Converting curious visitors into confident customers for a Japanese artisanal knife store.
2 Weeks, Aug 2023
UX/UI, UX Writing, User Interviews, Content Design, User Testing
Figma (Live Prototype), Photoshop
Kitchenware, Luxury, E-Commerce
The highest possible grade of knives a chef can own.
Generations of Japanese craftsmanship have honed and hammered blades that are sharper, lighter, and nimbler than any other. They’re a cut above, literally.
This craftsmanship is appreciated by both pro-chefs and enthusiastic amateur cooks alike, but more on the target audience later. Either way, these knives are tempting luxury for cooking connoisseurs – a passionately niche market.
Unlike their Western counterparts, which are mostly found in supermarkets or department stores, Japanese knives aren’t mass produced products. They’re usually stocked by a select few specialised retailers, Razor Sharp being one of them.
Apart from their site's glaringly outdated interface, I broke down the information flow of the site into 4 main problem categories.
There was a clear opportunity to not only improve the interface, but also to streamline information for users to make their expensive knife purchases with confidence.
The only category in which users can filter their knives is via bladesmiths, unlike competitors who offer more categories like knife function, blade metal, length, and most importantly, price, for users to peruse.
With only limited ways to browse Razor Sharp’s comprehensive collection of knives, users will be prone to getting frustrated and confused, in turn increasing their drop-off rate.
Upon landing on the home page, users are greeted with a lengthy paragraph of poor readability. Only after scrolling down a considerable amount are users finally able to get a glimpse of their product offerings.
There is also no Call-to-Action (CTA) anywhere on the landing page, which brings the user flow to an abrupt halt on the chance that users do manage to scroll to the bottom.
Poor information flow communicates nothing about the brand or its products to the user. An untidy user flow fails to meet the user’s needs, again leading to high drop-off rates.
Product titles are too lengthy for users to take in any information at a glance.Product description merely contains technical specifications, and barely communicates any of the product’s USPs to users.
Considering majority of Razor Shap’s inventory is priced at luxury price points (3-4 digits), the product listings do not sufficiently convince users that their knives are fitting of their price points, nor do they fulfil the bare minimum of allowing users to learn anything about the individuality of each knife.
Overall writing on the site is peppered with technical jargon and Japanese terms (with no translation), making it suffocating for users, especially new users, to comprehend.
Loud, aggressive, and complicated writing does nothing to tempt users into purchasing, and instead ends up disenchanting them from buying the product altogether, leading to low conversion rates.
“OMG, they’re THAT expensive?!”
The first reaction that 4 of my interviewees , who had no knowlede of Japanese knives, greeted me with.
The other 3 interviewees were all proud owners of their own Japanese knives, to which I’ve enthusiastically questioned, listened, and nodded along as they detailed their needs, behaviours, and pain points.
Venturing out of my social circle to scout for interviewees, especially chefs that owned Japanese knives, was a daunting challenge for a student! I supplemented my research with secondary sources, such as watching online interviews with knife experts and ploughing through the social media accounts of chefs who love posting about their Japanese knives, as well as a site visit down to their physical store where I learned about how their friendly staff take their time to educate new users on which knives best suited their lifestyle.
"I often use camera translators when researching for knives and their prices on Japanese sites."
"I did months of research beforehand, but only chose to purchase in-store as I wasn't sure if online retailers were selling authentic knives from Japan or if they were merely Western brands masquerading as Japanese brands."
"...take on the responsibility of such a huge purchase, including its repairs and maintenance."
"I believe the ideal blades for me are out there. It's all about finding it at the right time and whether or not they're in stock."
Two distinct behavioural groups of users emerged, with different needs, purchasing intentions, and frustrations
Hobby chef who believes that cooking is more of a lifestyle than just a means to satiate hunger
Looking to buy his first Japanese knife
Currently using generic knives bought from department stores, is looking for an upgrade
Prioritises an efficient all-rounder knife
High browsing time, researches a lot
Opens plenty of tabs, has tons of knife-related bookmarks accumulated over months
Will only checkout when he is confident that this expensive purchase is worth the investment
Doesn't know where to start. A lot of “chef-grade” equipment is marketed towards chefs.
Hesitant to commit to such an expensive purchase. Overwhelmed with information online, unsure if this is the knife for him.
Japanese terminology can be challenging to remember
Pro-Chef who already owns 10+ Japanese knives of many varieties. Uses them daily for work.
Looking to expand her existing collection, for both professional use and collection's sake
Buys knives forged by top-tier bladesmiths
Prioritises nicheness
Low browsing time, already familiar with specifics (eg. length, weight, material, etc.) that suit her
Frequents a lot of other Japanese knife retailers
Has a deep respect towards craftsmanship and is knowledgable about bladesmiths
Pretentious sellers who don’t know what they’re talking about, and try to sell people “miraculous” knives that claim to be “forever sharp” and “never chipping” for a “budget price.” Being in the industry for several decades, Charlotte knows how to sniff out bad eggs when she encounters one.
Top-tier knives are frequently out of stock, as they are hand-forged by famous bladesmiths from all around the world
In order for Marcus and Charlotte to have a successful shopping experience on Razor Sharp's site, the goals for this redesign were written to prioritize user education and social proof.
Highlighting product discovery
Relieve the burden of unnecessary and repeated questions on Whatsapp
When users can easily access the information they need on the site, it will relieve the burden of having their customer service staff answer repeated questions on Whatsapp
Convert curious researchers into purchasing customers
According to their reviews on Google, the majority of their customers are new and curious. The in-store staff were lauded for their excellent service in helping customers reach a purchasing decision, and thus the goal for the site would be to reflect a similar experience online.
An educational user experience
Upon landing, users should be able to answer the immediate questions off the top of their head, such as knowing if this is the right knife for them, how it differentiates from the knives they currently own, and more. This is especially so for newer users who don’t have much information on Razor Sharp’s unique products.
Confidence in purchasing
When purchasing products of such a high price point, the new user flow of the site should have adequate search and filtering functions for users to find the knife for their needs.
With concrete goals established for both the business and their users, the next step was to define a smoother user flow for a more seamless educational and transactional experience.
Marcus needs a way to accurately compare and gauge knives online so that he can find an ideal one without trying it out at a physical store
...allow Marcus to confidently shop for his first Japanese knife that accurately fits his cooking needs and kitchen space?
Charlotte needs a way to snag the latest knives so that she can continue performing at her peak in the kitchen with a knife that’s tailored for her.
...allow Charlotte to quickly sift through Razor Sharp's comprehensive inventory to find the knife of her desires?
"Is this knife for me?"
"Is this site trustworthy?"
The general structure of the landing page was reorganised to be structured around answering users' burning questions over technical specifications.
This included user-centered writing, especially for the hero banner. The main priority was to ease users into understanding more about these foreign knives as they scroll down the page.
"What could've been put into the navigation instead?"
V1 contained a more comprehensive sub-navigation below the hero banner. However, this was scrapped much of it's content, like "learning about bladesmiths", could be de-prioritised into the navigation bar instead.
Simplifying information to make it easily digestable yet educational.
"So what's the difference between all these knives?"
Majority of the users weren't familiar with the multitude of blade types that Japanese knives had to offer. As such, the hero consisted of a simple, straightforward slider that introduced users to the different knife types, accompanied by a concise sentence of what they were used for.
The initial site's navigation allowed users to sort blades via bladesmith or brand, something majority of users weren't familiar with as many contained Japanese terminology.
The new navigation system contains mini infographics to help users differentiate between each blade type, as well as short translations for the Japanese terminology.
Bladesmiths, blade series, material, length, and handle were all crucial information when it comes to differentiating each blade.
Clearer information hierarchy was used to better categorise each blade, as opposed to chunking all the important information into a single-lined title.
"Is this brand legit?"
Razor Sharp has the most amount of Google reviews compared to any other Japanese knife store in Singapore. Reviews by customers, both newbies and pro-chefs, were essential in convincing users that this is a trustworthy brand.
The goal was to assess how easy it is for a beginner to navigate the new information flow on the site.
The masonry grid in the initial design forced users to learn about too many types of information (eg. about knife types, about bladesmiths, about history, etc.), which would risk causing information fatigue.
Instead, I prioritised making the below-the-fold content light and easy, by only focusing on Razor Sharp's key products.
Initially, the review section was just like any other e-commerce site.
However, understanding the fact the luxury knives aren't mass-produced, review quantity would be limited compared to products like clothes or makeup. Instead, qualitative reviews by pro-chefs were prioritized in a pull-quote on the left, followed by reviews from the general public.
When tasked to checkout their products, a concern among users was the lack of accessible delivery information. Therefore, I anchored all of Razor Sharp's lifeboats like return and repair info to the footer, accessible from every page.
This was a significant (and unexpected) learning point for me, as I learned that product information is not the only contributing factor to a confident checkout process.
The initial product listing contained too much information. Users were taking a long time to scroll to the bottom, and already forgot what they were reading above when they reached the end.
To prevent information fatigue, I condensed the technical product information into tabs for users to get to the reviews and related products sections faster.
Going into this project, I initially thought that interviewing chefs on knives was way out of my comfort zone. However, I learned that good user interviews needn’t just come from chefs. A lot of insights were also unearthed when interviewing people on their habits when buying expensive products online, from asking them about their research patterns, what makes them initiate a trip down to the physical store over shopping from the comfort of their homes (and why), etc.
The point of user tests is not to be perfect from the start, but to learn from users. Users can be quite curious and explorative when met with a site for the first time. Instead of holding them on a tight leash and restricting them to the “ideal” flow, accessible navigation should be put in place for users to dart around as much as they want.
The brief for this student project was to pick any local (Singaporean-owned) e-commerce site for a redesign. I was initially tempted to pick something easier, something well within my comfort zone, as the project was only 2-weeks long and I barely had any experience in UX design.
But y’know what? If I gave myself an easy ticket now, there may not be another opportunity to work on something as niche as Japanese knives again. I learned so much from analysing user problems within such a niche topic, and the insights gained from interviewing chefs to regular cooks (and even non-cooks!) were irreplaceable. I would never have learned as much if I had stayed within my comfort zone. I am so grateful that my first ever site redesign project was on Razor Sharp, and will continue to apply what I learned across future resign projects!
