Replatorming Site Search & CMS to AI integrated system
THE PROBLEM
Cole-Parmer’s e-commerce CMS site & search platform had aged beyond update and needed a platform overhaul to a new AI-driven search, smarter merchandising, facet integration, and completely redesigned IDPs without revenue disruption.
MY ROLE
Often solely, I led all UX strategy & design direction, CMS work, and site search, category, facet, and AI widget merchandising to tackle each problem and achieve all aspects of the redesign. I worked embedded with IT, junior designers, and the Bloomreach AI platform team to define the new experience from initiation through final QA.
Resulting Improved KPIs
400+%
Increase in IDP algorithmic widget revenue
40%
Increase in click-through rate
25%
Growth in average cart size
29%
Increase in search revenue metrics
Replatform Responsibilities and Processes
The replatform projects, consisting of completely new search, merchandising, AI widgets, and new SEO content were managed, led, and executed by me in close collaboration with product managers, IT depts, marketing content creation, customer service, SEO teams, and analytics.
What I do:
- Sole point of contact to delegate and create all and every site structure in the new CMS
- Embedded with engineering to coordinate CMS and front end with discovery backend connections
- Successfully launched new CMS without site interruption
- Guided and product managers to boost, bury, and merchandise complicated scientific equipment within search results, search & category facets, and IDPs cross sells and upsells
- Created and maintain all widgets with AI algorithms using filters and attributes to hone and align results to get customers to their products
- Report on site metrics
IDP Architecture
I guided the restructuring of the IDP page hierarchy to prioritize the purchase decision and keep key product information and content apparent and above the fold. Redesigning the journey along the IDP presented the customer a beneficial journey of all the content (full specs, documentation, related products) needed to purchase.
AI Widget Design
Working within the Bloomreach platform CMS widgets, I designed the logic and layout for 3 new AI-driven widget zones on the IDP: “Buy It Together,” “Customers Also Viewed,” and “Frequently Bought Together,” all dynamic product modules that allow users to see items needed with the item as well as similar up-sell comparisons. Each widget had global and specifications to cater to business needs.
Faceted Navigation
I led UX for the AI-driven facet system, designing a dynamic left-rail filter architecture that adapted its available facets based on the category context and AI relevance scoring. Filters collapsed intelligently and when algorithms fell short, I boosted needed facets and bury superfluous ones so users could filter by common and necessary facets.