Tripling revenue by capturing the feel of a record store
Role: UX/UI and Creative Lead
Brand
UX Design
UI Design
E-Commerce
Coversion Rate
Revenue
Average Order Value
Cart Abandonment
Objective
Design an online experience that would meet the emotional needs of Warner Music's established Rhino customer while appealing to new types of music lovers.
In the decline of the record store, Rhino wanted to capitalize on their devoted fanbase and establish a strong Direct-To-Consumer presence that not only exemplified their brand but also facilitated a very complex, multi-codec digital download system.
What is Rhino?
Rhino began in the early 1970’s out of the trunk of a car and grew into the largest catalogue label in the world. It’s famous for their products - complex and limited edition box sets with deep cuts and never-before-seen content in multiple formats.
The Rhino brand embodies 6 qualities
EXPERTISE
Rhino is the ultimate fan. It is the trusted source for not only music, but the culture of music. In the Rhinoverse, nothing is forgotten.
QUALITY
Rhino not only knows about quality music, but about music quality. It is music is packaged with great care and tireless creativity. Nothing is “good enough” for Rhino.
CONFIDENCE
Rhino’s knowledge of & love for music can neither be bested nor doubted. Rhino embodies a self-assurance that is not loud, but rather uncomplicated.
MASCULINITY
Rhino is strong, uncomplicated and bold. It is steadfast, resolute and determined. It is purposeful and proud. (80% of Rhino’s demographic is male.)
IRREVERENCE
Rhino is fully aware that it is the ultimate music geek – a badge it wears proudly. However this allows Rhino to poke fun at itself and not take itself too seriously.
TRANSGRESSION
Rhino celebrates a violation of accepted or imposed boundaries. Rhino breaks the rules. Rhino makes it’s own rules.
Getting to know the consumer
I started by researching the Rhino consumer. Luckily the brand has a vocal and devoted fanbase that were willing to participate in polls and studies. What resonated the most was their fear of losing the "record store".
Research showed the Rhino shopper is made up of 3 distinct personas
THE CASUAL FAN
Someone who has a passing interest in a certain band but has not yet been converted into a Collector. They are interested in bargains and ease of purchase. They are most likely to purchase random digital songs without context.
- 50% of the audience, 10% of the revenue.
- Low engagement and most likely to abandon without scrolling.
- Arrive via Google to product page.
- Deal driven.
THE CRATE DIGGER
Someone who will spend hours browsing and looking for the interesting musical nugget. Someone with broad taste who is looking to expand their musical horizons. They appreciate suggestions and musical connections.
- 35% of the audience, 20% of the revenue.
- Mid-level engagement and most likely to surf through recommendations.
- Mixed arrival.
- Discovery driven.
THE COMPLETIST
Someone with deep and specific musical knowledge. They are interested in rare recordings, B-sides, liner notes and historical background. They appreciate boxed sets and limited editions. They are an audiophile.
- 15% of the audience, 70% of the revenue.
- High engagement and most likely to write reviews and participate in forums.
- Arrives via bookmark to Homepage.
- Scarcity and Quality driven.
THE CASUAL FAN
Someone who has a passing interest in a certain band but has not yet been converted into a Collector. They are interested in bargains and ease of purchase. They are most likely to purchase random digital songs without context.
- 50% of the audience, 10% of the revenue.
- Low engagement and most likely to abandon without scrolling.
- Arrive via Google to product page.
- Deal driven.
THE CRATE DIGGER
Someone who will spend hours browsing and looking for the interesting musical nugget. Someone with broad taste who is looking to expand their musical horizons. They appreciate suggestions and musical connections.
- 35% of the audience, 20% of the revenue
- Mid-level engagement and most likely to surf through recommendations
- Mixed arrival
- Discovery driven
THE COMPLETIST
Someone with deep and specific musical knowledge. They are interested in rare recordings, B-sides, liner notes and historical background. They appreciate boxed sets and limited editions. They are an audiophile.
- 15% of the audience, 70% of the revenue.
- High engagement and most likely to write reviews and participate in forums
- Arrives via bookmark to Homepage
- Scarcity and Quality driven
Wireframes were created with each of the 3 shoppers' needs in mind
Wireframes were created with each of the 3 shoppers' needs in mind
As record stores disappear, how do you hold on to the experience but make it digital?
How do you honor the culture?
Visual Development
Inspiration was taken from music “rags”, post-punk xerox posters, music store notice boards, and tabs from crate-digging to synthesize an experience that would be wholly digital but familiar to the seasoned music aficionado.
Graphic Exploration
Graphic exploration in the form of ads, social media units and merchandising modules allowed for the sheer diversity of styles one might find in a music store. Each was inspired by the synesthetic interpretation of the music itself. From archival photography to custom artwork, no two were alike and it allowed us to hone in on a visual language that was diverse yet unified.
Every effort was made to pay homage to the hand-created aspect of music store culture including using irregular, angular shapes, screen printing dots and xerox dirt, crisp drop shadows, overlayed objects and type on angles to create a digital, yet handmade feel.
Homepage
Paying homage to notice boards at famous music shops like Amoeba Records and Tower Records, the homepage aggregated content and was headed by an animated, modular hero graphic area that spun (echoing the feel of flipping through record bins)
- A: Users strongly engaged with the clickable carousel descriptions allowing them to bypass the traditional usability deficits of a traditional carousel.
- B: Handmade elements like copier dirt and angular, cutout tabs added to the mystique of the record store flyers and card seperators.
- C: The animated hero split the item up into sections and "flipped" them to transition - a user experience that was deliberately chosen to evoke the feeling of crate digging and jukeboxes (important for the brand as well as Crate Diggers and Completionists in a world where physical media is disappearing).
- D: Custom icons quickly denote what format the releases are in.
- E: Based on purchase and radio like history, users were served up recommendations of other music they might like
- F: Promoting Rhino’s sub-brand, “Rhino Handmade” which sold high-end, very limited edition items usually consisting of deep cuts or live performances of note with producer commentary and liner notes.
Artist Page
Artist Pages were one of the most important entry points. Each one had hand-crafted graphics. The large background graphic was instrumental in creating an immersive feel specific to the artist.
- A: An immersive artist hero image helped ground the user in the feel of that artist/genre/era
- B: Rhino Radio would stream in-catalogue music from that artist allowing for single-track MP3 purchase. The "like/dislike" meter would affect your Rhino Recommendations.
- C: Top-selling songs and albums were placed for the casual fan up top to convert Google traffic to these pages.
- D: As the user scrolled, Products would get more niche benefitting the Crate Digger and then the Completist.
- E: The most devoted user, The Completist, would scroll through to articles and videos on Center Stage - Rhino's internal magazine aggregating information on the artist from around the web.
- F: Ultra-fans and experts would participate in forums surrounding a particular artist. This was 99% of the time, The Completist - a user group who were devoted through thick and thin.
Product Details
The Product Page was the most common entrance to the site and most complex page, requiring heavy amounts of information as well as varying levels of product type - both physical and digital. The placement of every element was heavily user-tested and iterated.
- A: We created an automated method where the system itself composited key art into CD, Vinyl, and Digital product shots for easy production.
- B: Changing the format by clicking the format tabs would change the product information - including track listings as often, the tracks would be slightly different (for example, tracks on vinyl are often lengthened or shortened - or entirely new songs produced in order to even out play lengths on both sides)
- C: A custom digital track, multi-codec player was created to facilitate exploration, play, and download of either MP3 or High-Definition songs (either FLAC or Apple Lossless).
- D: Recommended products that are related to the album - from the music genome project, to upsells.
- E: Algorithmically decided recommendations based off of purchase history
- F: Ratings and Reviews was primarily a place for the Completist to compete with other Completists and make their voice heard.
Cart & Checkout
We designed a streamlined commerce funnel that accommodated incredibly complex purchases that increased Conversion by 700% and reduced Abandon Rate by 40%
- A: Upsells based on your cart content formats would allow you to add to cart without leaving the checkout funnel.
- B: The cart had to accommodate multiple formats including both physical and digital goods. The digital tracks could be swapped for high-def tracks without leaving the checkout funnel.
- C: Rhino was famous for its customer service and putting FAQs and Contact Information directly on the cart not only reduced cart abandonment but returns as well.
Summary
for Rhino’s foray into the Direct–to-Consumer space, it was a massive success, achieving record numbers including:
Conversion Rate
up 700%
Revenue
up 300%
Net Margin
up 200%
Average Order Value
up 150%
Go-To-Market Efficiency
up 300%
Acquisition
up 500%
Cart Abandonment
down 40%
Customer Service Inquiries
down 20%
(These numbers should take into consideration the fact that we started with a nearly non-functional site).
Unfortunately the site was sunsetted as part of Rhino’s redirection away from Direct-to-Consumer and towards Sync & Licensing (which has less overhead and maintenance.)
Unfortunately the site was sunsetted as part of Rhino’s redirection away from Direct-to-Consumer and towards Sync & Licensing (which has less overhead and maintenance.)
