Ruccello Olive Oil
I conducted user research for Ruccello Olive Oil, a small business specializing in importing and selling high-quality olive oil and vinegar from Italy. My aim was to help Ruccello improve their website appearance, ease of use, and profitability by understanding their customers' needs and preferences.
Ruccello Olive Oil, is a female-owned, small business that was founded in 2017. Specializing in olive oil and vinegar sales, each of their products are hand-selected by the owner, RoseAnne, and imported from Italy to provide a one of a kind experience to customers. Ruccello aims to bring an authentic piece of Italy’s culture and lifestyle to olive oil lover in the U.S. by educating on the vast ways that olive oil can positively impact health and wellbeing, as well as fostering a community around food!
Ruccello Olive Oil was seeking to improve the website appearance, easy of use, and profitability. One of the main concerns was to determine best practices for improving traffic to the site so that purchases go through Ruccello directly, rather than Amazon. This is because sales through the Ruccello website leads to greater profitability than sales through Amazon. Additionally, making the website more user-friendly and giving customers access to what they are looking for in a quick and efficient manner was a critical component of the project.
The Context
My Approach
To address Ruccello's concerns, I conducted an interview with RoseAnne - the owner of Ruccello Olive Oil - to find out what her goals were and what type of user experience she wanted to offer to her customers.
Additionally, I surveyed customers to find out what is important to them when purchasing from Ruccello Olive Oil and what are their pain points or positives when using the Ruccello website.
Finally, I researched competitors to discover what other companies offer customers to compare and contrast Ruccello Olive Oil’s offerings for ideas.
“If someone comes to my website, they can trust what I say… that if they buy their product from me, it's high quality and I'm trustworthy and that's kind of the message I want it to portray.”
- RoseAnne
Customer Surveys
I sent out surveys to customers who had purchased from Ruccello Olive Oil to gain insights about their experience and desires, in hopes of learning how to improve the navigation and appearance of the website. Below are highlights from 2 survey questions:
What is important to you when making a purchase?
“I wanted to support a small business and I know RoseAnne sells a high-quality product.”
“I wanted to support a small business and I know RoseAnne sells a high-quality product.”
“I want to know info about the source and, when it comes to olive oil specifically, why it is a good product.”
“I want to know info about the source and, when it comes to olive oil specifically, why it is a good product.”
“I like to know that what I am buying is healthy and delicious.”
“I like to know that what I am buying is healthy and delicious.”
What is your experience like when navigating the website?
“There are a lot of different things that pop up. I am interested in the recipes and events, but not traveling.”
“There are a lot of different things that pop up. I am interested in the recipes and events, but not traveling.”
“Pretty good, I usually just buy the olive oil so I don’t spend a lot of time on the website.”
“Pretty good, I usually just buy the olive oil so I don’t spend a lot of time on the website.”
“I feel like that there is a lot of info, I have to click into a few different options to do everything I want.”
“I feel like that there is a lot of info, I have to click into a few different options to do everything I want.”
Personas
Based on the interview with Roseanne, I drafted a user persona that exemplifies the typical Ruccello Olive Oil customer. Meet Judy!
Judy Russo
60, Laguna Beach
Director of Marketing
STATUS: Married
SALARY: $140k
ARCHTYPE: Charismatic Caregiver
Judy is an outgoing individual with a passion for cooking and entertaining. She exudes warmth and kindness, and her caring nature is evident in all that she does. Judy loves to host parties, especially ones where she can gather friends in her kitchen to chat about the latest book on Reese’s book club, while sipping on a glass of Chianti and whipping up a delicious meal!
Judy loves researching the history of ingredients and recipes, and she is always on the lookout for the perfect combination of flavors to delight guests. She lives an active lifestyle and loves to explore the many hiking trails near her home. Judy enjoys planning family trips, and is always looking ahead to the next time she, her husband, and her kids can sight see and relax together.
Goals:
To discover olive oil that is ethically sourced, aligning with her values of healthy living
To find high-quality, yet affordable olive oil to share with friends at dinner parties
To learn about different olive oil regions and their unique flavor profiles
To discover new and satisfying recipes to expand her culinary skills and impress her guests
Frustrations:
Difficulty in finding high-quality olive oil amidst a sea of potential options
Sorting through recipes is time-consuming, and many may not align with her philosophy
Misleading or confusing information makes it hard to identify the facts
Friends have busy schedules, so it can be challenging to coordinate gatherings
Competitor Matrix
I conducted a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, treat) analysis of competitor brands within the olive oil market to determine if there were any gaps in Ruccello Olive Oil’s offerings.
The User Journey
Following surveys of Ruccello’s customers, I drafted a task flow representing the user journey that a customer would take on the Ruccello website. The task flow was then used to inform design decisions to enhance the user experience.
Recommendations
After conducting user research for Ruccello Olive Oil, it became clear that customers desired a more educational and streamlined experience when purchasing olive oil and vinegar products. They wanted easy navigation to products, clear information on sourcing and pricing, and a simple, fast checkout process. Additionally, they expressed interest in educational and social events related to olive oil.
To address these concerns, I recommended simplifying the website to better showcase Ruccello's main products and reducing information about travel, which was suggested as a separate web page. I suggested adding an education tab to share the benefits of using olive oil, adding links to products and recipes for easy and fast user navigation, and driving traffic to the website through grassroots marketing and referrals. Below you can see my mock ups of recommended adjustments.
