July - August 2024

July - August 2024

Re-defining Lyka’s value proposition to stay competitive for a new market audience, driving 40% growth in conversion

Re-defining Lyka’s value proposition to stay competitive for a new market audience, driving 40% growth in conversion

Discovery-led project redesigning Lyka’s subscription experience to convert mainstream supermarket dog food shoppers to Lyka. Conducted user research to uncover new audience behaviours & habit patterns, informing a strategic value proposition shift with UX recommendations to drive attraction & conversion in new market.

Discovery-led project redesigning Lyka’s subscription experience to convert mainstream supermarket dog food shoppers to Lyka. Conducted user research to uncover new audience behaviours & habit patterns, informing a strategic value proposition shift with UX recommendations to drive attraction & conversion in new market.

B2C

E-commerce

Subscription

UX research

Content strategy

Role

UX Researcher

Timeline

2 months

Company

Lyka

Business objective

Attract and convert new customers as Lyka
enters the mainstream market.

Deliverables

Research report with UX recommendations and a market entry roadmap.

How I created value and impact

+40%

in engagement

by aligning the USP with
key market differentiators

+50%

Cut drop off

All participants completed the flow with no drop-off.

Full case study reading time: 7 minutes

Problem space

A new opportunity for Lyka's fresh, minimally-processed dog food subscription to enter mainstream market

Before targeted health and
ingredient conscious dog owners

Now competing with
supermarket dog food brands.

The initial stakeholder interview also revealed limitations:

Remain a subscription model, will be harder to compete with supermarket availability.

The cost to try, recommendations need to align with affordability.

The research objective

How can we attract and convert new audiences
to Lyka’s fresh, high quality dog meals?

First let's understand mainstream market users

149 dog/s owners were surveyed to understand the purchasing habits
of customers in the mainstream market

Dog food purchases habits survey

Questions

Responses

149

Settings

Where do you buy your dog food? (Select all that applies)

Coles, Aldi, Woolworths & IGA

Petbarn, Peto

Online pet stores

Vet clinic

I cook for my dog

Why conduct survey method first?

To gather broad insights into audience preferences and behaviours, to help identify what Lyka needs to do for users to switch.

What was asked?

Users were asked 18 questions of where and what dog food they buy, and the factors influencing their choices.

Survey data revealed mainstream user buying patterns & habits
and uncovered Lyka's pain points

Majority of customers
60.8% prefers to buy dry food

Lyka needs to highlight benefits to appeal
to dry food customers.

Lyka's is wet dog food product

73% of customers buy in
bulk on weekly & monthly basis

Lyka needs to match user purchasing habits to attract customers.

Lyka's subscription pricing is daily

78.6% of customers
buy supermarket brands

Lyka needs to position subscription as a more convenient option for supermarket shoppers.

Only 6.7% customers buy subsciptions

Avg monthly spend for dog/s
$100–$200 on dog food & treats

Lyka's needs to educate new users on Lyka's value especially to multi-dog households.

A medium-sized dog on Lyka is $364

What's driving these habits and patterns?

Interviews with customers uncovered the "why" behind these patterns, revealing 3 key drivers influencing purchasing decisions.

Semi-structured of 25 minute interviews were conducted with 5 target users who own dog/s to validate initial findings and to uncover what drives customers to choose dog food and what shapes their buying patterns.

Flavour focused

Flavour focused

Driver to buy: Dog palette

“My dog is a picky eater, I buy the flavours my dog likes”

“My dog is a picky eater, I buy the flavours my dog likes”

“My dog is a picky eater, I buy the flavours my dog likes”

Why woukd i buy Lyka if I already know what my dog likes?

Cost-effective

Cost-effective

Driver to buy: Price

“I only buy in bulk when it's on sale"

Why would I buy Lyka if I can buy cheaper?

Health concious

Health concious

Driver to buy: Nutritional value

"I mix fresh cooked meal with my kibble to make up the the key nutrients and vitamins”

"I mix fresh cooked meal with my kibble to make up the the key nutrients and vitamins”

"I mix fresh cooked meal with my kibble to make up the the key nutrients and vitamins”

Why would I buy Lyka if I can cook fresh meals?

Highlights from interview

Landscape review: existing conversion patterns

Interestingly, the same key drivers were reflected in the conversion strategies used by mainstream competitors

Landscape analysis was conducted to understand how competitors use visual cues such as pricing and nutritional value to meet customer expectations and influence decisions. To remain competitive, Lyka needs adopt similar strategies while maintaining brand integrity.

Price driver

Shoppers are influenced by familiar patterns, yellow "Sale" which signal value and savings.

To be competitive Lyka needs to incorporate this cue into their subscription pricing.

Supermarkets

|

#1 competitor

|

78% buyers

Nutritional value driver

In-store banners like "High in Protein" help shoppers quickly identify products that meet pet’s dietary needs

To be competitive Lyka needs to incorporate this cue into their landing messaging.

Pet stores

|

#2 competitor

|

61% buyers

Digging deeper into what customers said vs did, revealed they were
unaware of the impact of kibble vs. Lyka's fresh high quality meals, a clear opportunity to educate the new market.

Empathy mapping uncovered that even health-conscious customers were mixing fresh food with kibble without realising kibble is highly processed. This insight reinforced the value of Lyka’s product, which removes the need for processed kibble altogether by offering a wholefood option that’s minimally processed and tailored to each dog.

Identifying Lyka's opportunities in the new market

Usability testing confirmed awareness gaps, 4/5 customers wouldn’t buy into Lyka's subscription and uncovered Lyka's key barriers to staying competitive

5 participants were user tested on Lyka's subscription offering on the landing page to onboarding sign-up, to find out how users engage with Lyka's product offerings, subscription model & likelihood of purchasing. Testing was focused on the mobile interface, as most users (85.6%) access Lyka via mobile.

Awareness

3/5 see Lyka for wealthy
Cavoodle owners

Interest

Lack of endorsement credibility

Sign up

CTA doesn't allow
multiple dog breeds

Select meals

Customer
chooses meals

View prices

4/5 prices did not
meet expectations

+1

0

-1

-2

Opportunity: Improve subscription suitability, brand credibility, and onboarding accessibility to better support and convert first-time mainstream users to Lyka.

Solution: align subscription with mainstream user patterns

Before: premium & niche

After: trusted & inclusive

To stay competitive, Lyka needs to re-position their subscription model to align with mainstream user drivers and patterns to alleviate customer barriers, in order to better support awareness and adoption of Lyka's fresh, high-quality offering.

To better communicate my findings, designed UI to visualise how the research insights could translate into design improvements for the stakeholder.

Problem

Users are overwhelmed by daily price, they are used to thinking in weekly/monthly spending habits & mistake total weekly cost.

Solution

Improve Lyka’s suitability and convenient by aligning pricing with weekly/monthly habits to reduce cognitive load. easier decision-making.

Before

After

Users are overwhelmed
by daily costs

"Save" aligns with mainstream user preference for sales

Users are overwhelmed
by daily costs

Problem

'Gently cooked' benefits appeal to niche users but are unclear to the mainstream, and without clear vet backing, credibility suffers.

Solution

Boost credibility & trust by highlighting 'vet formulated' USP with vet endorsements to strengthen competitive advantage.

Before

After

"Gently cooked" benefits may
be unclear to users.

Vet logos boost credibility and amplify the 'vet formulated' message.

'Vet formulated' gets lost, reducing credibility.

Problem

Lyka’s CTA targets single-dog homes and aligns with breeds tied to affluent lifestyles, reinforcing premium positioning.

Solution

Broaden Lyka’s accessibility by updating the CTA & replacing ‘Cavoodle’ with a mainstream breed to shift from exclusive to inclusive.

Before

After

Cavoodle' implies exclusivity & aligns with affluent lifestyles

'Add' button improves CTA usability for
multi-dog users.

CTA only supports single dog owners

Placeholder text uses a common mainstream dog breed.

Problem

The landing page isn't positioned for mainstream users unaware of the differences between kibble and Lyka's fresh meals.

Solution

Educate unaware customers on Lyka's benefits over kibble by positioning content that highlights why Lyka is better for their dog.

Before

After

Positioned for customers aware of kibble impacts

Educates users who are unaware of kibble impacts on why Lyka is better for their dog.

Long paragraphs increase cognitive load and reduce readability

Impact

Initial small-group testing revealed that 3/5 customers would consider Lyka's offering but pricing is still a key barrier.

These results show a 40% increase in customer engagement and conversion, emphasizing the strengthened value perception of Lyka’s product. However, they also reveal the challenge of introducing a premium product to a price-sensitive market.

Next steps

This research is currently guiding Lyka’s market expansion and shaping it's future digital subscription experience

Crafted for hoomans, approved by purrs

@2025 Portfolio Larae Kale