Retainer
Designing Duke Cannon's Custom Bundle Builder
Designing a flexible custom shopping flow that drives subscriptions while unifying the brand across digital touchpoints.
Live Site dukecannon.com
Designed at The Stable, Part of Accenture Song
Services
Competitive Analysis
Wireframes
Interactive Prototypes
Design System Components
Design QA
ADA Compliance
Team
Product Designer — TJ Hari
Brand Strategist — Victoria C.
Engineer — Owen D.
Tech Lead — Happy B.
Project Manager — Kimi R.
Overview
Duke Cannon creates premium grooming products for hard-working men. After rebranding their packaging and shifting focus to a new target audience, their digital experience felt disconnected from the updated physical brand and wasn't optimized for conversions or subscriptions. The problem was that customers had no way to customize their purchases, and the rigid product structure limited subscription growth.
Through UX research, I discovered that customers wanted flexibility to build their own product combinations rather than choosing from fixed sets. I designed a custom bundle builder from the ground up and rebranded the digital experience for consistency. The optimizations focused on increasing conversions, average order value, and subscriptions.
My Role
I owned the subscription-focused bundle builder and created a cohesive digital rebrand.
I designed the complete customer journey for the bundle builder by researching competitor approaches, wireframing multiple flow options, and prototyping solutions that balanced flexibility with conversion optimization. I worked alongside product managers and engineers to prioritize features that would drive subscriptions within a compressed timeline. My challenge was executing two parallel deliverables, the bundle builder and digital rebrand, while balancing customer flexibility with a streamlined conversion path. I tested and iterated throughout to ensure the design drove conversions.
Understanding The Problem
Research revealed that Duke Cannon was leaving revenue on the table. Customers wanted to create their own product combinations and customize subscriptions, but the site only offered prebuilt bundles. This was hurting subscriptions, where lack of flexibility meant customers either didn't subscribe or canceled quickly. Additionally, the digital brand felt disconnected from their packaging rebrand, creating inconsistency across touchpoints.
Approach
Creating The Product Vision
With the problems clear, I created a vision for a cohesive digital experience. I mapped out how customers would create custom bundles, select products for subscriptions, and move through an interface that reflected Duke Cannon's updated brand. Wireframes and prototypes demonstrated the bundle builder flow and refreshed visual system. Together, they showed how the experience would drive conversions and subscriptions.
Working with product managers and engineers, I established a dual-track approach to meet the compressed timeline. The brand refresh and bundle builder were designed in parallel, with the design system serving as the connective tissue between both efforts. Quick stakeholder reviews at key milestones ensured both tracks stayed aligned and consistent.
Designing The Solution
Bundle Flow
With over 70% of customers shopping on mobile, I designed mobile-first and used progressive enhancement to build out the desktop experience. The bundle builder was architected to support both one-time promotional bundles and recurring subscriptions within a single flow, giving customers the flexibility to build their own combination without being forced into a commitment. This removed a key point of friction that had been driving customers away from subscriptions.
Designing The Solution
Bundle Builder Landing Page
I designed an entirely new landing page with sections built specifically to support bundle subscriptions. This included sharing the brand values, product-specific reviews, a competitor comparison section, and a dedicated section communicating subscription benefits. Each section addressed a different reason a customer might hesitate before committing to a subscription. The result was a 41% increase in subscriptions.
Designing The Solution
Design System & ADA Compliance
I built a design system that unified the bundle builder, subscription flows, and refreshed visual language into a cohesive set of components. This gave engineers a consistent foundation to build from and ensured the experience held together across the site.
I also ensured the entire site met WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards, covering color contrast, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility across all shopping flows including the bundle builder and checkout. Designing for accessibility from the start removed barriers that could prevent conversions and expanded the potential customer base.
Release And Evolve
Testing
I validated the new experience through performance testing before and after launch. Conversion rate, subscription rate, and average order value were the key indicators, confirming whether the bundle builder was driving the behavior the project was designed to unlock. Results showed improvement across all three, validating the design decisions behind the custom bundle and subscription flows.
Release And Evolve
Annotations & Design QA
Detailed annotations and specifications translated the bundle builder design into a precise engineering handoff, reducing back and forth during development. QA testing across browsers, devices, and interaction states caught issues early and kept both efforts aligned through to launch. The final experience matched the design vision with fewer revision cycles and a smoother rollout.
Results
Metrics
41% increase in subscriptions
36% increase in total sales
25% increase in average order value
Conclusion
Designing Duke Cannon's bundle builder and digital rebrand delivered measurable impact across subscriptions, sales, and average order value. Strong results and a high level of client satisfaction kept the engagement moving forward into another retainer, where our team continued optimizations across the site.
Challenges
Designing the bundle builder mobile first exposed how overwhelming the experience could be on smaller screens, requiring a rethink of the experience before scaling up
Early conflicting stakeholder opinions on how much flexibility to give customers required additional discussions before their team let us move forward
Lessons Learned
Researching competitor bundle builders early established a clear benchmark and gave stakeholders a concrete reference point for evaluating design decisions
Giving customers control over their purchase builds a sense of ownership that drives both initial subscriptions and long term loyalty
Future Recommendations
Product Card Redesign
Refining the product card to better communicate value and subscription options reduces friction at the earliest stage of the shopping journey
Post Purchase Experience
Design a post purchase flow that reinforces the subscription value proposition, giving new subscribers confidence in their decision and reducing early cancellation
Product Detail Page Optimization
Expanding the product detail page to include a variant dropdown for scents, subscription options, and product upsells would create a more streamlined path to conversion
Continuous Testing And Iteration
Continuously test to validate future design iterations and catch new friction points as the product catalog and customer base evolve