Ponte Pilas

Ponte Pilas converts your home into a smart home by selling and implementing home automation devices

Role

Lead Product Designer

Timeline

16 Weeks

Responsibilities

Responsible for responsive design, discovery and ideation, user research, responsive web design and prototype

Problem

 
 

Clients were expected to have a social media account in order to stay updated with products and scroll through numerous posts to locate specific products, prices, and sales. As a result, due to the lack of an e-commerce site, issues arose in the following areas:

  1. Accessibility

  2. Credibility

  3. Limited Sales Opportunities

  4. Centralization

Solution

 
 

I designed an e-commerce website that allowed clients to purchase and browse through all products, provided explanation of services for educational purposes, and established market credibility through transparency.

The focal points while designing the e-commerce website were the following:

  1. Product Accessibility

  2. Establishing Credibility

  3. Education

  4. Checkout Process

Let’s dive deeper

  • Part I - Product Accessibility

    Users were able to easily locate their desired products through the search bar, selecting the tabs to further explore, or simply selecting the Call-to-Action button: Shop.

    Content design was meticulously structured to surface sales and feature new products for users to discover.

  • Part II - Establish Credibility

    A. Listed brands of products sold- Users will know that their purchase is of quality and real.

    B. Contact information- Easily accessible contact information assures the user that they can contact the company with any feedback, questions, or concerns.

    C. Social Media- By having a social media presence, it increases the business’ visibility to future clients and increases trust for existing clients.

    D. Product reviews- Listing feedback from other clients show transparency and honesty.

  • Part III - Education

    A visual walk through of how and where products can be used around the home, shows the user how they can benefit from having the product.

  • Part IV - Checkout Process

    It was important for the checkout process to be efficient and clear. At the top of the page, a navigation visual was added for the user to spotlight where they were going.

    When the user was ready to input their credit card information, a drop down menu would expand. Users were able to easily go back or skip sections easily with this style of menu.

Empathize

In order to learn more about the home automation industry in Ecuador, I closely studied the Ecuadorian market and analyzed competitors locally and internationally. Fortunately, I also consulted directly with the company's founder to gain further knowledge.

Market Research

 

Findings showed that in the Ecuadorian market, during 2020-2021, desktop computers were the highest gadgets devices obtained compared to mobile and tablets. This indicated that having a desktop website was essential to reach a large portion of clients. 

Additionally, the target audience for home automation and smart technology was middle to upper class. Within this audience, there were 5 popular homes automation segments:

  1. Safety and Security

  2. Access Control

  3. Lighting System

  4. Entertainment Systems

  5. Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning.

Subject Matter Expert

 

Having direct access to the founder was an invaluable resource. They were able to provide me with insights on the field, specifically the Ecuadorian market. They advised me that most online stores in Ecuador communicated with existing and future customers through WhatsApp. That was a key piece of information that would help me build the site and I ensured WhatsApp was integrated.

On top of that, they were so easy to work with and gave me access to their inventory list to build the Site Map.

Competitive Analysis

 

Through extensive competitive study, Ponte Pilas needed to step up their online presence game to reach clients. Managing their marketing and sales through social media did not suffice in the home automation Ecuadorian market. Information architecture and quality of image were 2 key components to elevate Ponte Pila’s e-commerce.

User Interview

Through generative research, I was able to empathize further with the users. It gave me in-depth understanding of the users’ values, perspective, motivations, and experience.

Pain Points

Pain Point 1: Fake images and positive-only reviews indicated dishonesty and not trustworthy

Pain Point 2: Specific to the Ecuadorian market, if the business does not have a Whatsapp, this may be an indication of not being trustworthy or credible business.

Pain Point 3: It is popular in Ecuadorian Whatsapp business catalog to avoid listing prices. However, listing prices would make the purchasing process more efficient and transparent for the user and decrease the chances for users to search elsewhere. 

Pain Point 4: 60% of participants indicate that once the user received the smart gadgets, installing or setting up the product was where they struggled.

Insights

Finding 1: Within the user interview group, 100% of participants buy their devices online. Breakdown: 80% brought from Amazon, 20% bought from Best Buy.

Finding 2: If users did not feel safe buying from a website or if they felt they are not getting the best prices, they start looking somewhere else - Most users defaulted to Amazon or Best Buy.

Finding 3: 80% browse through the websites to look for new devices; 40% check the Sales items. And 20% already have an item in mind when looking for new devices.

Finding 4: 60% of participants indicate that once the user received the smart gadgets, installing or setting up the product was complicated. Some would start by reading the instructions and/or have other people set the devices up for them.

Finding 5: The 4 main ways participants become aware of a product is through Instagram, word of mouth, ads, and seeing the product live: Breakdown: 100% word of mouth, 60% via Instagram, 40% via live viewing of product (at a family or friend’s house) made the participant aware of a particular product.

Persona

Through research, I was able to encapsulate pain points, needs, mindset, and background of a user into one persona, Lucas.

What Users said

“If they only change the color and it looks photoshopped, it isn’t a good look. I don’t trust them.”

— Participant 1

“If the website offers some sort of guarantee, I would feel more comfortable buying from them.”

— Participant 3

Define

Site Map

Establishing the information architecture of website was fundamental to start designing. This clearly outlined the content and relationships between pages.

Also, being provided with the company’s list of inventory and what categories of home automation devices they fell under made building the site map much easier. From this, two main categories were created: Smart Home and Smart Gadgets.

Task Flow

The task flow was a visual representation of the purchasing process. Visually this helped me to ensure that the content experience flowed smoothly.

 

Ideate

Branding

Considering that Ponte Pilas was an already established company, I designed the website based on the logo and company colors. I continued to incoporate their coloring scheme throughout using purple, blue, and yellow. However, to give it a more professional and polished look, I updated the brand typography. This kept the webpage looking fresh, modern, sophisticated, and professional.

Ponte Pilas Original Logos

Wireframes

Initially I explored different layouts for the homepage: Stacked images with content on the side, image on one side and content on the other, and lastly a hero image.

I carefully built each version. However, the hero image ultimately won because it captivated users’ attention with the large image extended full-width enticing visitors to explore further. 

After careful consideration, I chose to continue with the hero image because it gave users a clear glimpse of what experience the company would be offering. This was important because home automation in the Ecuadorian market, was something new. Therefore, without overwhelming the user with something new, a large intentional image combined with a clear Call to Action would be a winning strategy.

Prototype

  • Desktop Version 1 - Check Out Process

  • Desktop Version 2 - Review Page

  • Desktop Version 2 - Delivery Address Page

  • Desktop Version 2 - Payment Method

Test & Implementation

 Testing the prototype was a key part of realizing whether the final design made sense to users overall. Were users able to buy a product or explore more products? Were users able to locate contact information? Did users feel safe buying from the newly designed e-commerce website?

Fortunately, the following tasks were completed successfully:

  • Buying a product

  • Finding Contact Information

  • Finding new products

Checking out and locating tutorials were the 2 tasks that users spent more time on or unsuccessfully completing it. Redesigning the checkout pages were tricky. Through several iterations, I noticed that having too many other features or components around, would distract the user and slow down purchasing. I simplified the checkout page by removing distractions and only showed essentially information such as other order details and other products added to cart.

Locating the Tutorials was another issue. Some participants associated the tutorials with specific products while others thought that the original placement, under the Exclusive tab, makes sense. Ultimately, the Tutorials found themselves a new home under their respective product. While still accessible to all, users no longer had to wonder how a product works and search elsewhere for further explanation.

Final Mobile Prototype

Conclusion

I learned a lot about the Ecuadorian market and Home Automation as a whole. This was a new space for me but it was both fun and challenging creating an e-commerce responsive site that will primarily used in South America.

Throughout the process, I shared status updates with the founders. They were very appreciative and were excited to see the website come to live.

“I thought it was amazing how Joselyne was able to capture the company's personality in the design. It was exactly what we were looking for!”

- Jorge Castro, Founder of Ponte Pilas

The founders were highly satisfied with the design that it is scheduled to be built by a programmer and implemented in 2022.

This project reinforced the idea that there is power in diversity. Working with an international company helped me gain new design perspective.

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