Snug Sofa UX
In 2020, I led a comprehensive UX redesign for Snug, a rapidly growing UK-based direct-to-consumer furniture brand specializing in modular, easy-to-assemble sofas. The company faced significant challenges in converting website visitors into customers due to complexity in their digital product experience.
As the Lead UX Designer, I was tasked with transforming their digital platform to better communicate their value proposition and create an intuitive, confidence-building purchasing journey—particularly for customers who had never bought furniture online before.
The Business Challenge
Despite strong brand recognition and product quality, Snug was experiencing:
- High bounce rates: (68%) on their product configuration pages
- Low mobile conversion: (3.2% vs industry average of 4.8%)
- Elevated support call volume with 42% of inquiries related to product customization confusion
- Extended decision-making cycles averaging 4.5 site visits before purchase (industry average: 2.8)
These challenges were especially concerning as 70% of traffic came from mobile devices, yet these users were the least likely to complete purchases.
Qualitative Outcomes
As the lead UX designer on this project, I:
- Post-launch user testing showed a 63% improvement in task success rates
- Customer satisfaction scores increased from 3.2/5 to 4.6/5
- TNPS improved from +28 to +52 within three months of launch
Business Impact
As the lead UX designer on this project, I:
- The project ROI exceeded 300% within the first six months
- Snug gained 1.8% market share in a highly competitive category
- The design approach was adopted as a case study at two industry conferences
- The configurator became a key differentiator in marketing campaigns
Key Takeaways
This project reinforced several critical UX principles:
- Confidence is king in high-consideration purchases – providing multiple forms of validation significantly impacts conversion rates
- Mobile-first doesn't just mean smaller screens – it requires fundamentally rethinking interaction patterns, not just layouts
- Decision architecture is as important as visual design – how choices are presented influences user satisfaction more than aesthetic treatments alone
- Iteration based on user feedback produces dramatically better results than relying solely on best practices or assumptions
The most significant lesson was the power of removing uncertainty from the digital shopping experience. By addressing the fundamental human need for confidence in decision-making, we transformed an overwhelming process into an engaging, satisfying experience that delivered measurable business results.