Product Manager
THE ROLE
Modern Industries
New York, NY
2015
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Designed new product and service offerings to drive sales and increase customer loyalty
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Developed cross-channel marketing strategies & created all multimedia marketing collateral
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Drove a major shift in the team’s culture and implemented new policies, procedures & a credo
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Recruited, interviewed, hired, trained & developed top talent in the field
SKILLS REQUIRED
PROJECTS
Overview
My experience at Modern Male was quite different than a traditional design role but I brought many aspects of user experience design to work every day. Modern Male is a high end barbershop and spa for men in New York.
I was approached by the owner for a temporary project to redesign a premium experience to drive new business.
For 6 months I served as Product Manager, innovating the end to end customer experience both online and in-store. Under my management, Modern Male achieved its best-ever holiday season and crossed the break-even point for the first time in its 3 year history.
I started as I would in designing any experience: I studied the customer behavior. I talked to customers everyday to learn about the things they liked and hated about their experience.
I developed an email receipt system to invite every customer to complete an online survey about their experience. I stepped into our customer’s shoes so I can understand and relate to their needs. I tried all of our services firsthand and sent friends anonymously to do the same. The goal was to get an unbiased understanding of the areas of opportunity.
People & Culture
Perhaps the biggest pitfall of this business was the people themselves—the barbers, the service technicians and the reception staff. There was a toxic environment on the team and it spilled over into the customer experience, leaving guests feeling tense and uncomfortable. By far, our team had the biggest impact on the experience.
As I began probing the team, I discovered they often felt unsupported and lacked clear expectations and HR infrastructure. I developed job descriptions, policies & procedures and team commitments to help provide role clarity and new ethics standards. I created incentive programs to reward hard work and new digital tools for easy scheduling, requests off and transparency over revenue shares. Coupled with my leadership, these tools helped create an environment where the team started working together to deliver a really great customer experience.
Wellness Services
With a steady, loyal customer base already visiting for at least one service, I saw a great opportunity to expand our business through the sale of supplementary services.
Pricing and quality was all over the place.
The business had been charging a premium for haircuts (our key offering) but the pricing didn’t fit for every customer. The result was inconsistent pricing based on the barber’s discretion. In addition, many services were priced at a premium but quality varied from customer to customer.
Pictured above is the original service menu. It looked nice because it was simple... but it lacked the diversity of services necessary (some already offered) to serve all of our customers.
I created a new menu of services and introduced all-new product lines. I created multiple tiers of our most popular services so there was a consistent price & quality expectation for each service offered. When surveyed, many clients expressed interest in massages. With a single strategic hire, we were able to offer massages, waxing and body trimming for the first time ever.
The new menu offered a range of services most people didn't know we even had. By adding these options to the menu, we quickly realized a growth in sales.
I also designed new service combos with the intent to drive additional revenue from existing business. The combos included services typically purchased together, like a haircut + shave, or manicure + pedicure.
In addition, I introduced full service packages designed specifically for weddings, birthdays and special events. This enabled a new sales channel through wedding planners.
To push this idea further, I also created special gift packages for the holiday season, coupling even more services together with even steeper discounts for a limited time.
Retail Products
When I arrived, there were retail shelves behind the receptionist's desk with high end, dusty products no one ever bought. It was wasted prime real estate... another opportunity to drive additional sales from our existing business.
I evaluated dozens and dozens of products before developing our new line up. I met with vendors and negotiated contracts to test sales of their products with our customers.
From beard oils to palmades and fine combs, we began introducing all new offerings our customers loved. Perhaps the biggest feat was selling through and replacing an entire skin care line. I brought in Dermalogica products as they offered high quality, reasonably priced kits that were easy to understand and just perfect for men.
Pictured above is the original service menu. It looked nice because it was simple... but it lacked the diversity of services necessary (some already offered) to serve all of our customers.
Loyalty Programs
I introduced all-new loyalty programs that weren't just innovative for our spa, but for the industry as a whole.
In personal care, clients often visit on a regular basis. I wanted to introduce a membership program that would encourage more strict regimens and ultimately more frequent visits.
With Modern Regulars, clients purchased haircuts in bulk at a discounted rate and visited at their discretion within one year. The packages were designed for biweekly, weekly or monthly haircuts.
For our top clients that routinely visited for several of our services, I introduced the Modern VIP program to provide the ultimate experience with routine maintenance across hair, body and face.
These high end packages were tailored for our high end clientele... offering them the status and treatment they desired.
Even for clients that didn't buy into our premium programs, we offered reward points after every purchase. Customers obviously loved this!
All-New Website
At first glance, it was clear the website needed to be replaced. I redesigned the Modern Male website with a dramatically more modern look... pun intended. But the real enhancements were beyond design in all-new online offerings. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the finished website and it has since been taken down.
I quickly added key functionality like appointment scheduling and a beautiful digital version of our new menu. I wanted to leverage digital advertising to drive new business so I designed an online store and electronic gift cards just in time for the holidays.
Reflections
I managed the experience at Modern Male for about 6 months before hiring and training a new manager. It was a roller coaster I was challenged in totally new ways and was forced to develop new, creative solutions in an industry that I wasn't familiar with. Most importantly, I had the opportunity to bring these solutions to market within my four walls, testing and refining based on customer preferences and results.