Crafting an eCommerce gifting experience that brightens the world through art & philanthropy
After experiencing tremendous growth and establishing a powerful brand presence in the pacific northwest, glassybaby needed an eCommerce solution that could successfully merchandise a wide selection of handcrafted glass votive candle holders—along with the brand’s commitment to artistry and philanthropy—to customers across the USA. Codal teamed up with glassybaby in 2022 to revamp its online gifting experience, implement a new design system, provide ongoing conversion rate optimization, and ultimately help customers decorate life’s most important moments with beautiful works of art.
Founded in 2001 by Lee Rhodes in Seattle, Washington, glassybaby provides beautiful glass votive candle holders, each one handcrafted by individual artists in the US. With a wide range of styles and colors to choose from, customers purchase these candle holders to compliment holidays, weddings, birthdays, and other occasions, as well as convey specific feelings like gratitude, excitement, grief, and hope to their loved ones. And each “glassybaby” comes with a unique name and poem that translates its respective sentiment into words. The company is known for its commitment to artistry and philanthropy, giving over $14 million back to the community since its founding.
There’s a certain feeling that people get when they walk into one of glassybaby’s brick-and-mortar stores in Washington, Oregon, or Montana. The stores express a dedication to craftsmanship, the importance of giving back, and how works of art can symbolize and add beauty to life’s most significant moments. Codal’s job was to bring this in-store experience online with a modern, user-friendly eCommerce website—powered by Shopify Plus. This site would help the brand expand its presence beyond the pacific northwest and convert more online shoppers into lifelong customers.
Codal set out to revamp glassybaby’s eCommerce experience with a new user experience (UX) that would successfully communicate the brand’s unique vision, drive conversions, and enhance the online shopping experience—particularly when it comes to sending products as gifts.
To start, our team learned everything about the business, from how its glass votive candle holders are manufactured, to the strengths and weaknesses of its existing customer experience, to the business’ philanthropic endeavors, and everything in between.
During the discovery stage, we:
With the insights and data gleaned from these activities, Codal put together a detailed feature list and roadmap to success. We were ready to start rolling out a new eCommerce experience for glassybaby with beautiful design, powerful messaging, and advanced gifting capabilities.
New features were released iteratively to gradually improve the glassybaby experience over time, while also delivering value to customers as quickly as possible.
With an agile approach, Codal redesigned the customer journey, strongly emphasizing the craftsmanship and meaning behind each product. Our team laid out a new information architecture and taxonomy for the website that guides users seamlessly from one page to the next. This includes “The Color Code”—a guide on the homepage that helps users pick the perfect gift depending on the mood or occasion.
We updated the product collections pages with more intuitive categorizations and filters, giving users the ability to narrow down their search by selecting a specific feeling, occasion, relationship, color, and more—helping customers understand the purpose and power behind every glassybaby. Users also have the option of eliminating out-of-stock items from their search. Once they’ve clicked through to an individual product page, users can learn more about the item, from how it’s made to all that’s included in the purchase. And for an additional cost, can add a custom etching on the glass to further personalize the gift.
Finally, Codal updated glassybaby’s eCommerce checkout with new features and content that enhance the gifting experience and reduce cart abandonment. This includes the ability to bundle products into a single order, packaged together in a beautiful, gift-ready package. Customers can also include a handwritten note and different types of candles with their gift. Before completing checkout, customers are reminded that a portion of their purchase will go toward the glassybaby foundation—which has donated millions of dollars to various charities over the years in support of cancer care, food banks, mentorship programs, wildlife protection, biodiversity conservation, local farm groups, and clean water initiatives.
Our team also equipped glassybaby’s back office with optimal tools and processes for managing and overseeing this new eCommerce experience. Leveraging Shopify 2.0, we implemented a new design system that empowers admins to quickly and easily update the site with reusable components, patterns, and guidelines. Acting as an extension of the glassybaby team, Codal provides ongoing maintenance and support for the site—running routine SEO and CRO audits to measure performance and discover new opportunities for driving customer engagement, conversions, and sales.
Based on the qualitative results we received from extensive user testing, Codal’s reimagining of glassybaby’s eCommerce experience has proved successful. The revamped website is generating more conversions by helping customers understand the true value behind each glassybaby product.
By providing handcrafted glass votive candle holders to symbolize life’s various milestones, relationships, and feelings, then donating a portion of each purchase to important causes around the world, glassybaby is actively making people’s lives better through the power of art—and Codal is honored to play a role in that mission.
