Target Audience Review Your UI/UX: A Gen Z Marketer’s Take On Online Presence
As a skincare fanatic and a digital marketer, I’m always paying close attention to the newest and hottest skincare brands. After the hype, the controversies, and the acquisition, Drunk Elephant is now one of the most mature “trendy” skincare brands. As they built their whole brand popularity with their online presence, let me explore their website and share my experience as a target customer
At A Glance
When I opened the Drunk Elephant website, I immediately noticed the vibrant colors and oversized sliding texts. The visual is like a punch of message delivering their brand identity. As you scroll down, it becomes clear that the website has a focus on communicating brand philosophy. Though the main page features some key products, it’s more effective in telling the ingredient-focused brand story. New customers may find the visuals distracting from purchasing functions, but the sidebar and landing page are clear and impactful. The most attractive function for me is the user-friendly Smoothie Glossary.
Skincare is a lifestyle but also a science. Though customers are becoming more and more educated on the subject, many still find it tedious to read through the description and build a whole routine. The Drunk Elephant smoothie mitigates the problem by providing ready-to-use skincare combinations that solve different skincare concerns.
Design Digest
Described as loud and colorful, the website successfully reflects the brand style. Using some of the most popular UI/UX design trends like supersized typography and UI animations, the Drunk Elephant website leaves its users with a striking and lasting image. The brand has a simple packaging design which is complemented by vibrant colors blockings and bold letters used in the website UI. Additionally, the preppy aesthetics effectively attract their target audience: Gen Z to Millennials. The website employs responsive web design and makes web pages render well on varying devices and window or screen sizes from minimum to maximum display size.
My experience is that though the overall website design is immersive and user-centered, the main page feels more product-pushing and education heavy. Confirmed by the responsible creative agency “and company”, the website serves as “both a brand hub and a hardworking e-commerce platform”. So even though the content is heavily on brand philosophy and product ingredients, it’s also packed with sales and promotion information. Moreover, mobile integration is seamless. It’s rarely my experience but this time I like the mobile website more because of the faster loading and fewer elements to overload my senses.
Functional Feedback
“Most people can’t differentiate how they feel about a brand from how they feel about the experiences they have with that brand, so in many situations, UX becomes the brand differentiator.” — Nielsen Norman Group
Started as an e-commerce brand, the Drunk Elephant was later bought by skincare giant Shiseido. So their sales are both online and in many brick-and-mortar locations. Users of their website can be trying to purchase online, or just studying about the brand and later making a purchase in a physical store. So the website has to build a strong branding presence while converting sales online and offline. The innovative web design featuring modular sections and interactive features gives users a sense of tech-savvy and trustworthiness: the preppy colors and youthful product presentation deliver ease and lightheartedness. This is in line with the brand philosophy of professional skin care that avoids harsh chemical ingredients.
Overall, the website is user-friendly and useful. But they also have areas to improve. First of all, there are a lot of texts trying to convey professionalism, but it is hard for users to quickly navigate. To solve this, they can use illustrations to visualize ingredients and functions. There is also a problem with loading, as the complex website functions cause an issue for slower computers and internet speed. The powerful but busy visuals can also make users feel a bit lost. While too many promotion pop-ups can get in the way of browsing. In addition, unlike many other e-commerce stores, Drunk Elephant does not utilize AI customer service. Users are unable to reach any immediate help, they can only leave a message and wait for an email reply. With that said, it’s noteworthy that the website has good accessibility adjustments. Not only is the website more accessible, but also adds to the inclusive image of the brand.
