chromatic gallerie shoe row

Add to Cart User Flow Redesign

Client Description

Chromatic Gallerie was an online-only startup footwear brand that offered just one style of shoe, a basic pump, but they offered it in three heel heights, three widths, an extended size range, and a myriad colors.

Problem Description

Offering an extended size and width range in many colors presented an inventory management challenge. Of course, the basic black leather pump would sell well in every size, but there were many size and color combinations that had unexpected sales patterns. Some were surprisingly popular, while others exactly the opposite.

Stocking up on all the possible combinations would not be advisable at a startup level. On the other hand, long tail sales were essential to both the company’s bottom line and customer’s satisfaction and loyalty.

  • ClientChromatic Gallerie
  • ServiceUser Experience Redesign
  • RoleUser Experience Designer
  • Collaboration withCEO, Developer, Marketing, Customer service

Original User Flow

Once the user selected their size/width, they would add it to cart and proceed with the standard checkout. However, if the selected item was not available, there was no further action possible.

They could navigate to the contact page, contact customer service, and ask if it would be restocked, but most people wouldn’t bother.

They left unhappy because they couldn’t get the shoe they wanted, doubly unhappy if they wore a rare size and felt let down yet again that their size wasn’t available, and the brand had no way of knowing which SKUs would have sold if they had it in stock.

chromatic gallerie original user flow

Solution Overview

Before offering any solutions we pulled together and analyzed all the information we could get: sales data, inventory restocking history, user browsing patterns from Google Analytics, user feedback, customer service team interviews, and so on.

After performing the analysis, we agreed that a multi-option user flow sales process would be the best solution that would satisfy all the requirements and work within all the constraints.

This solution presented different user flow paths to different users based on the inventory status of their selection, which allowed users to continue engaging with the brand without distracting other users from completing the all-important purchase process with options not relevant to their needs.

Item Available

If the selected item was available, the user could add it to their cart or their wishlist, just as always. The redesign would not affect these users in any way.

chromatic gallerie product available
Item Unavailable, Restock Date Known

If the product was not available, but we knew the date the product would be back in stock, the user would get both the Preorder and the Notify options.

We considered offering only the Preorder option, but we found in testing that users were far more likely to abandon the process entirely if that was the only option available, so we added the Notify option to retain some of those users.

chromatic gallerie known restock date
Item Unavailable, Restock Date Unknown

If the product was out of stock without a known delivery date, the user would get the Notify option.

We decided against allowing users to preorder when we didn’t know the restocking date because that had a high potential for customer service nightmares later on.

The Add to Wishlist option was always present because it encouraged potential customers to create an account, which further fostered customer engagement with the brand.

chromatic gallerie restock date unknown
Completed User Flow Redesign
chromatic gallerie complete user flow redesign