BACKGROUND.

Borderfree is an ecommerce solution from Pitney Bowes that enables any online retailer to sell to over 200 countries worldwide. Some of the retailers on Borderfree include Target, Harrods, Macys, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, BCBGMaxazria, American Apparel, and Barney’s. Borderfree has traditionally been a backend solution that consumers never see, as they are hidden behind checkout pages.

Since Borderfree’s revenue comes directly from transactions, it made perfect sense to build a consumer-facing site to promote brand and product discovery and drive traffic directly to product pages. Another main goal of the site would be to gain new members.

THE CHALLENGE.

Borderfree’s legacy site was hastily launched. The engineering team was borrowed from groups that work on backend solution and had little experience building consumer-facing sites. Without a Creative Director or UX Designer on the team, a junior designer was tasked with designing the entire site with no such experience prior. With a late launch of the site, results and responses were subpar.

While most ecommerce sites are bold, minimal, clean, and sophisticated, the Borderfree website took to the opposite direction. It was outdated, extremely busy, cluttered, and wasn’t visually appealing at all. Copy on the site was written by a technical writer so it did not appeal to average shoppers. On top of that, the site targets international shoppers but do not translate, making it difficult for users to engage.

It also became increasingly clear that the site wasn’t improving brand perception or boosting sales. While Borderfree’s goal was to be the destination for global shopping, the look and feel of the site, clunky UX, buggy code, and lackluster copy did not appeal to shoppers.

I was recruited to the team specifically to take ownership of the Borderfree website and completely redesign it for success.

APPROACH.

Research & Insight:

Post-launch of the legacy site, Applause had conducted a UX Study of the desktop and mobile site featuring 39 participants from 3 different countries. The user study revealed that:

• Shoppers were confused about Borderfree’s offerings.
• For any premium content on the site, users were asked to register or sign in. Many found the content-gate to be distracting and frustrating.
• Consumers were unfamiliar with the stores in the Borderfree network since they were not available in their countries. Borderfree did not do a good job introducing these stores to site users.

Google Analytics revealed that the sign-up modal (content gate) was closed about 6.38 times a session. This proves that Borderfree users are engaged and want to learn more but are unable to due to the content gate. The initial purpose of the content gate was to generate new account sign ups. In evaluating account sources, the site was responsible for 3.2% of new accounts while users who check out from stores convert at a whopping 44%.

With account creation as the main tactic, the site closed discovery for new visitors. This may actually cause them to lose more than we gain in terms of account opportunities. It became clear that I would need to shift tactics around to better achieve site goals.

Shifting Tactics: 

Previously, the site was focused on adding accounts first and then driving conversion. Education was not prioritized at all. From my learnings, I decided to shift priorities as follows:

1. EDUCATE

Most consumers who visit Borderfree do not know what Borderfree is, what the value prop is, and how the site works. Additionally, since our consumers are global, they are often naïve about Borderfree stores. By educating consumers and opening up discovery, Borderfree is likely to drive conversion.

2. DRIVE CONVERSION

The site should inform users on what stores they can shop from, allow users to browse and discover products, showcase exclusive offers, and ultimately lead the user to shop. Once consumers buy from Borderfree, 44% of them will create accounts.

3. ADD ACCOUNTS

Gaining new accounts is still a primary goal of the site. However, Borderfree should soften tactics to show the value first. The site should allow consumers to learn more about Borderfree, it’s stores, offers, and products. With the freedom to click through the site and discover content, they are more likely to sign up for an account.

WIREFRAMES.

DESIGNS.