From lacking appeal to
the “WOW is real!”

The Afrin website launched in 2005. Over nearly two decades, it had been refreshed many times. But by late 2022, the site was in need of a major overhaul.

• The design and visual assets were outdated.
• The user experience needed modernization and optimization.
• The content was thin and not doing any favors for organic search rankings.
• The company had invested in a radical new visual brand identity that wasn’t yet reflected on the website.

Website evolution from 2006 to Today

The challenge

To get nasal congestion sufferers to experience the Afrin “WOW” via our website, we established several high-level goals:

✦ Modernize the website design to
– Reflect the new visual brand identity & comms platform
– Attract our new Zealots into the Cult of WOW
✦ Improve usability & accessibility
✦ Optimize content to align with the needs of our consumers
✦ Increase organic search rankings

“Less than full throttle is not an option.”

Target consumers

Our main target were ‘Path Forgers’, defined as “self-directed individuals who are unabashedly pursuing what’s ahead”. Breath is the fuel that helps them to give it their all— they don’t think about it until nasal congestion strikes and leaves them feeling diminished. Those who have experienced Afrin, become Brand Zealots, lauding it’s ahhmazingness, imploring others to try it. The feeling they get when they use Afrin is indescribable.

Key consumer insights

When thinking about our design target perceptions and behaviors, our research uncovered:

✦ Less than full throttle is not an option. They live life large.
✦ Nasal congestion sets off a chain reaction of problems that can hijack their day.
✦ They enjoy the rush of ridiculously powerful congestion relief that our product provides.
✦ When you know, you know—Afrin WOWs like no other product.

“We want our website to evoke the same ridiculously powerful feeling that consumers experience with our product.”

UX & content
research approach

We partnered with a creative agency to explore the usability of the current website, to determine ways to optimize existing content for improved SEO and to identify opportunities for new content. In addition, we benchmarked against best-in-class websites to identify trends and best practices in usability and design. Finally, the agency developed mood boards and proposed ways to engage & activate our target audience. The outcome of that effort was:

✦ Keyword & Search Audit Findings
✦ Recommendations for Optimizations & Net-New Content
✦ Best-in-class Website Landscape Audit
✦ User Experience – Early-stage Wireframes & Site Map
✦ Creative Mood Boards
✦ Experience Activations

Below are a few examples of the UX and content research outputs:

Best-in-class Website Landscape Audit

Mood Boards

User Experience – Early-stage Wireframes & Site Map

My role

Throughout the project, I was responsible for leading the work, as well as providing hands-on-keyboard support at every phase of the redesign—from conceptualization through execution—including:

✦ Project management
✦ UX research
✦ SEO research
✦ Design oversight & evaluation
✦ Copywriting & editorial guidance
✦ Assembly
✦ Pre & Post QA / QC / User acceptance testing
✦ Management of internal stakeholders & agency partners

Presenting…the new website

Using the consumer and competitor insights, we infused the “cult of WOW” into the new website design layout, visuals and content.

Results & next steps

The redesign of the Afrin website has had a positive impact on traffic, user engagement and conversion rate. We have also seen a grown in organic search traffic. User are spending more time viewing content and there is an increase in consumers adding products to their online retailer carts.

Inspired by the positive results of this work, we continue to look for ways to keep expanding and improving the site. We have a developed a plan to expand our content library based on continuous monitoring of keyword search and consumer insights. We are also in the process of bringing our social/ influencer content into the website. Finally, we are developing interactive content such as symptoms & product finder quizzes. Stay tuned…