Dustin - the Nordic and Benelux region's leading B2B electronics retailer dominated business markets, their B2C platform Dustin Home remained underoptimized, creating a real business challenge: two separate platforms that split traffic, confused branding, and missed cross-segment opportunities.
Dustin faced a critical revenue leak with 68.8% cart abandonment rates while meeting only 2 out of 6 key usability criteria that competitors had fully implemented, creating significant competitive disadvantage in the B2C market. The challenge required applying rigorous research methodology to solve real checkout friction problems while identifying untapped opportunities to connect customers who shop both personally and professionally across Dustin's separate platforms.
Customer Journey Mapping & UX Audit
Conducted comprehensive journey mapping through collaborative usability testing, documenting friction points from homepage to checkout completion. Applied AIDA framework (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) to identify "moment of truth" touchpoints where users made critical decisions.
Primary User Research
Executed targeted usability interviews with 5 Swedish participants representing core demographic (tech-savvy professionals aged late 20s to mid-30s). Semi-structured interviews with think-aloud protocol revealed critical insight: 60% prefer guest checkout, directly contradicting Dustin's mandatory account creation approach.
Empathy Mapping & Insight Synthesis
Created individual empathy maps for each participant using D.School methodology, then synthesized findings to identify common pain points: fear of not getting value for money, lack of emotional connection with brand, checkout complexity, and insufficient product reviews.
Competitive Benchmarking Analysis
Systematically analyzed Dustin against four major Swedish competitors (Komplett, Webhallen, Elgiganten, Inet) across six critical usability criteria. Data revealed clear competitive disadvantage with three competitors fully implementing checkout best practices while Dustin significantly lagged.
Three-Pillar Solution Framework
Developed comprehensive improvement strategy addressing:
Emotional design enhancement
Delayed account creation implementation
Strategic review system integration - Created detailed implementation roadmap with Trustpilot integration for immediate impact.
Emotional Design Enhancement
Users described Dustin as "clean but not clear" with zero emotional connection, while consistently praising competitor Webhallen's engaging design and loyalty programs.
Research Foundation:
Secondary research revealed customers with emotional brand relationships have 3x higher lifetime value and 71% recommendation rates vs. 45% average. Visual appeal influences user perception within 17 milliseconds.
Approach & Recommendation:
Implemented Aaron Walter's emotional design framework - adding "pleasurable layer" on top of functional foundation. Benchmarked against Patagonia's storytelling, Samsung's lifestyle imagery, and Bose's streamlined presentation. Signature personality development, strategic color psychology, personalized messaging, bold visual hierarchy, and lifestyle-focused product photography to create emotional resonance.
Delayed Account Creation
60% of interviewed users preferred guest checkout, yet Dustin forced account creation upfront. Baymard Institute data showed 25% of cart abandonment directly attributed to mandatory account requirements.
Research Foundation:
Eye-tracking studies revealed users expect guest options in upper-left desktop positioning. 53% of mobile users couldn't locate guest checkout when buried below other options. Industry analysis showed 14% site abandonment when guest checkout wasn't prominent.
Approach & Recommendations:
Complete checkout flow redesign prioritizing guest experience while maintaining account creation benefits through delayed pattern implementation. Guest checkout as visual priority, upper-left desktop placement, informational messaging about post-purchase account options, confirmation page benefit highlighting, and email reminder system for account creation.
Strategic Customer Review System Integration
4 out of 5 interviewed users stated they wouldn't purchase products lacking reviews, with participants saying "If there are no or few reviews, I will navigate away and search on Google."
Research Foundation:
BrightLocal study showing 88% of consumers influenced by online reviews. Chen and He (2022) research demonstrating positive correlation between reviews, trust, and purchase intention.
Approach & Recommendations:
Phased implementation starting with trusted third-party integration for immediate impact, transitioning to in-house capability for long-term customer experience control. Short-term Trustpilot Business integration for prioritized B2B/B2C products, product review sharing across site touchpoints, and long-term dedicated customer experience team development for organic review generation and sentiment tracking.