SteamLine Luggage
A Shopify store revamp for this glamorous, global business.
When your stunning products outshine your dated website, it’s time for a revamp. SteamLine wanted to update and modernise the design of their Shopify store to bring their glamorous products to life. I was brought in to support and advise them through this journey, to ensure they got the best out of Shopify.
The core objective for the project was to ensure SteamLine’s stunning, vintage-inspired luggage shone. The website didn’t match the brands luxury status. It needed that extra fizz, that glamour that the products deserved.
Secondary to this was streamlining the navigation, how customers could find the products and introducing nudges towards conversion. It’s a luxury product with high price-point, so the website needed to work hard to convert browsers into customers.
Rather than outsource the work to an agency, SteamLine decided to go down the more cost-effective route of hiring great freelancers, creating a ‘mini agency’ if you like. With UX designer Tess Bergin, developer Richard Forbes-Simpson and myself on board, we delivered a revamped website that the business was proud of.
Below are some of the core things that we implemented.
Shopify 2.0 upgrade
The existing site was running on Shopify 1.0 which was limiting its potential and was somewhat messy from a previous move from Magento to Shopify. Think lots of duplicate pages, content, and geo-location not working as it should. A new Shopify 2.0 template with a bespoke design was delivered.
A re-vamped mega-menu
We re-worked the mega-menu to showcase more product collections and in a much more structured and organised way, to include shop by size, by type, and by colour swatches and material. This makes it easier for users to find what they are looking for as well as drawing them into other collections or variations that they may not have previously seen. With visual appeal at the forefront of the websites’ objective, we also added promo images to call out key collections, products and content pages on the site.
A brand new PDP
This was the template that needed the most updating and the one that needs to work the hardest. Everything on this page was changed with incredible design work by Tess. We now have full bleed images, product icons, product features and switching between variants by colour and size. Trust markers were brought into the page in a clear and helpful way - both in the product card and in more visually appealing way below. A lot on this page is powered by metaobjects. A promo pod and ‘Goes well with’ sections were introduced as was the instagram feed - very important for an inspirational brand. It’s a page that works hard, showcasing a lot of information and looks stunning. Have a quick look here: https://steamlineluggage.com/products/the-entrepreneur-lip-carryon
Introducing video
The benefits of video on a website are known - they increase engagement, memorability and trust in a brand as well as aiding conversion. But too much video can be discombobulating to the user and have a negative impact on site speed. Here we introduced video where it was needed to highlight something specific - as part of the newsletter sign up pod to draw attention to it and as disruptive blocks on collection pages to call out a hero collection or product.
Trust markers & credentials
With a high-end, high-price-point product the customer needs more convincing to convert. SteamLine had a lot of quality and sustainability credentials that needed surfacing to push trust. In addition to introducing information on the PDPs, longer form content was built into stand-alone pages including Sustainability, Product Care, Craftsmanship and Materials, As Seen on Celebrities & Friends and As Seen in the Press. All of these support the brand story of well-designed, well-made luxury products.
Klaviyo Reviews
We set up Klaviyo reviews alongside Klaviyo emails, so that the team could start collecting reviews from customers. A bank of reviews will be collected before being surfaced on the product pages.