Yakima — Elevating Yakima’s online presence to support international expansion.

Vivo was engaged to lead the design and development of Yakima Australia’s public facing Australasia/EMEA websites in conjunction with an overhaul of its information systems. Experiencing a period of growth, the website was a key tool to be leveraged globally to support its international expansion, demonstrate its innovation and position it as superior in both its offering and digital experience.

Vivo embarked on a comprehensive approach to understand Yakima's current digital landscape and unearth opportunities for improvement. Stakeholder engagement workshops brought together key departments from business leadership, sales, IT and customer service to align on strategic direction and success metrics. 

Through user journey and flow mapping, we mapped the end-to-end journeys of Yakima’s two key user groups to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement throughout all steps of the conversion process from identifying the right roof rack fit to maintaining purchased products. 

User surveys were conducted with internal stakeholders and real customers to gain insights into customers’ attitudes, habits, preferences and needs during their online experience. This qualitative data was supplemented with quantitative research through a sentiment analysis. We examined Google Analytics data to establish key metrics for benchmarking, analysed on site search data to identify the most sought after content on the site and conducted affinity mapping of the FAQs submitted via customer feedback forms and website enquiries.

Usability testing further validated our findings and provided insights into common user scenarios and interactions. We tested a range of scenarios on the existing website with 30 participants via online, unmoderated usability testing to set a benchmark for the difficulty of completing a set of scenarios that represent common experiences with the current conversion path, identify problems with the current design and identify shortcuts/workarounds used (if any) to complete the Scenarios (particularly among Stockists who have used the website before).

Guided by user needs and insights into user behaviour from our Exploration phase, we embarked on the design phase with a clear focus on addressing user needs and enhancing the overall digital experience. By translating stakeholder input, user journey mapping, and sentiment analysis into actionable design principles, we crafted intuitive interfaces that resonate with Yakima's target audience.

Our iterative approach to design allowed us to refine prototypes collaboratively, ensuring alignment with Yakima's strategic objectives and user expectations. From intuitive navigation to streamlined checkout processes, each design element was meticulously crafted to enhance usability and drive engagement.

The completion of this design phase marks a significant milestone in Yakima's digital transformation journey. The insights gathered and design solutions developed stand ready to propel Yakima's online presence to new heights, which we look forward to seeing come to life in close collaboration with the team.