Book of
the Month
Selected product features and improvements showcasing the best new books.
Project overview
Details
Company: Book of the Month
Year: 2020-current
What is Book of the Month?
Book of the Month, or BOTM, is a subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a curated selection of five new hardcover books to its members each month.
My role
Competitive analysis / concept generation / interface design / design system construction / prototyping / development support / quality assurance
I joined Book of the Month in March of 2020, just as New York was locking down in response to the coronavirus pandemic, as the single product designer at the company. Having already worked remotely for the previous year, the transition was unexpected but nothing I wasn’t already acclimated to. I sought to familiarize myself with BOTM’s values and offerings, the various flows and experiences, as well as similar products and competition. After shipping a few smaller improvements to the site and app, I got the opportunity to work on the next big feature, the wishlist.
The ability to save books was one of the most requested features by members. We had a bookshelf where their previously purchased books were housed, but no way to keep track of books they were interested in or wanted to save for a future box. This was also a golden opportunity from a business perspective, since a cache of desired books would likely translate into more books purchased per member, or a higher “box rate.”
After some initial research on the current landscape of e-commerce “save for later” features, I created some concepts ranging from safer options that utilized already-existing components to more fanciful ideas that imagined Book of the Month’s styles in new ways.
We quickly realized that where we housed this new feature within the architecture of the product would have an impact on how it looked and functioned, so we focused on addressing our user stories, starting with how a member would access the wishlist.
Logically the wishlist could exist in multiple places on the site. There was a case for it being a part of the member’s bookshelf, so their collections were housed together. It also made sense as an aspect of the All books page, Book of the Month’s full book catalog, where members would most likely be when they were adding books to their list.
I accounted for these possibilities, but ultimately it was clear that the feature was substantial enough to occupy its own space. This also maintained the integrity of the other product touch points, keeping them focused on their primary objectives while giving space to the wishlist to scale in the future.
Click to view Wishlist page concept.
Click to view All books concept.
Click to view Bookshelf concept.
Now it was time to design the page itself. With a quick turnaround for development and launch, I sought to repurpose components that were already established across the site and app for the list and grid views of the feature. For the main list view, we opted for an abridged version of the cards used to feature the five monthly selections, while the grid view was borrowed from how books are displayed on category pages.
Next, we needed to design how members would add and remove books to the wishlist from the product page. I explored how to thoughtfully incorporate a link, button, or toggle to a page crucial to the member journey, as well as feedback messaging to indicate that a book had been successfully added or removed. After a few rounds of reviews, iteration, and refinements, we had addressed all of our user stories and were ready for production.
Book of the Month’s “TBR” (To be read) feature quickly took off, and is now utilized by the majority of BOTM members. As a follow-up to its launch, we incorporated TBR trays into the All books and checkout experiences to surface members’ saved books at points where they are looking for books to add to their box.
Given the MVE’s success with BOTM’s members, the product team saw an opportunity to promote growth and conversions by expanding the offering to nonmembers. There was also room to integrate the experience of saving and reviewing books by tying the TBR and Bookshelf features together. More to come on this effort soon…