Blenders Prescription In-store App
Blenders is an eyewear company that sells sunglasses, prescription eyewear, and snow goggles/helmets. The brand is known for its bold and trendy designs, affordable prices, and high-quality materials. Blenders Eyewear was founded in San Diego, California in 2012 and has since gained a strong following on social media platforms.
Project Overview
Challenge
Over 10 years old, the brand has made its way into the sunglass industry quickly and seamlessly with its affordable prices and high quality. Blenders was acquired by Safilo (the second-biggest producer of eyewear in the world) 3 years ago. Since then, Safilo has been helping Blenders break into prescription eyewear, but Blenders has been consistently underperforming in this channel. With Blenders doubling its brick-and-mortar in 2022-2023, senior leadership wants to utilize those retail spaces to help grow prescription revenue.
Solution
- Use principles of service design to create an in-store app for customers to build/order prescription glasses in-store
- Work closely with the Director of Retail, CEO, and other stakeholders to create an in-store app for customers to build/order prescription glasses in-store
- Big focus on accessibility with this application’s target user being visually impaired individuals
- Experience will be exclusively on iPad Pros, so only need to plan for two device sizes of a vertical and horizontal layout (1024 x 1366px and 1366 x 1024px)
Role
Product Designer
Tools
Figma
My Design Process
Empathize
Research
Blenders Eyewear does offer prescription eyewear, but it is primarily known for its non-prescription sunglasses. The company positions itself as a lifestyle brand with a focus on bold and trendy designs at an affordable price point. Therefore, Blenders Eyewear’s position in the prescription eyewear industry is relatively small compared to major players. With vision impurities being a healthcare-related issue, Blender’s is going to need to speak to the serious nature of eye health while and ensure their customers have a quality product for their vision needs while bringing their playful and vibrant flair to the products and marketing efforts. If done successfully while also keeping their enticing lower price points, they could position themselves in a unique and niche sector of the market.
Research Goals
- Understand the prescription eyewear industry and how Blenders are currently positioned within it
- Identify Blender’s target market within the prescription eyewear industry
- Understand the experiences people have purchasing as well as owning their prescription eyewear
- Discover the goals, needs, motivations, and frustrations of customers in this realm
Market Research
- From their Italian eyewear subsidiaries, Safilo reports ~40% of their revenue is from prescription while Blenders prescription glasses were only making up less than 10% of their revenue
- The industry has been undergoing significant changes in recent years due to the rise of online DTC eyewear retailers by cutting out the middlemen and working directly with manufacturers, allowing them to offer lower prices to consumers
- The global prescription eyewear market size was valued at $113.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7% from 2021 to 2028
- The market is segmented by product type into eyeglasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses. Eyeglasses accounted for the largest share of the market in 2020, with a value of $85.9 billion
- North America was the largest regional market in 2020, with a market share of 38.1%, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific
- The pandemic has resulted in a delay in routine eye exams, which can impact the sales of prescription eyewear
- The eyewear industry is highly competitive, and the economic downturn has led to increased competition as companies try to capture a smaller pool of consumers
- Decreased consumer spending has affected the sales of eyewear products, which are considered non-essential by many consumers.
- While the prescription eyewear segment may be less affected by the closure of retail stores due to the need for eye exams and fittings, it is still impacted by the overall decrease in consumer spending and disruptions in the global supply chain
Consumer Trends
- Consumers are increasingly looking for affordable, high-quality prescription eyewear that reflects their personal style
- Many consumers have 1 pair of prescription eyewear covered by their insurance but forget to utilize this benefit every year
- Optometrists are not required to include their patient’s PD (pupillary distance) measurement on their prescriptions, so many withhold those numbers to make it difficult for clients to buy from other companies and are more inclined to buy from the optometrists’ offices
- Statistics show an increase in vision disorders and the aging population, making for higher demand for prescription eyewear
- With access to Blender’s website data in Shopify, google analytics, and Hotjar, it is conclusive that a lot of users are not finishing ordering their prescription glasses without having their PD (pupillary distance) given from their optometrist
- During this project’s timeline, there is an overall decrease in consumer spending with the state of the economy in 2023
Competitive Analysis
Strengths
- Easiest and quickest option: get a prescription from a doctor and immediately order glasses that day
- No issues with figuring out to measure PD because an optometrist will do it for you
- Customers get to try on all the different styles in person
- Offers high-end and technical lenses
Weaknesses
- Expensive
- Limited brand options
- Typically older and outdated brands/styles
Strengths
- Try before you buy: they will send you up to 3 styles and you send back the ones you don’t want before being charged
- Stays up-to-date on the latest eyewear trends
- Easy online checkout process for prescriptions, and they save your prescription for future purchases
- They don’t ask users for their PD, instead, give everyone the same average PD
- Offers high-end and technical lenses
Weaknesses
- Focused on lifestyle and doesn’t have prescription options for active glasses
- ~10% of their customers have to exchange because they don’t have the average PD
- Only 1 brand is available
Strengths
- Customers get to try on all the different styles in person
- Stays up-to-date on the latest eyewear trends
- Offers high-end and technical lenses
- In-store experts to help you navigate the buying process
Weaknesses
- Expensive
- Some major brands are not available
Research Insights
With my preliminary research complete, I felt confident making some important conclusions about how my found data relates to this topic:
- Blenders are so well known for their lifestyle sunglasses and need to make a bigger effort in letting their target customers know they also sell prescription eyewear and sunglasses.
- The decrease in consumer spending and the overall state of the economy has affected the sales of both non-prescription and prescription eyewear, which are considered non-essential by many consumers.
- On Blender’s website, they lose a lot of users in the ordering process when asked for their PD measurement.
- To compete with prescription glasses being bought at optometrists’ offices, Blenders must maintain their lower price points and find a way to make the buying process as easy and non-convoluted as possible.
- How the industry is trending, Blenders Eyewear has an opportunity to grow the prescription channel of their business as a DTC company with lower prices, a good customer following, and a unique personality to stand out from the market’s increase in competition.
Demographic
Since Blenders has already been selling prescription eyewear for 3 years, it was easy to use established data to get an idea of the target demographic. Blenders typical customer is 25-40 years old, primarily female (62% female and 38% male), and largely heterosexual. Their prescription eyewear customer, however, is a little older at 28-60 years old, and gender is more split at 50/50, also heterosexual. This application’s target user is visually impaired individuals, ideally ones who are looking for an affordable pair of high-quality and reliable prescription glasses.
User Interviews
Although I had a good grasp of the market, Blender’s competition, and the target audience, I was curious to learn more about our user. Who are they and what are their shopping experiences like when buying prescription eyewear? What is most important to them when looking for prescription eyewear? To gain a better understanding, I created a survey:
About The Survey
- Received answers from 8 participants
- 10 question survey
- ~3 minutes for a participant to finish
- Only for people who wear prescription eyewear
Found Data
- Age range: 18-50
- Both female and male
- On average, participants buy 2-3 prescription glasses per year
- The most common place they buy their eyewear is at a glasses retailer (Sunglass Hut, Lens Crafters, etc.)
- Half of the participants feel comfortable purchasing glasses online without trying them on in person and the other half do not
- Unanimously, fit and style is the most important thing to customers (won over price, lens technology, and ease of purchase)
Provisional Personas
Using the insights gained from my research, I created provisional personas to help me identify potential users. These help me set get a base of who I am designing for, what their goals are, and what problems they are facing as prescription glasses wearers.
Quality Seeker
Generation Y female with very poor eyesight since birth, must always invest in Progressive and Single Vision. Willing to spend the extra money to be able to see as good as possible and not need to wear thick and clunky glasses.
Goals
- The best lens technology to improve her eyesight is most important, next is the thinness of the lens, then fit, then style, and last is price
- Her style is elevated basics
- Wants glasses to be as lightweight and thin as possible
- She needs prescription eyewear and sunglasses
- Buys at least 2 pairs of prescription glasses a year
Pains
- Finding glasses that deliver the lens quality and technology she needs in a style and fit she loves
- Wants to look outside her optometrist’s boring selection, but isn’t up-to-date with the new brands
- Difficult finding brands that can deliver all of her lens requirements
Trend Setter
Millennial male with astigmatism. He loves art and music and uses his glasses to express his personality. Is willing to spend a little more, but not too much because he likes buying multiple styles to be able to change them up.
Goals
- Keep up with the latest glasses trends
- Loves buying glasses that are bold and colorful
- Looking for only prescription eyeglasses right now with the goal of getting prescription sunglasses in the future
- Looking for a fast and easy buying process
- Would rather buy in-person instead of online to test for fit and style
Pains
- Doesn’t want to sacrifice the quality of glasses in order to get fun and unique styles
- Has done the research and found a lot of cool online brands, but wants to try styles on before purchasing
Deal Enthusiast
Baby Boomer female who had to start wearing glasses 10 years ago when her eyesight started deteriorating. Never been one to keep up with style, is a good budgeter, and prides herself on finding a deal.
Goals
- Price is number 1, and next is comfort and practicality
- She wants one pair she can wear until they break or she loses them
- Wants a neutral and plain style
- Her Eyesight isn’t bad enough that she feels she needs to spend money on prescription sunglasses, is only looking for 1 pair of eyeglasses to replace her old ones
- Likes shopping local
Pains
- Hates when her current pair of heavily discounted eyeglasses fall off her face
- Not tech savvy
- Doesn’t like her optometrist trying to sell her very expensive brands
Define
Project Goals
Before I could make any decisions on what kind of solutions we wanted to implement, I needed to have a clear understanding of the goals we are trying to meet. These goals would help guide the decisions made moving forward to ensure we are moving in the right direction. I created a venn diagram outlining the different goals of the business and where there might be some crossover.
Problem Statement
Individuals with visual impairments want to easily purchase prescription eyewear that meet all their eyesight needs, budget, and preferred style/fit.
Ideate
User Flowchart
I laid out the 2 main task flows for how a user would interact with the app from start to finish. The importance of this was to give our developer as well as stakeholders a general overview of the process the user will be taken through. Creating these task flows helped me identify the key tasks the users would complete and the key screens that users would be interacting with before moving on to wireframing.
Lo-Fi Wireframe Sketches
These wireframe sketches are designed to communicate the basic structure of the website. With a few rounds of these simple sketches, I can efficiently find the best layout, organization, and functionality in the website before diving into the UI elements. Because this app was only going to be used on iPad Pros and not a variety of device sizes, I didn’t need to stress about browser size compatibility.
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
To create my mid-fidelity wireframe, I start by taking my low-fidelity sketches and converting them to a digital format using Figma. I enhanced them with sufficient information to enable users to navigate through the pages and accomplish tasks that I planned to present during usability testing. The resulting mid-fidelity wireframes allowed me to concentrate on identifying areas that needed improvement in terms of design functionality. Here are some of the many screens I made for this part of the process.
Prototype
High Fidelity Wireframes
With the discovery phase concluded and my designs starting to take shape, I was ready to start working towards prototyping to test the design and usability decisions I had made. Using Figma, I first started by creating high-fidelity wireframes.
Prototype
Following my wireframes, I then used Figma to create an interactive high fidelity, limited functionality prototype that I would use for usability testing.
Test
Product Testing
After developing a high-fidelity prototype with limited functionality, I initiated usability testing on users to evaluate its effectiveness and pinpoint opportunities for enhancement. With the limited amount of time I had until the goal launch date, I sampled from the Blender’s office and found those with visual impairments.
Testing Overview
- 5 participants, age ranging from 22-50
- Task Completion Rate: 100%
- Average Time: 6 minutes
- Method: in person watching the user
Enhancements From Testing
- For the “Your Selections” feature, I received feedback that some people wanted a button allowing them to edit a specific selection they wanted to look back over.
- The horizontal scroll isn’t obvious enough to the user: add arrow buttons to better represent the hidden content and enhance the user experience.
- In the last couple of screens asking for the user’s information about how to check out, there is no way to go back to the customizer. There are cases that users might want to go back and make some edits. Rather than forcing the user to exit and start the customizer all over again, add a button or link allowing them to go back.
- The search bar is crowding the screen for no reason, there isn’t that much content to search through and it might take some users away from just looking through all the inventory. Start without the search option and look into whether or not to bring it back from post-launch testing.
Final Prototype
After creating my hi-fidelity wireframes, I made the necessary edits from feedback and testing to finish the final design/prototype. This is the same prototype used by our developer to create the final app.
Project Reflection
As the full-time Lead UI/UX Designer for Blenders while I created this app, this was a really fun challenge to work on outside of my website duties. Unlike the website, I was able to create this project from scratch and combine Blenders established branding and UI elements with some of my own user experience and user interface style. I wanted the app to feel like Blenders while meeting the needs of the average visually impaired user.
This project, more than any other project I’ve done previously, taught me the balancing act of keeping the business goals in mind (increased revenue for prescription eyewear) and the user’s goals (easily and quickly purchasing suitable prescription eyewear). Throughout the project, stakeholders kept my design in check and would challenge me with business-related questions, and my empathy and research phase helped me always keep the user’s needs in mind.
What’s Next
- Test user behavior and engagement using Google Analytics, HotJar, in-person interviews and observations, and collecting feedback from retail associates.
- Continuously monitor the appropriate metrics to calculate what effects this app is having, and if it’s only in-store or is also boosting online prescription revenue.
- To start, Blenders is only going to implement this in-store app at their retail location in Santa Monica. If my team can prove the added value, push for this experience to be in all or most of our retail stores.
- While I did design this with the visually impaired in mind as my main audience, I’d love to add more accessibility features such as accessibility adjustments where a user can customize their UI settings for an easier experience.
Takeaways
- Designing in a timely manner: Once certain stakeholders realized that this project was a good idea, they wanted the application to be made yesterday. I pushed back where I could to ensure I had the proper amount of time to make this application as good as possible, but it was still much more rushed than I wanted. I would like to continue practicing pushing back and reiterating that it’s best to measure twice and cut once instead of hastily launching a product.
- User Flowchart: This was super helpful in my wireframing and made it easy for me to grasp what and how many screens were needed. I was really grateful to have my user flowchart to reference frequently in the design phase.