NEIBAUER
WARRIOR WHISKEY
Desktop & Mobile Website Build
How might we make our whiskey attractive and easy to buy for military veterans?
OVERVIEW
When Northern Artisan Potables leadership pivoted from running a craft distillery, bottle shop, and restaurant to focus on selling the Warrior Whiskey product line online, they reached out to me.
They requested a website to showcase the brand’s mission, make a clear connection to the veteran community, and incorporate a liquor-specific e-commerce platform for friction-free sales of their craft whiskey.
Through discovery, ideation and iteration, I created a concise, mobile-forward website in Squarespace which integrates Big Thirst, an e-commerce platform to enable online alcohol sales. There is a singular shopping page to streamline ordering and prevent abandoned carts.
CLIENT
Warrior Whiskey™
TIMELINE
Dec. 2022 - Mar. 2023
MAIN OBJECTIVE
Sell Warrior Whiskey online
MY ROLE
This was a solo contract project which included:
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Management (sprint planning & reviews)
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Acting as liaison (for e-commerce platform rep/developer)
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UX research (competitive audit, survey & interviews)
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Lo-fi prototyping
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Design & front-end development
Tools Used:
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Cognito Forms
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Zoom
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Otter.ai Transcription
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Google Sheets
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Figma
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Miro
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Adobe CS
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Squarespace
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
Empathize
Users of the Warrior Whiskey website are:
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Over age 30
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Affiliated with the military in some way
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Whiskey drinkers or give whiskey as a gift
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Willing to spend $50+ on a bottle of whiskey
To get a handle on how to deliver a pleasant user experience for this specific user, I created, distributed, and parsed the results of a survey.
I utilized my network to obtain 42 survey responses.
83%
of those surveyed bought whiskey within the last 6 months
51%
of purchasers reported they bought whiskey as a gift
6%
of purchasers reported they'd bought whiskey online
98%
of respondents were open to purchasing whiskey online
THE PROCESS
Define
There are many options available for specialty whiskey in a person’s local liquor store and online, so buying a new whiskey online might be unappealing. There’s an opportunity to showcase this brand’s USPs while making it easy to purchase a bottle of whiskey for oneself or as a gift.
Study finding
Application to Solution
6% of people who purchased whiskey within the last 6 months reported they'd bought whiskey online
98% of survey respondents were open to purchasing whiskey online
At least one of the following was true for all survey respondents:
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Personally is or was in the military
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Has a friend who is or was in the military
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Has a family member who is or was in the military
Because buying alcohol online is a less-common e-commerce activity, keep the patterns similar to other products for familiarity & trust.
Make it straightforward to buy: include clear call to action, simplify shopping page to emphasize product, possibly include social proof.
Include prominent imagery/video of:
Military themes, veteran-owned business, veteran outreach
Ideate & Prototype
Carefully considering information from stakeholders, the survey, and competitive analysis, I developed "How might we..." questions and iterated on designs to answer the questions.
How might we appeal to shoppers who have never purchased whiskey online before?
How might we present “Drink for a Cause” in an effective way?
How might we make the connection between buying whiskey and helping military vets?
How might we make our whiskey attractive and easy to buy for military veterans?
Test
Several survey respondents were willing to participate in website testing, and I was able to run cognitive walkthroughs with three individuals via Zoom. Testers interacted with a high-fidelity prototype of the site, two on desktop and one on mobile.
Testing Highlights
Home page:
All testers found it engaging, especially the hero video & tagline.
"Drink for a cause" - I like that. I'll just drink, not for a cause."
Shop page:
All testers easily navigated to the shopping page and were pleased with the organization of information and imagery:
"This would be a neat gift - when I retired from law enforcement I got a bunch of bottles."
Testing revealed a few issues to address, such as reducing the number of liquor stores displayed in search results. I made the necessary corrections and updates prior to launching the site to the public.
Implement
The site went live in March of 2023!
Sales exceeded expectations and customers across the country were mixing Whiskey Brambles using the recipe from the website.
RESULTS & OPPORTUNITIES
8%
Conversion rate in site's first 30 days live
5%
Conversion rate
(11-month rolling average)
22%
Average increase in monthly sales since launching website
Testing/Research Opportunity:
Does "coming soon" verbiage on the Warrior Whiskey Bullet Bottle create interest & intrigue or does it turn off returning customers?
?
!
Design/Development Opportunity:
Big Thirst's code enables the persistent cart only on the shopping page, not on all pages of the site. Could inclusion of the shopping cart on all pages increase conversion?
LESSONS LEARNED
This project was a great example of how, often, what is being sold is much more than the sum of its parts. Being able to reach the target audience and make it easy to purchase Warrior Whiskey was a special experience not because of the units sold, but because of the pride and nostalgia it evoked for visitors to the site.
If I'd had a greater budget and access to more programming knowledge, I would have loved to improve the Add to Cart look and the shopping cart experience, potentially with a cart icon in the header of the page or the persistent cart visible sitewide.