United Beauty Supply

UX/UI Refresh

Unsatisfied with several aspects of their site's experience and interface, I was tasked with correcting what their agency partner did not, prior to and after their dismissal.

Old

New

Challenges

  1. Among the outstanding customer journey improvements, better alignment with high-level marketing and business strategies was at the top. In addition to inconsistent branding, the homepage and landing pages did not reflect the product groupings, highlights and hierarchy to support sales goals.
  2. Secondly, KPIs including conversion rate, average cart value and monthly sales year-over-year were underperforming. The perceived solution was to fully accommodate user preferences based on observable patterns and behaviors.
  3. In terms of a unified digital presence, incorporating United Beauty Supply's social strategy into its site, there was work to be done. The goal was to build a broader community and expand the ecosystem. But social media callouts were literally just a footnote.

Approach

  1. First order of business was revisiting the site navigation. Since it reflects the full product outline and is the primary tool for finding items, ensuring it was current was top priority. Additionally, it determines category landing pages which is crucial for executing marketing objectives. After some minor updates I worked with the agency to implement those changes, a more cohesive brand presence and more for the refresh. Utilizing Figma throughout the process, I illustrated the modified nav structure, page adjustments and new product category arrangements. The redesign is most prevalent on the homepage and in mobile which comprises 67% of site visitors.
  2. While examining metrics, the amount of unused promo codes relative to purchases stood out. Although a proven incentive for bargain shoppers, discounts were being missed. My recommendation was to replace the outdated tickers with prominent, static discount banners in the header sitewide. The effect was two-fold, boosting average cart values and conversions. I also implemented more ways to leverage vendor assets, including a homepage slideshow for new offerings and increasing the image sizes for all products and variants. The result had the added benefits of increasing the amount of our products in Google Merchant Center by over 8,000 and in our TikTok Shop by several hundred by meeting their minimum image dimension requirements.
  3. Building a bigger bridge between site and social wound up being straightforward. To me, the obvious solution was a responsive module halfway down the homepage, situated according to its priority. Its two pieces of content being teasers of the mainstays Mad Monday and Wig Wednesday on TikTok and Instagram respectively. Easily editable via Shopify theme customization, they include video snippets, summaries with corresponding links and subject matter directly connected to the company's unique space within the beauty industry.

Results

Although completion of all updates did not reap immediate rewards, over time they have gained traction. The culmination has been the company's highest monthly online sales volume ever in April, 2025.