krispy kreme

Joy Every Step of the Way

Krispy Kreme’s unique, warm storefronts deliver on customer promise time after time, it was time for the brand to bring the in-store experience online.

Krispy Kreme’s online ordering functionality for mobile app and website.

Doughnuts Go Digital

Opportunity

Krispy Kreme is one of the most recognized global brands. With unique, warm storefronts that deliver on customer promise time after time, it was time for the brand to bring the in-store experience online. By not only delivering a seamless customer experience, but also adding a few surprises along the way.

Approach

It starts with understanding the business inside out, from the Hot Light™ to the doughnut theater. Developing a plan to align with each business stakeholder and progressing with a collaborative, and iterative process to define and develop a digital ecosystem with a fun, easy-to-use path to purchase.

Solution

A scalable design system that includes the app, website, and digital signage all built on management platforms to allow promotional messaging, limited-time-offers, and inventory control to seamlessly roll out to provide the right message at the right time to consumers.

Stack of assorted Krispy Kreme doughnuts sitting on top of Krispy Kreme box.

The Challenge

Deliver a seamless customer experience, while adding a few surprises along the way.

Sweet Experiences On Every Screen

Today, Krispy Kreme is reaching a bigger audience than ever by bringing joy to every step along the customer journey. Customers are now easily connecting to their delicious sweet treats through an online store on the website and mobile devices with interactions as unique as the brand.

Screenshot of Krispy Kreme’s mobile app and location finder map functionality.

Fresh, Hot, and Mobile

The multidisciplinary team — strategy, UX, design, and development — used a customer-centric and iterative approach to design, develop, and optimize the KrispyKreme.com website. Visitors can search for their closest shop, check for Hot Light hours, order their favorite dozens, start a fundraiser, or buy branded merchandise. Each experience is carefully engineered to connect every aspect of the technical framework with the customer in mind.

Continued Optimization

Once the foundation was set with a new app and website, our analytics team helped Krispy Kreme enhance its new digital experience. We accomplished this through conversion rate optimization via on-site A/B testing. We learned that our small changes, such as adjusting CTA options, can lead to major impacts to the bottom line.

Three screenshots showing Krispy Kreme’s mobile app ordering process and rewards progress.

Each Flavor of Business Brought Together

There are many parts to every business, bringing those together in multiple cohesive touchpoints presents a unique challenge.

For Krispy Kreme, the answer is a custom middleware solution that lives in between the client-side and the interactions with front-end and back-end requests.

This centralizes the logic into a client-owned layer, reducing code redundancy, unifying customer data, and securing access to all back-end resources.

Assorted Krispy Kreme doughnuts in display case and original glazed held up in front of Hot Light.

Front view of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts physical location., Krispy Kreme drive-thru menu.

From Small Screen to the Big Screen

The flexible design system for the app and website easily expanded to support and visually execute the new menu strategy. This provides a consistent experience for customers on their phones, at the counter, or in their cars at the drive-thru.