Deliver UX services to the Nordik (www.lenordik.com), one of the most prestigious spas in North America. With a previous website built on limiting, outdated technology, the head of Marketing was looking for a fresh start to tell the real story of the Nordik, and give her team the keys to the website so that story could continue to evolve over time. 

The spa itself is an unforgettable experience, and the new website had to reflect that.

The customer had a very good understanding of their target audience, lots of data and insights to share from various market studies and customer service center logs, and a perfect Google Analytics implementation. In my industry, this doesn't happen often. I was thrilled!

The only question they had was - how do we take all that knowledge and apply it to the new website?

Based on the budget and the timelines, I proposed a three-step approach:

Define the website objectives and a digital content strategy

Recreate the information architecture through a hybrid card sorting exercise

Work hand-in-hand with the designer and developer in order to leverage WordPress as much as possible, while keeping the Nordik story intact

Ideally, I was looking to develop a Google Analytics Measurement Plan. The customer had just parted ways with their SEO and analytics agency and I wanted to show value as a Google Analytics Certified Partner. Unfortunately, the budget I was given did not allow for the full development of a plan. So instead, I provided the customer with a UX Questionnaire, facilitated a two-hour workshop to discuss objectives, target audiences' motivations and pain points, etc. 

The diagram below is a simple representation of a digital content strategy:

 Discovery > Exploration > Conversion > Engagement

Each step has a purpose, a few examples, and helps meet one or more of the website objectives.

This diagram also helped set the tone for content creation.

In preparation for the card sorting exercise, I went through the previous site's traffic pattern, looking at the most and least popular pages, the previous CMS' limitations, and overall site structure.

I facilitated an on-site card sorting exercise with the marketing team, pre-populating some cards and some categories that I knew were required, to kickstart the conversation.

- Customer quickly realized that they always combined the description of the facilities (divided into three zones, silence, whisper and social) and the description of how a thermal cycle works (divided into steps: hot, cold and rest). We knew from employee feedback that customers were always confused between the two. So we ended up with two separate sections: one dedicated to the physical location, and another dedicated to spa rituals. With a third location opening soon, it all made sense. The ritual is always the same, but the location and its amenities are unique to each spa!

- An hour into the workshop, a new category emerged. Initially labeled "wellness", the customer shared their intention of launching a wellness blog. The card sorting made them realize that they already had a tendency to share tips, ideas, beauty secrets through other pages, and combining all of them into a blog made sense.

To view the final sitemap, including the content strategy buckets mentioned in Point 1), please visit: http://lrqk4c.axshare.com/#g=1&p=proposed_sitemap 

Visit : http://lrqk4c.axshare.com/#g=1&p=mobile_container

Or use the sitemap on the right.

To find out more about UX Research or UX design services, 

contact me at caro@carolinezenss.com