driven, conversion focused, mobile-first and fully responsive site to be developed, inline with their core aims.
This was then to be applied first to the EU store before a gradual rollout across all expansion stores, including new features and bug fixes. Making use of enhanced Shopify 2.0 functionality available would also allow us to facilitate easier management, maintenance and updates of the stores.
In line with best practice and industry standards, the design UI and UX will be created by the Velstar design team, in close collaboration with the Faction Skis team. With a special effort, we also believed we could improve how the new site fared in relation to Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics.
With the work Faction had put into the look and feel of their site, they had achieved a result that they were really happy with - so while our backend developers worked hard to streamline the management of the site, our UX/UI designers focused on refinement, creating a less cramped, sleeker looking nav that better reflected the look of the brand and their products.
There was also a move away from the left hand category menu which required scrolling to see lower option to a horizontal menu which is visible as soon as the page loads.
In order to smooth and shorten journeys, and to provide information sooner and with less need to scroll, there was a process of refinement throughout the site.
All of this, using the latest features available at the time of the build, was constructed in a way to make management of each region far simpler for the Faction team, and also to make the process of rolling out the changes to other regions as easy as possible.
While it’s difficult to give definitive causative results for a lot of back-end work, with the UI and UX work, we can certainly offer some correlations. Since rolling out the changes, Factions main EU site has enjoyed the following year-on-year results:
- 21% increase in total sales revenue.
- 11% increase in average order value.
- 5% increase in total converted sessions.
If we look at the period immediately post launch, we also saw the following:
US store:
- 118% increase in total sales.
- 37% increase in sessions.
- 51% increase in conversion rate.
- 113% increase in total orders.
EU store:
- 155% increase in total sales.
- 39% increase in sessions.
- 73% increase in conversion rate.
- 153% increase in total orders.
In addition, the team also managed to boost post launch performance to pass Google’s page speed test - even with the several partner apps that Faction use to add vital additional functionality to the site.
There’s also been a 26% increase in the number of key terms the site ranks for - and though that will be due, primarily, to the work being done by the team at Faction and the expert assistance they’re getting from some of our marketing teams, the site’s better performance and easier backend has doubtless contributed.
