Here One Launch
On February 21st, 2017, Doppler Labs launched Here One, a pair of wireless smart earbuds with a companion app. Together, the product gave users the abilities to cancel noise, control real-world volume, and stream music with premium audio. Here One would go on to be a pioneer product in a wave of new wearable technology called “hearables”.
I’m proud to have been a part of the team to launch Here One into the mass market. Here’s how we did it.
Photo by Arturo Torres. Retouching by me.
My Role
I was part of a 7-person team including a Creative Director, Director of Marketing, Marketing Manager, Head of PR, Head of Brand Partnerships, and Advocacy & Accessibility Associate.
As a Brand Designer, I explored how Here One came to life across: website, photography, video, display ads, email marketing, user onboarding, and social content.
Photo by Hardy Wilson. Retouching by Nikki Rotunda.
Goals
We had three main goals for our Feb 21st launch.
1. Launch Here One to the mass market
2. Deliver Here One to our pre-order customers
3. Build brand recognition & social engagement
1. Launch Here One to the mass market
2. Deliver Here One to our pre-order customers
3. Build brand recognition & social engagement
Deliverables
This translated into measurable deliverables.
1. Positioning & Messaging
2. Look & Feel
3. Photography
4. New Ecommerce Website
5. Social & Marketing Engagement
2. Look & Feel
3. Photography
4. New Ecommerce Website
5. Social & Marketing Engagement
Deliverable #1 of 5
Positioning & Messaging
We first evaluated our potential market. In a highly saturated time of AirPods and in-ear products, our challenge was to capture the right consumers by highlighting our key strengths and differentiators. We knew early on that Here One was unlike the typical health, sport, or wireless earbuds that only play music.
Thus we leaned on our strengths: wireless form factor, noise cancellation, and premium audio. We then thought about our target audience, core values, and messaging.
Thus we leaned on our strengths: wireless form factor, noise cancellation, and premium audio. We then thought about our target audience, core values, and messaging.
This informed our approach in building a brand that could be integrated into your everyday life. I helped contribute messaging and designs in the form of A/B landing pages, display ads, and email marketing.
Examples of display ads pairing different creatives and messaging.
Deliverable #2 of 5
Look & Feel
Building upon the messaging tests, we explored the Here One visual brand. Our goal was to focus on our core values: aspirational, empowering, immersive, human, inclusive & friendly, and smart.
We wanted Here One to be realized as a beautiful product that would seamlessly fit into your lifestyle. In a sense, it would be no different than your favorite watch or pair of sunglasses. Thus we created inviting, (#goals) mood boards focusing on light, warm earth tones paired with natural daily essentials.
We wanted Here One to be realized as a beautiful product that would seamlessly fit into your lifestyle. In a sense, it would be no different than your favorite watch or pair of sunglasses. Thus we created inviting, (#goals) mood boards focusing on light, warm earth tones paired with natural daily essentials.
Deliverable #3 of 5
Photography
The Creative Director, Head of Brand Partnership, and I then worked with external photographers to cast, art direct, and produce new brand assets. Our goal was to hone in on natural, candid moments of delight. Our talented team helped us capture both lifestyle and studio shots. Here are some favorites.
Photo by Hardy Wilson. Retouching by Nikki Rotunda.
Photo by Arturo Torres. Retouching by Quinn Fenlon (Creative Director) & me.
Deliverable #4 of 5
Website
Simultaneously, we began building the new website. Our primary goal was to convert our existing pre-order site into a full Shopify ecommerce experience to drive sales at launch. Our secondary goal was to position the company as an industry thought leader by introducing new partnerships and scaling content across the site.
I worked with the Creative Director, Marketing Director, Marketing Manager, and our development agency, Command C, to build this new experience.
I was responsible for building the information architecture, sitemap, wireframes, and high fidelity designs for our secondary pages, ecommerce experience, and support site.
Sitemap of launch website.
Challenge #1: Evolving Direction
Building the site had its creative challenges due to parallel-pathing a.) building photography and gathering render assets along with b.) testing positioning & messaging. Due to this, our team remembered to always stay lean and quickly adapt to new direction from executive management.
Building the site had its creative challenges due to parallel-pathing a.) building photography and gathering render assets along with b.) testing positioning & messaging. Due to this, our team remembered to always stay lean and quickly adapt to new direction from executive management.
Particularly the home, partnerships, and product pages constantly evolved. The Creative Director took lead on those and collaborated with me when company objectives became more streamlined.
Meanwhile, I moved forward by building our supplemental content pages.
Meanwhile, I moved forward by building our supplemental content pages.
Low-fidelity wires for secondary page content based on sitemap.
High-fidelity mocks I designed for our secondary pages. (I also enjoyed snapping our executive headshots.)
Challenge #2: Ecommerce
In the new ecommerce experience, we had to think about many different variables: multi-product purchases, promo & discount codes, transactional emails, account creation, post-order tracking, and abandoned cart retargeting.
In the new ecommerce experience, we had to think about many different variables: multi-product purchases, promo & discount codes, transactional emails, account creation, post-order tracking, and abandoned cart retargeting.
While solving these, we also had to consider both ease of use and conveying a sense of trust for our users navigating our customized Shopify solution. Our development and marketing teams made it a priority to thoroughly quality test our site to ensure a consistently smooth experience.
In the end, we created a beautiful product page and a streamlined checkout experience for our US, Canada, and UK customers.
In the end, we created a beautiful product page and a streamlined checkout experience for our US, Canada, and UK customers.
Product details page provided users with feature, tech spec, and compatibility information.
Our new Shopify ecommerce experience. Users could pay through PayPal, Affirm, or Apple Pay. They could also return to the site to check their order status.
Challenge #3: User Education & Onboarding
Even with precise focus on messaging and onboarding throughout our website, Here One was still a large concept to digest for general consumers. We prioritized which software and hardware features mattered most for conversion and sought opportunities for better comprehension through additional channels.
Even with precise focus on messaging and onboarding throughout our website, Here One was still a large concept to digest for general consumers. We prioritized which software and hardware features mattered most for conversion and sought opportunities for better comprehension through additional channels.
This led us to create our Quick Start email series to educate our users and acclimate them into becoming power users. These would complement in-app onboarding which was limited in scope at the time. Our emails helped increase awareness of our companion app, hardware setup, basic and premium features, and beta tester program.
The Quick Start emails performed particularly well with a 60-70% open rate, 25-35% CTR, and less head-scratching.
I also designed a series of support emails to address common customer pain points (ex. bluetooth connectivity and pairing.)
Deliverable #5 of 5
Social & Marketing Engagement
With all of these updates coming together, our team prepared for social & marketing engagement (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and display ads). I worked with the team to produce assets and creative content.
Over time, I also grew our asset library by going out myself to capture product photography and executive headshots. This helped maintain our high quality content without requiring an expensive photoshoot every time.
Here are some of my personal favorites.
Over time, I also grew our asset library by going out myself to capture product photography and executive headshots. This helped maintain our high quality content without requiring an expensive photoshoot every time.
Here are some of my personal favorites.
Photos and retouching done by me. Used in social and email marketing. Hand model featuring me. #Zoolander
Outcome
On launch day, our team was proud to announce Here One's shipping to pre-order customers and purchasing availability for the mass market. Months of hard work culminated into a successful launch that saw our unique visits boost 4x and a growing number of sold units.
Social was buzzing and so was our overly caffeinated team.
Social was buzzing and so was our overly caffeinated team.
We finally did it!
Additionally, we received great press coverage from Wired, The Wirecutter, Digital Trends, Business Inside, and The Verge.
We were more than thrilled and looked forward to the future for Here One.
Learnings
I'm proud to have been part of the team that launched Here One into the world. The months leading up to this moment were very challenging but much more rewarding.
I learned about the impact and intricacies brand plays into consumer products. Together, we created a beautifully sophisticated and approachable product.
But we also pushed ourselves to produce more than just pretty photography and sales-driven social content. We aimed to tell aspirational, communal stories.
In short, the community is powerful.
It was encouraging seeing growing excitement and responses from pre-order customers (many of whom have been following Doppler Labs since the Kickstarter days). Hearing their stories and how they use the product helped further enforce our inclusive brand. In fact, many users in our community found additional use for our product as a hearing aid alternative! They told us how Here One changed their lives. They were able to hear and engage again with loved ones. Meanwhile, others used Here One as their dopest pair of wireless earbuds. Additionally, early-tech adopters were excited about future applications involving voice AI.
All while different was perfect. This was because we built the brand, Here One, to be aspirational, empowering, immersive, human, inclusive & friendly, and smart.
It was encouraging seeing growing excitement and responses from pre-order customers (many of whom have been following Doppler Labs since the Kickstarter days). Hearing their stories and how they use the product helped further enforce our inclusive brand. In fact, many users in our community found additional use for our product as a hearing aid alternative! They told us how Here One changed their lives. They were able to hear and engage again with loved ones. Meanwhile, others used Here One as their dopest pair of wireless earbuds. Additionally, early-tech adopters were excited about future applications involving voice AI.
All while different was perfect. This was because we built the brand, Here One, to be aspirational, empowering, immersive, human, inclusive & friendly, and smart.
In short, Here One welcomed you into a new experience and was here for you. #herepuns
Thanks for reading!
Brian
P.S. Learn about how we designed a new iOS app called Here Plus for hearing health users!
Thanks for reading!
Brian
P.S. Learn about how we designed a new iOS app called Here Plus for hearing health users!