Brompton grows ecommerce revenue by 122%

Brompton's transformation into a lifestyle brand and D2C manufacturer began by spending time in stores trying to better understand customers. Then carefully considered customer journeys and used research and interviews to explore how these differed across personas and markets.

We worked closely with Brompton and its technical build partners to create a global digital presence for Brompton. Following a rapid, user-centred design process we iterated designs to ensure the structure and design was fully optimised and inspiring.

We began by immersing ourselves in everything Brompton. We spent time in the factory, ran workshops with key stakeholders, reviewed the site analytics and spent time in bike stores interviewing consumers. To ensure the site was going to meet the needs of their international growth audiences, we spoke to resellers and customers in the US, China, Europe and AsiaPac to understand differing attitudes and requirements.

One of the key research findings was that people would only consider buying a Brompton if their commute included a train journey. Consumers didn't realise the benefits of owning a Brompton and the positive impact on their lifestyle.

We worked collaboratively with senior Brompton stakeholders to define, and get agreement on:

• The end-to-end customer journey from acquisition through to retention

• An in-depth digital strategy and digital roadmap

• An organisational structure to support the ongoing success of their digital channels

We then based ourselves on-site, running a series of design workshops to collaboratively sketch out optimal user journeys and designs. We started with a wide range of ideas, simply drawn on pencil and paper, which we refined into a small number of design directions.

We then went into detailed design, running a number of rounds of user testing with participants across the globe. This validated our design direction and secured a truly best-in-class experience.

Key features of our designs included:

• Personalised web presence across multiple territories

• Rich product information using a variety of content types

• A 'help me choose' tool that will configure a bike for you based on 5 simple lifestyle choices 

• Integration of social feeds to highlight the diversity in product and customer

• The ability to build a bike online with seamless connection to store

• A store finder that better promotes Brompton's own shops

• Shareable content designed to inspire users to take up cycling 

• An owner portal to push to self-service and product registration

• The ability to purchase products beyond the bike with dedicated landing pages

Crafting an omnichannel purchase journey

Following this successful first engagement, Brompton then invited us to explore how the business could react to customer expectations by digitising the order process. 

It's important to acknowledge that our research showed there was still a part for the store to play and the set-up and collection of the bike were key moments in the customer journey. It was therefore important to consider how Bromton could provide an online ordering experience that utilised the network of stores available to them or, in locations where store collection was impossible, provided a suitable alternative. 

To improve user experience, we provided quick access to partially completed or saved builds, making it easy for users to resume and complete a purchase. Finally we rearranged access to the builder, making it more prominent, to increase the purchase funnel. 

Our UX team created sketch concepts for the build and buy process, which we validated with the developers, before creating working wireframe prototypes. We worked tirelessly to reduce the number of steps and amount of information to make the purchase feel as quick and easy as possible - particularly on mobile devices.