Cairnspring Mills
Bringing stone-milled artisan flour to the everyday home baker.
My Role
UX Design, UI Design
Team
Me, Developer, PM, CRO
Overview
Expanding into direct-to-consumer during the surge of home baking.
In response to the surge in sourdough baking during the pandemic, Cairnspring Mills, a stone-milled artisanal flour company, aimed to expand beyond wholesale and incorporate direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales.
Initially setting up a Shopify site, Cairnspring's team recognized the need for external expertise to enhance their online presence and align with user expectations. The Chief Revenue Officer enlisted a team — including a developer, project manager, and myself as designer — to facilitate their transition.
The Challenge
Educating users and driving DTC sales growth.
The company sought to educate consumers about the significance of regenerative agriculture and distinguish Cairnspring's offerings from competing alternatives. Additionally, they aimed to enhance the user experience (UX) of their platform with the ultimate goal of boosting direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales.
Learning About the Problem Space
Understanding challenges without direct user research.
Our team was asked not to conduct user interviews, so to understand the problem space, we used alternative strategies:
- Stakeholder Interviews: Engaged with internal stakeholders to understand business needs and pain points.
- Customer Support Consultation: Gained insights from support staff on customer struggles.
- Site Evaluation: Reviewed the existing Shopify site to pinpoint UX gaps.
- Competitive Analysis: Identified best practices from other e-commerce platforms.
What We Found
Key insights that shaped the redesign.
- Flour Option Overwhelm: Customers felt unclear on which flour suited their needs. Lack of comparison tools increased abandonment rates.
- Lack of Guidance: Many reached out for advice on baking with specific flours, showing a need for guidance and recipes.
- Underutilized Free Shipping Promotion: The free shipping banner was often overlooked due to banner blindness, reducing conversions.
The Solution
Increasing conversion and improving the customer experience through design intervention.
Flour Comparison Table
overview
Developed a comparative table to assist users in selecting the most suitable flour, employing compensatory decision-making principles. However, this approach required further refinement to emphasize critical distinctions between flour types.
problem solved
Users needed a way to compare flour types at a glance to better understand the key differences between the varieties.
Baking Type Filters
overview
Introduced filters based on baking types to facilitate non-compensatory decision-making, allowing users to refine flour options according to their specific baking needs. Collaboration with the internal baking team ensured accurate categorization and clarity.
problem solved
From customer service trends, we identified that the most frequent question from customers was which flour to buy for the type of baking they do.
Recipe Section & Shopify Reusable Template
overview
I designed a recipe section that highlighted expert bakers and connected their recipes directly to Cairnspring products. Beyond the user-facing design, I built a custom Shopify template that enabled the team to easily add and manage new recipes through the CRM, ensuring the feature was sustainable after my engagement ended.
problem solved
From a business perspective, Cairnspring wanted to inspire more baking activity to increase product sales and conversions. From a product perspective, they needed a scalable solution that wouldn’t rely on ongoing design/development support. The recipe template solved both challenges—driving engagement while empowering the internal team to keep content fresh.
Impact
30% Increase in Conversion
Through close collaboration between marketing and design teams, Cairnspring Mills experienced a remarkable 30% increase in sales after all interventions. This success underscored the importance of cross-functional teamwork and iterative design processes in achieving our objectives.
Reflections
If I could go back, I would advocate for conducting user interviews and spending more time to truly understand our audience. This would ensure we were building solutions for the right users and addressing their real pain points.
We primarily focused on expert bakers, but based on customer service data, we learned that a significant portion of our users were novice bakers. We didn’t fully understand their pain points and needs, and as a result, we missed the opportunity to design a platform that would better support their decision-making and ultimate purchase. Aside from the insights gathered through customer service calls, more targeted research could have helped us build a more inclusive experience.
Additionally, the extensive number of filters and the comparison criteria seemed more suited to expert bakers. With better user research, we could have simplified the filters and tailored the comparison tool to meet the needs of a broader range of users, creating a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.