We need some space.
Because absence makes the heart grow fonder. That, and designer Viktorija Bachvarova explains how negative space, isn’t wasted space at all, and I agree with her.
The average person owns a piece of furniture anywhere between 7 to 15 years. For 21 year old me, that’s a long-term commitment and requires some thinking into what I’d want to buy.
What I’m getting at is how the advent of UX has transcended into all aspects of our digital buying journey, and how as marketers we have to audit and take a look at some of the creative ways it’s being done.
Furniture and relationship problems.
Ashley Home Furniture is a household name (I promise this won’t be like that Adobe — wedding article). The famous furniture and home decor retailer first started out in 1997 in Chicago and spread like wildfire with its modern and contemporary style.
They’ve done a tremendous job of curating specific looks and how to achieve exactly what you want, which is already a huge help in the sales funnel. Knowing what you want versus what you don’t can make all the difference, especially when it comes to the space you live in.
Finding the right balance of accommodating this journey and translating it to the digital front is where it gets turbulent. That in-person experience has to be recreated or evolved to online mediums, which is what we’re going to look at now.
What we had:
Seems familiar to most of us. A Tuesday afternoon trip to one of these to buy a new table or couch because the holidays are coming up and you have to think of a new identity for your family reunion.
Congested, overwhelming, and smells like construction and new wood. I love it. Now take a look at the website.
You’re greeted with a lot of bars, which means a lot of organization, but can get very cloudy and congested at first glance. However, with 46% of millennials using online mediums to buy furniture, their intent is a bit higher- thus knowing what they want. This organization helps that flow of thought.
The homepage does a really good job of laying out the information, their special promotions, and their CSR and DEI initiatives.
While Ashley Home Furniture’s main strategy is in-store conversions, their website allows the user to track deliveries, stock in nearby locations, and curated bloggable content. This is a good starting point for anyone looking to get into furniture shopping.
In need of comfort.
It’s universal knowledge that most searches, purchases, and online activity happens through our smartphones.
While the website was engaging and had a purpose, a change in aspect ratio and text optimization was all that the mobile site seemed to have. The buttons seemed to overpower the text, and the chatbot prompt made it difficult to click anything. 4/10. A simple different colored tab underneath each prompt would seem to fix this while decreasing the size a bit too.
For a company this size, the idea that their in-store locations are a priority is seen as the attention paid to higher-intent digital touchpoints dwindles, but can they redeem themselves?
Applying the pressure.
“There’s an app for that”
And there always is. The Ashley Home Furniture App is much more intuitive and has a seamless experience. Everything was easy to get to, there was an on-demand chat, a dedicated account page, a browse page and I enjoyed it much more than both web experiences.
The only downfall is, why did I have to come so far to get a good experience? There is a 1–2% app download conversion rate, indicating that only raving fans and loyal customers who buy from them often will get to experience the application. Paired with their online promotions, then roughly 10 in every 1000 customers would get the app.
Sure, they redeemed themselves, but at what cost? While the aesthetic is integrated, and nothing seemed out of place (other than the buttons)- which is a very hard job to do with this multi-channel approach, paying attention to each channel is just as important.
Their bloggable content is strong as well - especially with Gen-Z. We love any information that helps us express ourselves. The responsive design on the app and website helps users to find content that points them towards product pages, which is the company expediting that thought process for the user, beautiful. Less thinking for me.
The Verdict
Calling back to what designer Viktorija Bachvarova said, negative space can help alleviate some of that heavy pressure on tight spaces- like our phone screens. Websites can cut some slack since we can access them basically on our TVs now. But their mobile version needs to be updated and shown some tender love and care. However, if anyone manages to download their app, all is well in the world with a very intuitive design that’s both responsive and organized.
Content-wise, the website can easily help you decide whether you want to learn about the commitment you’re about to make or what color you want your new sofa to be. The blog posts are chic and speak to exactly the target audience of the store- millennials, newly-weds, Gen-Z trying to match their dorm beds with their chairs for some reason. It’s very contextual and I give it an A+.
So in summary, I do think all that Ashley needs is some space, they have a lot going for them. With good content, anything is possible.
