Closure Revenue Retention
Experience & Web Design
Project Overview
Role: UX research, testing, prototyping
Team: Gap Online Leadership, Marketing, UX, Consumer Insights, WCD
Duration: Apr—Dec, 2019
Gap had announced that it would be closing 200+ stores within
the next two to three years. Customer data shows that Gap retains ~30% of customer sales 6 months after a store closure, and ~3% after a full year.*
Objective: Retain customer sales after store closures by creating
personalized omni-channel journeys optimized for sales transfer.
Challenge
Convincing customers that have never shopped at Gap Online before to change their shopping habits is the biggest challenge we face as we prepare to close 200+ stores. This affects roughly 2 million* customers across the United States which can be a large loss to the business.
With this in mind, we created user journeys that would incentivize customers to shop online while also providing alternative options where possible.
Systems Thinking
To begin, we recognized that there were a lot of moving parts to this project. We needed to include unique information for each customer. This included: closing notice, current store address, new store address, discount offer, unique codes for store & online, personalized product suggestions based on location, shopping history & trending items.
However, with how big our website platform is, we were limited on how and what we could do to make this experience as smooth as possible. We needed to prioritize sensitive information and use system components that were available to us without introducing new or complicated features.
Top Priority Components
1. Name of frequent Gap store that is closing
2. Name & address
of nearest Gap store
available
3. Incentive & motivation to shop
(dollar amount)
4. Automated codes
for each individual
customer to apply
discount
We gave less priority to product recommendations because we found that while they are dynamic components, there were widgets available to pull content in by geo-tag, shopping history, and trending items. Thus, we focused on how to make the top four components work together.
Dynamic components
Static component
But, what if there is no other Gap store nearby?
The ultimate goal is to push our customers to shop online but old habits die hard. Our data shows that after a store closes, they’re more likely to find a new Gap store before trying out online shopping on our platform. This is why we provide the nearest Gap store available within 5 miles. However if there are no stores nearby, we also consider Gap Factory stores as potential business drivers to retain said customer. Thus, we mapped out three audience funnels for Gap, Gap Factory, and Gap/GF Online.
Journey User Flow
Audience 1
Driving customers to shop the next nearest Gap store by providing the following:
-
Nearest Gap store address
-
Discount voucher at Gap & Gap Online
-
Personalized item suggestions
Audience 2
If there is no other Gap store within a 10 mile radius, customers are driven to shop the nearest GapFactory store by providing the following:
-
Nearest GapFactory store address
-
Discount voucher at GapFactory & GF Online
-
Personalized item suggestions
Audience 3
If there are neither a Gap or GapFactory store within a 10 mile radius, customers are driven to solely shop at Gap Online by providing the following:
-
Discount voucher at Gap Online (with the voucher also being accepted in stores)
-
Personalized online-exclusive item suggestions
Final Deliverables
While Gap is a large corporation, we wanted the cadence to feel personal rather than corporate. In the final stages we worked together with the copy team to make sure our designs reached our audience with a personal tone, look and feel.
Journey Landing Pages
These are the landing pages designed for each of our audiences. Though they look very similar, they drive our customers to unique pages personalized for each individual according to their location and shopping history. Customers would arrive here by interacting with the personalized emails below.
Email Creative
Each email represents a touchpoint providing information on store closures and next steps. For journeys 1 & 2, we included store managers’ signatures and for journey 3, we had our brand president sign off to show our customers how important they are to us.
But wait… what if this group of people simply go to our website on their own?
This is where I had an “A-ha!” moment. I recognized that it is possible for customers being affected by store closures to go to gap.com on their own, without going through the funnels we provided. Thankfully, I was able to bring the “direct to site landing banners” to life that would live above the native home page content. This wouldn’t have been possible without this amazing team that came together in a scramble, kept calm, and collectively came up with a solution to stay on track.
Direct-to-site Web Banners
These site banners came together at the very end with little time to make the deadline. Thus, we prioritized the online funnel and only provided the information we thought is important to incentivize customers to shop online.
If you’re a Gap store customer that is affected by store closures, then you have been, or will be part of this shopping experience I had the pleasure to work on.
😊
Learnings & Takeaways
This project was a great way to learn about consumer behavior and how to respond to it. Having to empathize with millions of people to really understand the data we received from the test runs was a challenging and unforgettable experience.
No matter how much diligence goes into the process, things can always slip through the cracks. It’s a matter of being able to keep calm in moments of adversity to drive good decision making to stay on track and deliver shipment on time.
Understanding that sometimes, there are limits to what is feasible and attainable within a set timeline and sacrifices need to be made. However, not being afraid of taking chances is what allowed me to be picked as the designer for this project and gain trust from my stakeholders to show that I can deliver.
*Due to NDA made with Gap Inc, I cannot provide exact numbers in data in regard to the research, business gain/loss, and or results that may still be ongoing.