Clarity in High-Season Sales
The Company approached its holiday campaigns with a clear ambition: transform seasonal traffic into meaningful engagement and conversions.
I led UX research and usability testing that informed these campaigns, evolving them from initial data-driven redesigns to behaviourally informed experiences.
The progression from year to year is a single narrative of transformation, of the design and of the organisation’s understanding of its users, driven by a continuous improvement mindset in my role.
Surface Clarity: Diagnosing Misalignment Through Usability Testing
Primary Methods:
- Remote usability testing (including five-second tests)
- Targeted user interviews
- Scroll-depth and click data analysis
- Prototype evaluation of new layout variations by participants
The goal of this phase was simple: understand why a polished landing page failed to convert during high-stakes holiday moments.
What emerged was a pattern of misalignment between what the site presented and what users expected under pressure. Usability tests and interviews revealed that users weren’t lost, they were unconvinced.
Key findings included:
- Unclear brand proposition: Many assumed the company sold only knives. The broader product offering wasn’t communicated early or clearly.
- Buried value messaging: Options like personalisation and gift wrapping — highly relevant during holidays — were not easily discoverable.
- Visual hierarchy breakdown: CTAs were placed too far down the page. On mobile, tappable images looked static, breaking momentum.
- Mobile experience neglected: Despite most traffic coming from mobile, layouts were designed for desktop logic, creating friction on smaller screens.
Quantitative data confirmed low engagement past the first scroll. But the why came from qualitative sessions: confusion, unmet expectations, and a repeated question — “What can I actually do here?”
Triangulation Insight: Analytics showed early exits, but only usability testing exposed the root: a failure to align page structure with user intent.
Designing for Decision: Reshaping the Journey with Behavioural Insight
Primary Methods:
- User journey mapping
- Session replay analysis
- Scroll and click behaviour tracking
- Application of behavioural design principles
With baseline issues clarified, the focus shifted from diagnosis to intentional redesign. We didn’t just want to fix what wasn’t working — we wanted to craft a user journey that respected how people actually make decisions under pressure.
Using session replays, scroll heatmaps, and clickstream data, we traced the paths users were taking — and where they were stalling. Then we rebuilt those paths through the lens of behavioural design.
Simplified Choices (Hick’s Law)
Too many options had previously created friction. We reduced cognitive load by decluttering the interface and presenting only a few high-value actions. Fewer decisions. Faster momentum.
Visual Emphasis (Von Restorff Effect)
Key interactive elements like “Personalise It” or “Gift Finder” were redesigned to visually pop using colour contrast and shape variation. The goal: make memorable, desirable actions easier to notice and act on.
Optimised Content Order (Serial Position Effect)
Content was reordered to place high-impact messaging and CTAs at the beginning and end of the page, leveraging memory patterns. The middle was simplified or split into clear visual groupings to avoid cognitive fatigue.
With these principles, the landing page became a set of orchestrated decision moments rather than a static presentation:
- Inspiration and commerce were separated. A new “Gift Inspiration Hub” offered stories and curated gift guides, giving space for exploration — before presenting product listings.
- The Gift Finder tool became prominent. Moved higher on the page and visually reinforced, it served as a fast lane for users overwhelmed by options.
- Support pages gained clarity. Filters and price-based segmentation gave users control , and mirrored real shopping behaviour.
- Copy was rewritten for scanning. Dense blocks were replaced with clear, inverted-pyramid headlines. Language shifted toward active verbs and emotional cues.
Triangulation Insight: Session replays showed hesitation points and behavioural principles translated that data into deliberate, empathetic design shifts.
In this step, we moved from solving problems to designing with purpose, not just to display information, but to shape momentum.
The redesign wasn’t only about flow. It was about trust. When users feel the interface respects their time, their mental effort, and their need to feel in control, they stay longer, and act with more confidence.
Validating in Motion: Real-Time Research During Campaign Rollout
Primary Methods:
- Scenario-based usability testing
- GA4 behavioural data review
- ContentSquare heatmaps
- A/B test planning
- Device-specific observations
- Feedback analysis from live prototypes
As the campaign neared launch, we paused for a critical step: pre-live validation. Our design updates were nearly finalised, but before releasing them into the wild, we conducted intensive testing to fine-tune every detail.
This wasn’t about identifying major flaws. It was about shaping nuance — small adjustments that could make a big difference under live conditions.
Scenario-Based Testing for Real Intent
We designed task-based usability tests that mimicked actual shopping behaviour:
• “Find a thank-you gift under £30”
• “Find something meaningful for someone you care about”
These divergent prompts allowed us to test both fast, price-conscious decision-making and slower, emotional browsing. The result: we adjusted phrasing, prioritised key interactions, and smoothed transitions between exploration and purchase.
Device-Specific Insights to Guide Priorities
Our testing revealed distinct device preferences:
- Mobile users valued speed and simplicity — they needed prices and offers visible immediately.
- Desktop users wanted depth — they explored specs, zoomed photos, and compared features.
We responded by finalising mobile-first layouts that front-loaded essentials and ensured desktop layouts retained detail without clutter.
Personalisation = Perceived Value
Users consistently responded positively to personalisation features.
In every test, the ability to add initials, engravings, or unique messages made products feel more like gifts. We made this option more visible, both in the product card and filter system, and confirmed its emotional resonance through comments and preference ratings.
Refining Navigation and Search
Testing showed that users relied heavily on the search bar and category filters, not promotional banners.
We:
- Locked the search bar in place
- Simplified category naming for clarity (e.g., “Gifts by Interest,” “Quick Picks”)
- Removed elements that didn’t support real navigation paths
This gave users faster control and reduced unnecessary distractions in the final layout.
Final Checks on the Gift Inspiration Hub
We gathered targeted feedback on the redesigned Hub:
- It was praised for setting the holiday tone without feeling overly commercial
- Users liked the simplicity and thematic storytelling
- One issue emerged: when filtering by price or switching categories, some users lost their place
We quickly implemented sticky filters and breadcrumb-style cues to reduce friction during exploration.
Segment-Based Behaviour Validation
All testing reaffirmed our segmentation logic:
- New users needed orientation, especially on mobile
- Returning users moved fast and skipped intro content
- Budget-conscious users gravitated toward Gift Finder and price filters
- Premium shoppers lingered in editorial content and detail views
We refined language, spacing, and entry points for each segment — final touches that helped each user type feel “seen.”
Data Triangulation at Work: We blended qualitative usability testing, behavioural analytics (GA4), and visual attention data (ContentSquare) to align the design not just with what users do — but why they do it.
Reflection
This project wasn’t about redesigning a single landing page. It was about reframing how we design for human behaviour during high-stakes moments, like holiday shopping — when attention is fragmented, decisions are emotional, and clarity matters most.
What began as a diagnostic task evolved into a layered strategy, combining usability insights, behavioural principles, and real-time validation. We moved from treating the campaign as a container for content to treating it as a guided journey, shaped by intent, context, and pace.
Several key learnings emerged:
- User intent isn’t fixed — it shifts with time, context, and device. The most effective design anticipates this fluidity, not just accommodates it.
- Qualitative and quantitative methods don’t compete — they complete each other. Scroll depth told us where people stopped. Interviews told us why.
- Designing for segments isn’t about personalization for its own sake — it’s about removing friction for different mindsets. Every layout decision became an act of alignment.
- Impact isn’t just what changes — it’s how change is absorbed. Users not only engaged more deeply; they also described the experience as smoother, more helpful, even enjoyable.
- From a UX perspective, this case study demonstrates the power of triangulating methods, iterating based on real behaviour, and balancing research discipline with creative intuition.
And perhaps most importantly: it shows that even small, detail-oriented changes, when guided by intent and validated with care, can have lasting effects on how people feel, decide, and return.
