Viking Waffles is a Norwegian food company based in New York City - it was founded by a Norwegian soccer athlete, CrossFit trainer, kettlebell and yoga instructor with an educational background in Medicine in Norway. During her medical study, she learned about nutrition and the preventive aspects of eating healthy. That awareness and her love for her grandmother's traditional Norwegian waffles inspired her to experiment with her diet and ultimately create a healthy alternative, the Viking Waffles. She decided to leave Norway and move to New York to follow her passion for being able to share the Viking Waffles with the world. Viking Waffles is specialized in delicious and home made protein waffles and even today, all Viking Waffles are hand baked daily in Manhattan and shipped out to the customers.
The client reached out to us and wanted the website redesigned. The main reason was that the site hasn't been updated for four years and the client felt the website design didn't match the premium quality of her products.
Product Designer
User Research, Visual Design, Prototyping & Testing
Figma, InVision, Miro
3 months
Conducted research and discovery phase by scheduling an initial call with the client to gain a deeper understanding of Viking Waffles as a brand, current website, target customers, and their needs. During the call, the client highlighted several key reasons for wanting a website redesign, including outdated design, a lack of premium feel, no updates in four years, and personal dissatisfaction with the current site. We subsequently conducted a collaborative brainstorming session with the client, analyzing the current website structure, potential improvements, and key user priorities to better align the design with the brand image and desired website highlights.
We conducted in-depth interviews with 10 regular customers of Viking Waffles to gather feedback on the website, including their workout routines, diet, history with the brand, and purchase motivations. We also conducted 5 user tests with individuals who had no prior experience with the website. Based on the insights gathered, we found that customers prioritize health and nutrition, with taste and high-quality ingredients as the main reason for repeat orders. The product page needs improvement, with too many stock images and difficulty in locating the ingredients list. Users also expressed disappointment with the design's appearance, which didn't match the high price point of the product. We plan to update the website to better highlight Nordic culture and the quality of the product, with a specific focus on the product page.
Next, we interviewed 10 current customers who visit the Viking Waffles website in regular basis, to get some customer feedback from the website. Some of the questions we asked were:
After the interviews, we ran 5 user tests on the current website to better understand how smooth the user flow is and if new users can easily navigate through the website. These participants had never been on Viking Waffles website before and they had to complete 2 different tasks:
Task 1: Can you please navigate through the website and purchase 1 package of protein waffles and one package of Viking butter. Please think out loud and describe what you like and what you don’t like.
Task 2: Please find the ingredients list for the original Viking Waffle.
After the interviews and user tests, we discovered that:
Based on all the information we gathered from the interviews and user tests, we decided to concentrate on updating the website and high light Nordic culture and the quality of the product.
After the user research, we created a user persona based on the findings from the user research:
Motivations:
Pain Points:
Before starting the ideation process, we had a look at the current website and highlighted some issues we noticed ourselves and from the feedback, we had received from the users.
My team and I had a brainstorming session and we decided to concentrate on following in our redesign:
We had a call with the client weekly to go through what we had done so far and to get feedback and comments from the client. She provided us with some web pages she liked and gave us an example of a style she wanted us to use for the Viking Waffle website. Some examples are below:
I started by working on the home page - the plan was to have one on one meetings with the client once a week and present her our designs and get some comments and feedback. We were working on each page one at a time until the Figma files were approved by the client and after that, they were sent to our engineers. After all the Figma files were approved, we moved on to the mobile version. The client also provided pictures she wanted us to use.
I created High-Fi Figma prototypes which we presented to the client and once approved, were sent to our engineering team.
On the home page, we wanted to add a clear hero image with a CTA button so when a user lands on the website, they can see straight away what the website is about. The client also wished that we'd highlight the nordic culture and the viking theme. We changed the font to match the font on the product packaging and also added some colors on the website that matched the colors on the product packaging. I also wanted to place the best-selling products at the top of the home page followed by the picture that highlights all the benefits of the Viking Waffles. I also added a clear hierarchy and clear headings that were previously missing, on the home page.
The collections page was lacking hierarchy, so I added clear headings for each group of products:
For the product page, I wanted to add steps 1-3 to make the user flow smoother:
We also wanted to add more pictures on the product page along with the colors. One of the biggest changes was to add "What's inside" section that includes all the ingredients in the waffles along with the picture of each ingredient.
The biggest changes for the Home Page were:
The biggest changes for the CollectionPage were:
The biggest changes were made on the Product Page - the original page had very minimal information about products and not enough pictures. I added a 3 step process to purchase protein waffles (flavor, quantity, subscription/one-time order) to make the process more clear for the users. We also added a list of ingredients with pictures and highlighted the benefits of the waffles. Recipes were also added at the bottom of the page for the users' inspiration (we wanted to include savory recipes as well to show the users how versatile the products are). At the bottom of the page, we added a review section.
How did I increase the conversion rate: I made the site simpler, and easier to navigate. I also made significant changes on the product page that allowed users to understand the product better. I added sections about the benefits of the product ingredients and education of the brand to give the users a better experience.
Additionally, I made the website feel more premium that reflected the higher price point of the product, the older website was too simple and the price was too high which made a lot of customers not trust the product or not think the product will match the high price point
I also emphasized sections about social proof by adding celebrities and publications that further add authority to the brand and add trust in the product. Additionally, we added photography that reflected homemade freshly baked waffles versus packaged goods that might not taste good - this was important to the founder because she's received a lot of complaints or feedback that the product looks expensive but also looks like it might be made in a factory so we wanted to add photography and content around the fact that the product is made especially at her Bakery and also give off the Norwegian homemade vibe.
