Meru
Building the Beta for a mobile creator storefront
Product Design & UX Case Study
Menu
Role
Tools
Timeline
Team
Product Designer
Figma
Zeplin
JIRA
Material UI
2 Weeks
Co-founder
Engineer & CTO
Challenge
The current influencer marketing model is broken. Today, brands bank on 1-2 “white whales” (e.g. the Kim Kardashians of the world) when in reality we believe there’s a huge long-tail opportunity that’s overlooked. The “sleeping giant” influencers may have lower follower counts, but they receive better engagement and conversion. Picture the mom in Ohio who shares her DIY projects on Instagram. Or, the self-described “below average runner” who posts her workouts on TikTok. Our fundamental belief is that people want to buy from people they trust.
The goal is to design our Beta mobile storefront to get in the hands of a small batch of trial participants in order to prove out the business model.
The customer needs a better buying experience on social media in order to support the creators they love and trust.
Solution
1. Intuitive Shopping 💡
The browsing and shopping experience is one that our audience, who shops on mobile and buys from creators, will be familiar with.
2. Customization ✂️
The creator can personalize their shop with colors, social links, and blurbs on the product page about why they love or recommend that product.
3. One Checkout, Multiple Brands 🛍
The thing that makes Meru stand out is the ability to checkout in one place even if the items are from different brands/vendors. (Although the CTO is still working out the logistics of this on the backend, I still wanted to be able to show that flow so I could glean interest during user interviews).
SHIPPED 📤
We released and shipped the Beta of our creator storefront product. Today, a creator can upload their existing links & codes from brands they’re already working with and personalize their storefront with colors and social media embeds.
Our first beta user, Sandy, has a Meru shop live, and she’s been sharing products she loves on it. Since she started her shop, of the 806 of people who have landed on her Meru shop from her post, 95 (12%) have clicked on the “Build your Own Creator Shop with Meru” link in the footer and gotten to our landing page, and 16 (17%) of them signed up to join our beta.
How does this solve a USER problem?
Users can browse all products the creator recommends in one place without having to click back and forth in their linkt.ree. It’s an easier browsing & shopping experience.
How does this solve a CREATOR problem?
The creator shop helps bridge the gap between platforms, make their networks portable, and bring the purchase forward into their domain, resulting in more ownership.
How does this solve our BUSINESS problem?
By simply enabling creators to collect phone numbers and emails at check-out, we play a role as a 3rd party platform-agnostic tool that major social media platforms cannot.
How I Got There Read on for the full process ⬇
Research
User Persona
Beta Feedback
When it comes to monetization tools, I want them to be simple and attractive so that they keep me free to focus on my content.
I definitely want to add a link to my own shop in my Linkt.ree and play around with it. For me, I just want to make sure I can customize it so it stands out to my followers.
I see the value, but I would like there to be a one-click checkout feature. But even then why couldn't I just create an Amazon shop and add all my links?
Iterations
Creator Shop Landing Page
Product Page
Next Steps
& Reflection
Next steps in terms of being able to iterate on these designs are:
- Continue to show the Beta during the creator outreach interviews but also begin conducting usability testing.
- Work with engineer to clean up the collection card text and buttons
Let's Chat!
Have questions about my work? Want to learn more about what motivates me?
Reach out!