The Challenge
WÜSTHOF sells premium German knives across a deep catalog of shapes, sizes, and product lines. For an experienced cook, that range is the appeal. For an everyday home cook, it was a wall: a new visitor had no easy way to tell a santoku from a chef’s knife, or to know which one suited the way they actually cook.
Those visitors browsed, hesitated, and left without buying. WÜSTHOF needed a way to engage new shoppers, guide them to the right knife, and give them the confidence to buy.
What I Did
I led delivery of the Knife Finder, a custom application on the WÜSTHOF site that recommends knives based on how a person cooks.
The central design problem was balance. The quiz had to ask enough to make an accurate recommendation, but not so much that people gave up halfway through.
- Built the questions around the cook, not the catalog. The quiz asks about cooking style, everyday prep tasks, and preferences, down to a favorite color, instead of blade specifications a beginner would not understand.
- Revealed the quiz one step at a time. Progressive disclosure kept each screen simple, so the experience felt like a conversation rather than a form.
- Replaced jargon with pictures. Icons and images stood in for knife types and uses, so shoppers could recognize their needs at a glance.
- Turned answers into a shopping list. The quiz ends with personalized recommendations, giving shoppers a clear next step toward the cart.
The Result
The Knife Finder became the front door for new shoppers. Engaged traffic more than tripled, and 80% of people who started the quiz finished it, a high completion rate for a multi-step experience that showed the balance was right.
Most importantly, it changed what people bought. Shoppers who used the quiz spent 30% more per order than those who did not.