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Peepultree Ventures
Bridging the cultural commerce gap of authentic storytelling into meaningful customer connections
A UX approach towards transforming authentic storytelling into meaningful customer connections for India's handmade creations.
My Role
Assistant Manager User Experience
Devices
Mobile
Tools Used
Figma
My team and role at Peepultree
Peepultree is a Mumbai-based startup that celebrates creativity and handmade traditions. As the only designer, I owned the end-to-end UX process.
- UX Design Validation
- Market Research
- Defining visual language
- User flows
- Brainstorming
- Hi-fi prototypes
- Journey Mapping
- Voice of customers
Stakeholder Ecosystem - Balancing four distinct groups
Artisan communities
Varying digital literacy, need for accessibility
Heritage experts
Cultural accuracy & authenticity validation
Co-founders
Business growth
Customers
Seeking authenticity
THE PROBLEM
The real challenge wasn't technology - it was a cultural translation
E-commerce platforms excel at selling products, but they fail at conveying the soul behind handcrafted goods.
Trust
Is this authentic?
Story
What's the cultural significance?
Connection
Who made this and why?
THE SOLUTION
Tranforming insights into scalable solutions that bridge cultural authenticity with digital commerce at scale
In collaboration with my team, I did research and market analysis, endless brainstorming, creating a design system with interactive prototypes over many sleepless nights, and “you are doing great” type of client presentations, I designed an experience in the eccomerce market from scratch.
THE PROCESS
By asking questions and discovering their answers is how we got to the final product.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Understanding consumer preferences for handcrafted products
Co-founders say...
We have observed that customers highly value authenticity and cultural heritage in the products they purchase. Many are specifically looking for unique, handcrafted items that tell a story and reflect traditional craftsmanship.
Consumers say...
We want to feel a connection to the products we buy, knowing they are authentic and crafted with care.
Generative Research
Understanding "How do people connect with their cultural identity through purchases?"
-> Digital Ethnography
-> Cultural Story Mining
-> Competitive Analysis
-> Stakeholder Interviews
-> Sentiment Analysis
MARKET STUDY
Is the current market satisfying our user needs?
To understand the market gaps and opportunities, I researched various applications and extracted the top applications for review.
Personalized shopping experience
Interactive and engaging elements
Feedback highlighted the market gaps
Limited Product Range
Users felt the platform lacked a diverse selection of artisanal and handcrafted products from various cultural backgrounds.
​
Inadequate Personalization
The platform lacked options for personalized recommendations and tailored shopping experiences.
Lack of community engagement
The platform did not have features that fostered interaction & engagement among users & artisans.
And we saw it as our business opportunities...
Testing solutions with real users and cultural stakeholders.
Evaluative Research
-> A/B Testing
-> Usability Testing
IDEATION
Listing down ideas
Due to limited time, we empathized with the users by stepping into their shoes. Each team member at Peepultree had experience purchasing artisanal and handcrafted products online, so we leveraged our personal insights and expectations to brainstorm and list potential improvements.
We jotted down the ideas we had for improving the user's experience:
SOLUTION
Adding personalization & engagement features to the User flow
Customization
Various kind of filters to make customisation easy for users
Content Highlight
Audio is at center for quickest access , it gives the gist of story/article.
Content Highlight
Ticket is clearly visible to draw attention
And I found our one for all solution
Community & trust
Influencer marketing integration
Whatsapp Integration
Government tie-ups
Business networks
Community Validation
Storytelling system
Sustainability focus
Product journey
Geographic & timeline based discovery
3D Product visualization
Live History Integration
1
Peepultree communicates product requirements to artisans.
2
Product journey
3
Discovery via geography & timeline
4
LHI Vertical
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RESULTS & IMPACT
And clients liked what we produced...
200+
accounts created in the first month after the launch
55% to 40%
reduction in bounce rate via A/B testing
20s to 1m
Increase in session length after improvements
Voice of customer and Tesing tools
-
Gather feedback
- Cluster and analyze
- Priortize by impact
- Root cause analysis
Thank You For Reading :)
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