Product Design Manager
Total Wine & More
2017–2021
As one of the founding members of the UX team, over the course of 4 years I led our team for UI/UX initiatives, testing methods, & internal process. I led product strategy and managed initiatives for our landing page and product/search agile teams and established our first content focused UX team. (Previously led account, loyalty, cart & checkout)
Leadership
Throughout the years at Total Wine, I contributed to establishing process, growing our team, and promoting a culture of data driven design: with a heavy focus on research and testing to guide direction and remove personal bias.
Team Efficiency
I established a unified design system, common tools for the designers to use, documentation process, as well as review cycle cadence.
Employee Development
In addition to yearly reviews and weekly 1:1s, I was responsible for career pathing to keep our team members engaged and continuously growing.
Planning & Resourcing
I maintained design roadmaps for my teams in addition to resource allocation, establishing timelines and deliverables. Additionally, as the team expanded, I adjusted the product organization to accommodate growth.
Team Growth
Over the course of 4 years, our team experienced rapid growth. In that time I recruited top talent team members by establishing partnerships with schools and created a pipeline of fresh talent through our first ever UX internship program!
Data Driven Design
When I started, most product decisions were based on opinions rather than data or user feedback. Over the course of the first 1-2 years I collaborated across teams to establish a research driven culture: validating hypotheses through using data, research and customer feedback.
Fostering Collaboration
One large disconnect that we experienced was between the product team and our marketing & content partners. After a little over a year of initiating collaboration with our marketing and content teams- I officially received approval for dedicated headcount for a content focused UX team to bridge the gap.
Driven results
Here are a few initiatives I have led, many of which met or exceeded our target KPIs.
CMS POC: DLP/CLP
| 2020–2021 | 4 designers |
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| Exceeded CVR, GM & sales goals for desktop and mobile |
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We needed a new CMS. After deciding on a vendor, we needed to choose a POC for the launch of our new module system. I collaborated with leadership and product to select our CLP and DLP as our candidates to launch the new CMS.
Rebrand & Design system
| 2020–2021 | 3 designers |
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| No significant impact to RPV or CVR |
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Collaborating with partners in marketing and the development team to launch a rebrand, and create a scalable design system. After pausing the project due to the pandemic, we ditched our dated brown branding for a lighter, more modern look and feel.
Legends of wine launch
| 2020 | Myself + Creative Manager |
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| Exceeded CVR goals |
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Legends of Wine was our first cross-department campaign that was launched as a digital-first initiative. We were seeking to establish trust in our Winery Direct program (widely represented in-store by our bright yellow tags) by highlighting the winemakers that make unique wines for Total Wine & More.
Sign In / Create Account
| 2018–2020 | 2 designers |
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| Increased account creation rate, reduction of duplicate accounts |
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This initiative came from hearing from customers. We wanted to reduce the confusion surrounding our sign in/create/claim experience. The user experience improvements resulted in exceeding our target KPIs, making it easier for our customers to create and claim their accounts.
Same-Day Delivery launch
| 2019 | 2 designers |
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| Exceeded launch sales goals |
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Our shipping channel was extremely expensive to customers and did not arrive quick enough. We wanted to launch a 3rd fulfillment channel to allow customers to receive their products faster, at lower cost than shipping.
Add to cart
| 2017–2020 | 1 designer |
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| Increase in ATC rate and UPT |
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Continuous iteration on the add to cart experience. Optimizing the mobile experience, and over time iterating on the post add to cart experience though usability testing, competitive research, and A/B testing.
Store finder & Store details
| 2019–2020 | 1 designer |
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Redesigning the experience for store finder and store details pages.
Weddings
| 2020 | 2 designers |
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Re-imagining our wedding experience for couples, guests, and wedding planners.
Guide Pages
| 2020 | 1 designer |
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Creating a new guide page template focusing on storytelling and engaging content.
Brand Pages
| 2020 | 1 designer |
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Creating a flexible brand template focused on scalability and brand content.
Checkout Redesign
| 2018–2019 | Myself + 1 designer |
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Improving the user experience to get our customers through checkout faster.
Cart Redesign
| 2017–2018 | Myself + 1 designer |
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Improving the user experience of our cart to increase our cart-to-checkout rate.
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