Sephora Collection
A fun and informative makeup shopping experience for a mobile world.
The Problem
In the world of makeup, Sephora is a leader in affordable quality makeup, with in-store expert makeup artists helping customers find exactly what they’re looking for, offering them advice and quick tutorials. Their digital presence, however, had trouble translating their fun and informative in-store experience.
How can we make shopping Sephora Collection online more similar to the in store experience?
The Audience
The target audience for this project was the newbie — someone who had little experience with makeup outside of the drugstore and needed a little more guidance, education, and inspiration. Being makeup newbies ourselves, we personally walked through the experience of buying makeup and interviewed others to better understand what the user’s journey would look like. The majority of Sephora's target audience was also accustomed to shopping on a mobile device, leading us towards a mobile-first approach.
Understanding the Journey
How does one shop for makeup? This was a key question during our initial explorations as we sought to capture that in-store journey for a digital experience. In the store, users often will browse and compare products, understand and test them, talk with Sephora experts or get a demo, and then finally make their purchasing decisions. We identified these areas of opportunity and generated concepts that would help translate the in-person tactility and learning about the products as well as the helpful guidance of Sephora's expert Pro team.
Sketches of potential ways for her to compare products and see relevant reviews.
Ideation & Refinement
Quick, high-level drawings allowed us to visualize dozens of concepts that would guide the user throughout her online journey. Focusing on the three key pages within Sephora Collection, we developed scalable, swappable modules that could be customized per page while helping the user to narrow her focus and better understand what products were right for her. The modules were also fun and easy to use, enticing the user to come back to the site for new content.
Building the Experience
Pages were redesigned with potential modules in place to provide education, guidance, and inspiration throughout the user's journey. Key module designs are reusable across pages, but provide a more specific set of products as we learn more about her. By the time the user lands on a product page, she should have all the information necessary to make an informed decision to purchase. We sought to inspire confidence that the product is right for her specific needs and that she knows how to use it.
Examples of modules that give beauty how-to's, surface product suggestions, shop by look, and feature influencer reviewed products
“We’re trying to create these really fun, addictive shopping experiences [...] This is an example of not just having a marketing campaign, but thinking about a full client experience.”
Since its launch, the new Sephora Collection pages have been largely successful, garnering attention from beauty bloggers and news sites. They’ve even inspired Sephora to center key marketing messages and campaigns around these fun and bite-size moments.
Project done in January 2016 with Odopod