We’re excited to share that we’re starting something new.
Each month, our UX designer Tom will be taking a real website and giving it the full Limely treatment. Rethinking UX, redesigning the interface and demonstrating exactly how small design changes can make a big impact to ecommerce websites. No client brief. No pitches. Just a bit of fun, backed by solid UX design thinking.
To start things off, we’re taking a look at The Game Collection, a popular UK online video games retailer. As Tom’s an avid gamer himself, he’s extremely well-placed to spot what works and what doesn’t when it comes to shopping for the latest video games. Naturally, he already had a few thoughts on the site, but he didn’t stop there…
What we noticed about the original site
Before diving into design changes, Tom took time to get familiar with how the current site works, especially on mobile. And while The Game Collection does a decent job of covering the basics, there were a few UX shortfalls that stood out to him from the outset.
Notably, the search function (which is arguably the most important tool for people who already know what they want) was hidden behind a tap on mobile device which is not ideal for gamers who’ve got a specific game or platform in mind. Navigation was also lacking and if you wanted to browse by platform, you had to really dig for it, which isn’t great when most users are usually dedicated to a particular platform like PlayStation, Xbox, Switch or PC.
The homepage felt cluttered, with the hero banner sat too far down the page and a range of promotional grid images that don’t really add anything to the usually journey, other than just making the page longer. On top of that, there were hardly any trust signals! For an ecommerce website that handles payments, shipping and customer data, that’s a huge missed opportunity to build confidence and boost customer trust. Overall, the design lacked consistency and clarity, especially in the product listings, which could be doing a lot more to encourage conversions for The Game Collection.
Designing with gamers in mind
As Tom is the ideal target customer for The Game Collection, he had a good idea of the site’s shortcomings but after digging deeper with research and asking his gamer mates for their opinions, he quickly realised that one of the main behaviours of most gamers is that they already know the game they want before even landing on the site. The aim of their shopping journey is generally to hunt for a good deal.
“Most people either know exactly what they’re after or they like to browse by platform or hunt for a good deal.” – Tom, UX Designer
The key takeaway from Tom’s research was that most site visitors either arrive knowing exactly what they want, or they’re in browsing mode, looking by platform or hunting for the latest deals. This insight shaped every design decision as suddenly, it wasn’t simply about making the site perform better with better UX features and a sleek design, it was about making the experience align with real shopping behaviour.
Here’s what we changed & why
1. Search Functionality
Firstly, Tom tackled the search functionality. In our new design, it’s now front and centre on mobile devices, always visible with no extra taps. So if a gamer knows exactly what they’re after, they can get there, fast. Improving the search experience could drastically increase The Game Collection’s sales as users can quickly and easy find exactly what they’re looking for, not only improving their shopping journey but also boosting trust and satisfaction.
2. Streamlined Navigation
Tom overhauled the site’s navigation to enhance the online shopping experience and quickly engage users. By designing a clear and uncluttered navigation bar, platform filters are now extremely clear, with direct links to PlayStation, Xbox and more, directly from the homepage. Significantly reducing customer friction and allowing for more seamless and enjoyable online shopping.
3. Homepage Redesign
Previously, the hero banner took up the majority of the screen on mobile devices so Tom reduced the area of the hero banner to ensure other important CTA’s were above the fold. The banner was stripped of unnecessary fluff and led to a much cleaner and calmer homepage that demonstrates professionalism.
4. Improved Promotional Banners
By redesigning the promotional banners to be bolder and more visually engaging, so the latest offers actually feel like offers, Tom was able to create a striking homepage that instantly captures their target audience’s attention.
5. Trust Signals
Additionally, a Trustpilot banner was added to build trust which is absolutely essential for today’s consumers. A simple star rating banner within the homepage instantly demonstrates social proof and improves customer confidence in purchasing from The Game Collection.
6. Strengthened Branding
Visually, we strengthened and sharpened The Game Collections’ branding throughout the site. More cohesive colours and fonts that reflect the gamer community and a bit more personality in the visual identity and tone of voice. The site now feels much more playful, friendly and very gamer-appropriate.
7. Metacritic Rating
Product cards got a refresh too, with enhanced styling, clearer layouts, and a new Metacritic rating so users can decide which game they prefer faster and without bouncing to another site. The Metacritic rating UX feature is a fantastic tool for The Game Collection as it adds genuine value to the shopping experience and resonates with their target audience.
The key takeaways
Designing a better online shopping experience doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. Sometimes it’s about tightening things up, cutting out what’s not working and aligning the website with how people are actually going to use it! By focusing on the audience you’re designing for, you can dramatically improve UX and align your site to the people who will actually be shopping on it.
We hope you enjoyed this UX overhaul! We’ll be doing one of these UX redesigns every month, choosing a real ecommerce website and showing how clever UX design can create a smoother, more effective experience.
Got a site you think we should take a look at? Send it our way! And if you’re wondering what a full Limely-designed UX could do for your own site, you know where we are. And it doesn’t matter whether your existing site is built on Shopify, Magento, Hyvä or something else, we can wave our magic wands on any ecommerce platform.
