To establish a baseline before primary research, I conducted a rapid expert review of the current website. The audit surfaced initial usability, content, and structural risks, creating a focused set of assumptions to investigate rather than treating early observations as validated findings.

To challenge the initial assumptions and reduce designer bias, I ran three moderated usability sessions—one with an industry professional, one with a knowledgeable chocolate consumer, and one with an occasional buyer. Using five guided questions and a think-aloud approach, I observed how each participant navigated the current website and where task completion created uncertainty or friction. The sessions helped distinguish individual reactions from recurring problems that required further investigation.

To complement the behavioral evidence with a systematic expert review, I assessed the current experience against Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics and reviewed its visual consistency. This framework helped identify recurring interaction patterns, organize the issues into clear areas of concern, and establish priorities for deeper analysis.

To determine whether the observed navigation difficulties were rooted in the interface or in the underlying structure, I mapped the current website’s information architecture. The map documents how content, labels, and navigation paths are organized today, establishing a baseline against which a redesigned structure can later be proposed and tested.

To understand how comparable platforms address the needs of two distinct audiences, I benchmarked organizations serving both B2B and B2C customers, prioritizing brands connected to responsible sourcing and respect for the cocoa supply chain. I compared how they separate audience pathways, frame communication, and structure product information. The goal was not to replicate existing solutions, but to identify relevant patterns and gaps that could inform one coherent experience for both target groups.

To investigate audience needs at a broader scale without exposing respondents to irrelevant questions, I designed an ongoing branching survey with conditional logic. An initial segmentation question routes personal buyers, professionals, and respondents who purchase for both purposes through the appropriate path or paths. The consumer route explores purchasing habits, decision criteria, and trust signals; the professional route focuses on the ingredients, technical specifications, and product information required for professional evaluation. The results will help validate patterns from the qualitative sessions and inform the personas and current-state journeys.