The Product
GROHE X is the new Brand Experience platform of the company which enables visitors to reach target-group-specific content individually. The platform also promotes customer dialogue in an interactive and engaging way.
My responsibilities in this project included leading the internal UX team as well as liaison between GROHE and the three external companies collaborating with us: IBM, VOK DAMS, and D’art Design Gruppe.
The Challenge
In response to the Covid situation, we had to replace all our live events, like industry related fairs and showrooms, with a digital alternative.
This meant that every single contact, action and interaction, including meeting scheduling with sales representatives, key notes and product presentations had to be reinvented and reproduced digitally, without losing the feel and quality of the face-to-face interaction.
Our Approach
Based on our initial research, we came up withe a strategy emphasising three fundamentals for connecting with our customers in the future: Be Adaptive, Ask Questions and Communicate Trust.
01 Be Adaptive
Months of lockdown has made many of our existing traditional customers tech-savvy. Our customers have adapted and they will all now be expecting the same from us.
02 Ask Questions
We had to find out what they wanted and what they no longer wanted; this was not just about finding new systems or products any more. It was also about dropping anything that is no longer relevant to them.
03 Communicate Trust
Regular communication was the most important customer contact we should be focussing on right now. Maintain constant flow of events and regularly announce display of new content.
Communication matters
Conducted by one of our external researchers and based on the three fundamentals, a series of in-depth interviews followed. Through synthesising all gathered insights, a common thread emerged: communication and information exchange were actually identified as primary pain points for all target groups.
More precisely we focused on enhancing the user experience related to two critical communication tasks: our Book a Meeting form and our Contact form.
⦿ Book a Meeting form
During early research for the Booking a Meeting task, we identified several pain points related to the used communication platform, the language, the wording and the calendar.
Communication platform: To provide a clear download link for Zoom to ensure users can easily access the platform. Additionally, we offered short instructions on how to install and use it.
Language Selection: The "Select Language" task has been eliminated as redundant. The system now automatically determines the language based on the user’s language choice on the page.
Form Name Update: We recommend renaming the form from “Video chat” to the more explicit and personalised “Talk to a GROHE Expert in Person”. This change did reduce confusion for users.
Calendar Enhancement: Users found the calendar confusing and redundant when displaying past dates. To improve this, we’ve updated the calendar to always start with the present date. Applying custom dates to specific markets was an opportunity to be introduced later on.
⦿ Contact form
The research and testing of the Contact form highlighted several areas for improvement:
Continuity of Communication: To address this, we propose the introduction of a Designated Contact Person feature. Similar to creating a ticket, this feature allowed users to continue conversations seamlessly. The Contact Person folder stored the entire history of previous communication.
Real-Time FAQ Updates: It was also discovered that the FAQ section should be dynamic, automated and updated in real time. As new questions emerged and frequency patterns changed, the FAQ content reflected the most relevant information.
⦿ The Design Language
Later on we established and documented the Design Language System (DLS), in accordance with the GROHE brand. It was heuristically and user tested from optimal usability and accessibility.
The DLS contains visual hierarchy, brand consistency principals, navigational principals as well as all graphic components as objects.
Given the Grohe dark blue background of the hub, we paid special attention to how DLS components behave in dark mode.
Another area of extensive research, testing and adapting was the Virtual Reality part of the hub.
The Solution
⦿ Integration of secure and easy interaction feature into the digital space, removing any pain-points related to scheduling, time zones and software compatibility .
⦿ Introduction of Designated Person for continuation of Contact form communication.
⦿ Integration of real-time, dynamically updated FAQs, which ease the burden on the Contact form.
Measuring Success
⦿ Due to our UX strategy the GROHE X Customer Retention Rate (CRR) has experienced a significant increase of 23% in the number of new customers at the end of a period, compared to the previous version of the hub.
⦿ In 2021, GROHE X was awarded the Red Dot Award winner in the Communication category, which was a great appreciation for the hard work of our entire team of internal as well as external members.
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