Case studies

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Screwfix have a fantastic relationship with their customers, making them the leading supplier of Trade Tools, Plumbing, Electrical, Bathrooms and Kitchens to tradesmen, handymen and serious DIY enthusiasts all over the UK. Screwfix consult their audience right at the start of design and test throughout so that both Screwfix and their customers benefit.

What Screwfix wanted:

• A user centred website design to simplify the user journeys and increase conversion
• A complete technical blueprint and graphic design for a mobile website that supported the way customers work on the go
• Integrate a new "collection and delivery" service into the existing successful website design

What Bunnyfoot delivered:

• Card sorting simplified the website from 32 to a more manageable 17 intuitive categories
• User testing wireframes ensured that 100% of participants completed purchase journeys without issue before launch
• We architected, wireframed, prototyped, user tested and graphically designed a complete mobile experience
• Our process for Screwfix's collection and delivery service outperforms every major competitor and now accounts for 40% of their orders
• Implementing user centred design methodologies have reduced development time and costs

The Work

For the trade, being able to rely on a supplier is crucial for being able to get a job done. Screwfix's loyal customers love the way the service is adapted to support their own business.

Over time, the original website had evolved to reflect internal structures and jargon, more than how customers think. We invited customers from the trade and DIY enthusiasts to discuss how they would categorise products, using card sorting techniques.

The insight was invaluable, enabling the number of categories to drop from 32 to a more manageable 17, with sub categories labelled in terms customers identified with, resulting in easier navigation straight to the products customers want to buy.

Now that customers could find the products they were looking for, it was essential to ensure that they could get through the checkout. Screwfix worked with Bunnyfoot to get our experience of best practice whilst testing designs from a paper prototype through to interactive wireframes. The final wireframes were based on evidence from testing different models of the purchase journey and gave the developers a solid framework of persuasive design and labelling.

Testing early designs for the introduction of a "collect from store" service to the website provided strong evidence to break from traditional eCommerce models in the interests of giving the customer what they really want rather than what is easier to technically achieve. Now customers can put collection and delivery in one basket and check out in a single transaction. This was a clear winner for customers with 40% of business orders being made online for collection in store.

For the mobile site development Bunnyfoot not only built the wireframes, but also a custom rig for testing. The rig was designed to give participants the most natural experience of the mobile web, whilst allowing clients to view every interaction and facial expression. The annotated functional specifications were then handed to the technology team to implement the final design.

Screwfix have discovered the model for successful design is to test early and test often to launch innovative services and a more streamline experience of buying online. This strengthens not only Screwfix's business, but their customers' businesses too for a solid future together.