This California-based company sells products to people with disabilities. They have a retail store in California, but wanted to expand their audience via an online platform.
They didn’t just want to showcase their own products, though. They wanted to include products from other top producers who were competitive in the marketplace.
When it comes to website and product development, it can be hard to create an innovative product that truly changes people’s day to day lives. They key to making a successful product is to create something innovative that solves a problem and provides the consumer with a better quality of life. You do not want to create just another product that blends in with other products on the market.
You do not want to merely update an already existing idea or produce a more expensive item. For example, releasing a new update on a phone is not going to make a significant change in the lives of people, because the basic purpose of the good already exists. You need to create something that has inherent meaning and offers a new and improved benefit.
This site needed to be dynamic, taking into account all of the potential needs of future customers. It needed to be user-friendly so that anyone could navigate it. It also had to highlight the products in such a way that shoppers could easily learn about the characteristics and features that were most important to them.
Our goal was to make the site as simple and user-friendly as possible. We wanted the site to make users feel like they had support every step of the way while they shopped. To achieve this, we needed to focus on the overall user experience, putting aside any ideas about complex design features in order to achieve a website structured with brevity and convenience in mind.
We started by researching and analyzing the business environment. We looked at top industry leaders, analyzed existing resources, and conducted the classic SWOT analysis. Understanding this environment and considering problems we may face from our competition, we developed a first draft, or prototype, of the website. Usually, initial development would stop there. But we wanted to take the development a step further.We wanted to understand the needs of our actual customers.For help, we went to All Around Mobility to find out who their current customers are. We asked them to analyze the existing consumer base. They found three main demographics. The first group were close relatives of people with disabilities whose ages ranged from 35 to 45 years old. The second group were younger people with disabilities whose ages ranged from 25 to 50 years. And the last group were an older generation with disabilities. Their ages ranged from 50 to 70 years old.
From conversations with their clients, All Around Mobility concluded that the main consideration their consumers had when making purchases was not the price, but the specific features of the product. These consumers did not want a simple update, they wanted products that would significantly improve their lives. They wanted to purchase something that had long-term usefulness.
Next came the second round of our prototype, which was followed by criticism from focus groups. This feedback was useful because it helped us understand the main concerns of our customers when it came to the service and platform we were building. Among these concerns were worries about inaccurate product descriptions, customer service, and warranty support. Another concern was the ability for the shopper to change their mind about a product and easily switch it out for a more suitable option.
This critiquing process helped us to really think about the website we were creating. For every feature and detail, we were asking ourselves: “Does it really need to be there?” And if so, “Why?” After gathering ideas from focus groups, we were ready to move on to the third version of our website.
A question that came up during our brainstorming process was: what sort of characteristics do we show for each product category? It was tricky to determine the answer to this because different products needed different characteristics highlighted. For example, electric and mechanical wheelchairs have different key features, but belong to the same category of goods. What was the best way to address this problem? Our solution was to sort all the items into groups, then sub-groups. From there we were able to better pick specific features for each sub group that correlated with customer needs.
Another one of our solutions was to incorporate round-the-clock customer support into the functionality of the site.
After three rounds of prototype exploration, we were able to come up with a plan. From many brainstorms with the team and interviews with potential customers, we were able to envision the right style and functionality of the website.
The next step was to brainstorm the design. From the data we had gathered, customers feared inaccurate product descriptions. We needed a design that addressed this fear. We decided on a calming color palette and made sure the overall function and design of the website addressed those fears.
When creating a design, we always make sure to develop a website that is well presented and easily read on all platforms. We want it to be just as easily viewed and navigated on a smartphone or tablet as it is on a desktop. We applied that mentality to this project as well.
During our process of back-end development, we discovered a creative solution that benefited not just the customers, but also the store owners. This solution gave customers quick access to products and reviews. It also allowed the store owners to automatically update the product database, update market campaigns, and create promotions that would better serve their customers.
This online solution enabled the marketplace to increase sales many of times over, while also providing individual companies exponentially increased sales.
The website’s feedback and rating system not only gives customers a voice, but it enables the company to improve interactions with their customers and receive deeper insights into the customer’s problems and needs. This interaction with analytics services involved the customer directly in building the right sales funnel that would meet their expectations.
“AAM became a new selling platform for our company”
Nick May
New York, New York
“AAM is a great solution that helped me find the right product at the right price, something that I’m using on the daily basis”
Erica Moore
Buffalo, New York
“AAM is quick to respond. You do not have to make hard choices and risk. You use and one and the same resources for all of you”
Clifford Bailey
Denver, Colorado
“AAM is extremely easy to use. Offline stores is not an option anymore – I have over 300 options for an electric-powered wheelchairs. I’m sure that if this one does not work for me, it will be replaced seamlessly”
Deborah Kay
LA, California
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