Put Yourself In The Customer's Shoes And Make A Normal Business Fun

When we promote our products, the first channel we usually think of is a website. Because most people think of it, how to compete with others to attract customers becomes an important issue. To be prominent among competitors, a brand should consider about UX (user experience) when building their websites.

Hershey's, a well-known chocolate brand with long history, faces severe competition since chocolate is not a kind of product requiring high technology to mass production. Compared to Godiva or Ferrero, having exotic tasting and romantic atmosphere, Hershey's is deemed a family-friendly brand. So how does Hershey's website communicate with its customers? 

Like other big chocolate brands, Hershey's has many products to introduce on their website. Through its website map, customers can also access its family brands such as Reese's and Twizzlers. You can understand Hershey's more by looking at "Videos" and "Our Story".

Understanding why customers visit your website is critical. People do not visit a traditional chocolate brand's website for the general information, because they can purchase Hershey's chocolate at supermarkets and they are not curious about Hershey's. Therefore, "Recipes" becomes a drive for customers to visit Hershey's website. When they want to make some special desserts, they may visit Hershey's website to look for special recipes and recommended materials. They also can place orders for special chocolate, such as personalized chocolate bars on the website through "Shop".

A good website does not only show the functions but also creates the personality of the brand. Customers probably know Hershey's is the largest chocolate brand in the USA, but they may not know that they can have a great tour at Hershey's chocolate world. By talking about the attractions on "Visit Us", Hershey's enhances the connection with its fans. Besides, "Crafts" provides some creative ideas to enrich customers' lives. Recently, several ways for celebrating the Halloween are shown on the website.

Finally, the theme color of this website is the same as Hershey's classic milk chocolate and that can be a strong identified signal for customers. Overall, this website fulfills customers' needs well and makes user experience fun. 

Smartphone users are a group which should not be ignored. Due to the small display, most brands have special interfaces for smartphone users. So how does Hershey's website make smartphone users feel? What are the differences?

Let's see the front page first. 4 buttons are shown with Hershey's milk chocolate and its brown color. It is easy to understand why Hershey's still keeps "Visit Us". Also, it is a good choice to eliminate "Our Story" and "Video" since they are the least parts mobile users access. However, the aesthetic design should be improved because the interface doesn't seem to arouse any curiosity for people to keep surfing.

"Recipes" is still important. The button for visitors to email the recipe is much larger than that on the website laptop users see. This is cool. Mobile users normally do not review the information for very long time on their smartphone, because they may keep moving or the screens are just too small. But if they can email something interesting then they can keep reviewing it after going home.

But I am not sure if it is smart to keep "Shop". I mean that doesn't matter if there is no other choice and there is still some room available. However, "Promotion" has been removed. Here is a question, are mobile users interested in reading promotion news or placing orders when they commute? Think more about users' motives and behavior, then we can figure out the answer.