Gifting Challenge
Creating a better way for an existing product to add gifting options and an experience to help out the gift’s receiver
The Challenge
“Re imagine Tile Gifting”
Propose a new gifting experience for Tile. Feel free to adapt your flow to the current website checkout design or change the design to suit your new flow."
After looking over the Tile website, I noticed that any gift messaging for the product was severally lacking. The only gift messaging or mentioning I noticed was in the checkout for gift pouches as an add on item.
Nothing speaks to the customer about gifting, whether they got Tile as a gift or making it a great idea to gift to another person.
However, after my analysis, I found several ways to integrate gift messaging with the current design of the site.
Breakdown: New Gift Section
All the information regarding the product is located in the “How it Works” page. I figured this would be the best section to add it. While I did debate about creating a brand new page or full section here that included a small gifting experience, but there is not enough accessories for Tile to create one at this time. Possibly in the future as the product evolves.
I re-thought my idea and realized it would be quick and easy to add more talking points in the gray section with the other points about the product. I gave 2 options.
For my mock up, I thought keeping with the 2 column design, but extending it, would work the best. It shows the messaging for gifting, but also leaves space to talk about anything else, such as accessories, transferring tiles, etc. The design could be further extended if need for any other points that need to be added. Plus keeping it with the 2 column system, makes it easier on coding.
Breakdown: Received As A Gift Page & Checkout
Coming from the aspect of a giftee, the current How it Works page only provides so much info. I came to the conclusion of adding 2 parts, a new page that offers everything about How it Works as well as more to help the new Tiler understand the product more. Because of that, I added a button that attracts the new Tiler to simply click and get started. The middle and bottom images shows the new page as well as the new navigation bar.
Using similar messaging as the How it Works page, this gift page gives more information regarding the product. It shows more about making the product more personable by adding the adhesive sticker block and skins messaging. It also addresses the life of the battery within the product and what the user can do after the battery dies. Besides the additional talking points, what else makes this different compared to the How it Works page, is that the copy is tailored more towards and audience that has no idea about the gift they received. (copy has not been changed for this mock up). Towards the end of the page it directs the user to check out the FAQ section on the site in case they have any other questions regarding the product. The current How it Works page does not highlight this as loud as my mock up does.
Checkout Option:
Probably one of the easiest parts of this challenge was solving an issue of adding the option of Gift receipts in the checkout. On many other e-commerce sites, there usually is an option (a check box most likely) for the customer to define the order as a gift for another person, which usually means a gift receipt is added to the order when it is shipped to the giftee. It also brings in extra information to be filled out by the customer (a separate billing address vs shipping address for example). Adding this information to the gift order can also bring in the possibility of added services such as gift wrapping by the distribution center or including a special messaged card explaining what to do next with the product (ex: a card that says Happy Tiling, to get started go to www.thetileapp.com/giftee which would take them to the new “Received as a gift?” page). The possibilities really open up with added functionality to the checkout system. Of course this also depends on what can be altered to this process by current inventory systems.
For my solution, I added the section of “Is this a Gift?”. If the user selects it, the box will be highlighted just like the Shipping Options on the page. It also activates the addition of a billing address field under the Pay section. The gift option can include a gift receipt sent to the giftee. Its a quick fix on the design front, but adds more responsibility to the back-end of things.
Depending on warehouse capabilities, there’s always the option of asking the user if they would like their order gift wrapped to the recipient.
Conclusion
Most of the questions that were asked when the challenge was given have been answered with my solutions. The remaining ones can be answered with a few changes in the wording and messaging hierarchy around the site. Adding the few assets I created can help strengthen Tile as a great gift option for whatever the occasion. Addressing more about customizing Tiles (such as skins) or adding gift wrap options, depending on the pack of Tiles can help make the order process feel more personal too.
However, with the amount of messaging on how different people use their Tiles and the amount of success stories really help make it a personal product. I enjoyed working on a challenge with a brand that kept it simple, which made it easier for me coming up with solutions. I went through several ideas on certain parts and I feel confident that these will make it easier for the customer on the Tile experience. Working in e-commerce retail for as long as I have, I have seen many ways companies handle the gift option with their customers, from simple to complex solutions. Helping think more about the user experience and taking the time to streamline it as simple and quick as possible is something I really take to heart. No one wants to jump through hoops when buying stuff online, especially with a simple checkout process Tile already has, why make it hard for no reason?