Ha Ha Ha
Sugarlash PRO is an internationally-recognized retail and education brand within the global lash industry.
They are known for their drive and dedication towards thought leadership and sustainable product innovation.
Sugarlash PRO first approached our team in a state of unhappiness with their Shopify website. Their outward appearance did not reflect their inner prestige, and their e-commerce performance did not live up to their brand’s actual revenue potential.
Many other agencies could have helped with their long overdue redesign / rebuild, but they came to us because they wanted an end solution that elegantly balanced aesthetics and performance — something that they felt past partners had struggled to deliver.
Working directly with the CEO and Chief Product Officer, we focused on strengthening their e-commerce fundamentals, elevating their brand perception, and bringing their specific vision to life. We also taught them how to better utilize the Shopify platform as a whole, and helped trim down their bloated technical stack.
The beginning of the project was spent rapidly familiarizing with the fundamentals of Sugarlash PRO’s business. We came to understand the lash industry as a whole, their unique positioning within it, and the B2B clientele they serve in turn.
We also made a point to educate ourselves on the basics of their products that outsiders would typically overlook. We learned about curl types, tweezer shapes, and shared behaviours amongst all lash artists (such as shopping for extensions mainly by diameter). This newfound knowledge allowed us to accurately pinpoint weak areas of their existing product taxonomy, and make appropriate recommendations for improvement.
To ensure steady alignment throughout all phases and stages of the project, we worked with the client to identify three main things: the real business goals we needed to achieve, the features that truly deserved highest priority, and the user personas who would act as guideposts for later decision-making.
Sugarlash PRO’s primary audience is made up of young (mostly millennial) lash artists who are still in the early stages of pursuing beauty as a profession. They may practice at a salon, or have a small business under their own name. They are self-driven, passionate about their craft, and highly aware of the growing competition / saturation within the industry.
In order to stay on top of their game, they look to brands like Sugarlash PRO not just for practical needs (i.e. tools and equipment), but also for ongoing inspiration and education.
The audit we conducted of the old website revealed a strong lack of e-commerce fundamentals, so we made sure to prioritize these previously-missing components despite the client’s own wishlist of features. The trust we built throughout the project helped us gain buy-in on deprioritizing several high-effort requests that initially felt like mission critical dealbreakers, but were actually nice-to-haves.
In most cases, we only needed to leverage simple but effective changes to bring the new website up to speed with modern best practices.
On PLPs, we introduced filtering, sorting and lazy loading for the product feed.
On PDPs, we introduced back-in-stock notifications, established guardrails for copywriting / content formatting, and reworked all UI elements so users could now differentiate between CTA buttons and other clickable objects. (Previously, everything looked exactly the same.) The recommendations we made on product taxonomy led to clearer nomenclature for titles, variant options and labels.
Other exciting additions
We chose only to invest in complex features that would support the user’s journey through product discovery and education. Using a combination of traditional code and third-party applications, we built two sets of comparison guides and recommendation quizzes to help users self-identify their best fit(s). We also assisted in upgrading their loyalty program to a new platform, and redefining their points system for better customer engagement.
Our team had the opportunity to co-lead the strategy of these aforementioned features, in addition to execution.
Head-turning visuals
Last but not least, we made things look real good.
The new website takes full advantage of Sugarlash PRO’s stunning in-house photography, allowing the visuals — which are essential to customer appeal in the lash industry — to shine and sell far better than before. We paired their imagery with bold typographic choices to further emphasize the brand’s fashion editorial aesthetic, just like the CEO had dreamed of.
