Case study: Scent Addict
Scent addict is a subscription service by The Fragrance Shop that allows users to discover new scents with ease. It provides a monthly supply of their chosen fragrance in a travel-sized atomiser, enabling customers to explore a variety of designer and niche perfumes before committing to a full bottle. While the service is innovative, the website’s current design lacked clarity, visual appeal, onboarding of service and an intuitive user experience, creating barriers for users to explore understand and subscribe.
Brief Overview.
The Challenge
The existing Scent addict website struggled with:
- Complex Navigation: Users found it difficult to browse fragrances and understand how the service works.
- Unclear Value Proposition: The benefits of Scentaddict were not effectively communicated, leaving potential subscribers unsure about its advantages.
- Outdated Visual Design: The interface did not align with modern design principles or reflect the premium feel of the brand.
- Fragmented User Flow: The subscription process was unintuitive, leading to high drop-off rates during onboarding.
The Goal.
The goal of the project was to overhaul the UX and UI of the Scent addict website, creating a seamless, visually appealing, and user-centric experience that communicates the service’s value and drives subscriptions.
My Role.
As the Senior UX/UI Designer, I led the end-to-end design process, collaborating with stakeholders, developers, and marketing teams. My responsibilities included:
- Conducting user research to identify pain points and opportunities.
- Developing wireframes and prototypes to optimise the user journey.
- Redesigning the interface to reflect a modern, premium aesthetic.
- Simplifying the subscription flow to enhance usability.
- Conducting usability testing to refine designs before implementation.
Competitor Benchmarking.
To identify opportunities for improvement and differentiation, I analysed the competitive landscape of fragrance subscription services, focusing on major players like Scentbird, ScentBox, Secret Scent Box, and Scentful. Here’s a summary of their strengths, weaknesses, and standout features compared to Scent addict.
Scentbird
Overview: A popular U.S.-based fragrance subscription service offering a wide range of designer and niche fragrances in travel-sized atomisers.
Strengths
- Broad fragrance selection with over 600 options.
- Personalised recommendations based on user profiles.
- Polished mobile app for seamless subscription management.
- Option to choose fragrances each month or let Scentbird decide.
Weaknesses
- Higher subscription cost compared to some competitors.
- Shipping limited to the U.S., reducing accessibility.
- Occasional delays reported in delivery.
Unique Features
- Offers beauty and skincare products alongside fragrances.
- Allows users to purchase full-size bottles at discounted prices.
ScentBox
Overview: A subscription service that offers a vast array of designer fragrances with a focus on user flexibility and customer service.
Strengths
- Two subscription plans: Standard (designer) and Premium (luxury fragrances).
- Free exchanges if users dislike their selected fragrance.
- Affordable pricing with discounts for annual memberships.
- Robust scent categorisation for easier discovery.
Weaknesses
- Website design is less modern and user-friendly compared to competitors.
- Limited international availability.
Unique Features
- Complimentary exchange policy, enhancing user satisfaction.
- Rotating monthly fragrance recommendations.
Secret Scent Box
Overview: A UK-based subscription service providing curated monthly boxes with three sample-sized fragrances.
Strengths
- Focused on smaller, curated selections to reduce choice overload.
- Compact subscription box ideal for trying multiple scents.
- Lower monthly cost compared to competitors.
- Excellent packaging, enhancing the unboxing experience.
Weaknesses
- Limited fragrance quantity per sample (smaller than competitors’ atomisers).
- Less variety, as users cannot choose specific fragrances.
Unique Features
- Provides both men’s and women’s curated boxes.
- Focused on delivering a surprise experience each month.
Scentful
Overview: A subscription service offering premium fragrance samples for exploration and gifting.
Strengths
- Strong focus on luxury branding and packaging.
- Includes a detailed information card for each fragrance.
- Competitive pricing for the premium experience provided.
Weaknesses
- Limited selection of fragrances compared to larger competitors.
- Lack of personalisation or tailored recommendations.
Unique Features
- Positioned as a gift-friendly subscription option.
- Focus on exclusive and harder-to-find fragrances.
Key Insights.
To identify opportunities for improvement and differentiation, I analysed the competitive landscape of fragrance subscription services, focusing on major players like Scentbird, ScentBox, Secret Scent Box, and Scentful. Here’s a summary of their strengths, weaknesses, and standout features compared to Scent addict.
Pain Points
Choose gender button are found to be unnecessary and are found multiple times on this page. There are no quick access login features for existing users or for users who have bought a subscription in store. More needs to be done to showcase what is valuable to the users. (that users can try multiple big named brands at an affordable price).
The second most clicked button on the page is to find out more information about scentaddict however this section is very wordy and not very appealing to the user.
User has to scroll for to long to get to the next section of the page past the products.
The most clicked on button on the page is the “see more” under the products, however as there is limited filtration on the main page there is a big possibility that the users will not find what they are looking for here and leave.
This section with a preview on a big selling point (the brands available) is very far down the page and has little engagement.
The most useful and most clicked on option from here is the gifting as the rest can be found in the hub or in checkout.
The potential trust touchpoint (the comment section) blends into the footer making it very missable for users.
Wireframes
New User First Impressions
Create a more fun and digestible experience for the users.
Implementation of new brand elements.
Make scentaddict’s personality stand out more while keeping some TFS recognisability to show the users that it is a part of a trustworthy company but also has its own unique identity.
The whole page has now been made much shorter and easily scrollable with clearly defined sections for the user to interact and engage with.
Redesign Breakdown
Homepage
Navigation bar name has changes from the TFS to the scentaddict logo to give the user the feeling that they are not just on another TFS product page.
Hero banner now includes an “Already a member?” button for the users who have joined through the stores and or just want to log into their account.
Onboarding / “what is scentaddict” section has been brought up to be immediately presented to the new users.
Quick Action CTA that will get the user straight into the journey.
USP Brands strip carousel has been added with the best selling and most searched brands shown first.
Product display has changes to a side scroll rather than a long scroll that causes the user to become disinterested in what is lower down the page.
Visual Product include fragrance notes preview to show the users what they fragrance will smell like.
Marketing Introduction of promotional banners.
Comment section for scentaddict has been moved further up as a trust touch point.
The Footer now only includes the gift section as this is the most clicked on option. With the inclusion of the video it has become more visually appealing by showing exactly what the user will receive.
Product listing page
Changed the scroll duration for the user to be much shorted with breaks in the form promotional banners making the page less repetitive for the user.
New Arrivals section has its own section as this is something that users are very interested in.
Creation of new sections at the very top of the page that are the fragrance families that will help users find their favourite scents quick.
Introduction of high level filtration elements such as: Gender, Brand, Fragrance Family.
Calendar
Calendar has a 12 moth overview.
Dedicated calendar button always accessible on the nav bar and prompt pop up when the user adds a scent to their calendar.
Single month has a functionality that could allow the users to add multiple fragrances into it.
The users can add more fragrances (+) and will be sent back to the PLP or by using the “surprise me” function that will add a best selling fragrance to their calendar.
Introduction of high level filtration elements such as: Gender, Brand, Fragrance Family.
Atomiser select and Checkout
Atomiser selection is more interactive and visually engaging to the user.
Checkout is shorted and segmented that allows users to find what they are looking for with a lot more accuracy as all the individual sections clearly defined.
Ever-present order total as well as indication if the user hasn’t completed all necessary steps (greyed out CTA button)