Welsh farming and wellness business, Chuckling Goat, has partnered with user experience (UX) agency, Nexer Digital, to enhance its online microbiome testing offering.
Chuckling Goat produces award-winning all-natural kefirs and probiotic skin products made by hand on the family farm in Brynhoffnant on the west coast of Wales. The £4 million business has taken a strategic focus on products, nutritional advice and testing services to improve gut health, and customers include the likes of Fearne Cotton, who drinks its kefir every day.
Now, the business is looking to enhance the experience of its microbiome assessment service for customers through personalised reporting and tailored support, appointing North West-based human-centred design agency, Nexer Digital, to consider the overall user experience.
The service gives people a better understanding of their gut health and wellbeing and is endorsed by the nutrition community. Customers who do the test receive professional advice on lifestyle and dietary changes that might improve their gut health.
The improvement works will include design prototyping, data visualisation and technical development of the new microbiome tracker service. Nexer Digital’s team of user researchers, web architects and user experience and content designers are working with Chuckling Goat’s branding, nutritionists and data analyst experts to design and prototype the new product and service.
Hilary Stephenson, managing director at Nexer Digital said: “We are really excited to be working with the Chuckling Goat team, who are exploring innovative, personalised ways to help people improve their health and wellbeing. The product not only has huge potential for supporting individuals, but the data aggregated will inform important research into gut health. It is exactly the kind of user-centred, data-driven technical challenge that our team loves.”
Nexer will be working alongside bioinformaticians from Cambridge Genomic Services, who have been supporting Chuckling Goat with data analysis, to assess and surface the data from the testing service.
Julien Bauer PhD, manager and bioinformatic lead at Cambridge Genomic Services said: “We are excited about finding ways to make the data engaging and dynamic, while working within the confines of data privacy and collaborating with the team at Nexer to ensure any visualisations are accessible, responsive and relevant to the customer’s search behaviors.”
Chuckling Goat was co-founded by ex-US radio talk-show host, Shann Nix Jones and her husband, Rich. At first, the couple were using their goat’s raw milk and soap made from it to help Shann’s son’s chest infections, asthma and eczema. Later, in 2014, Shann saved Rich’s life when he contracted antibiotic-resistant, flesh-eating superbug MRSA by treating the infected site with essential oils and kefir.
Word about the healing qualities of kefir and goats’ milk spread, and the couple began selling their products to school mums and then in local health-food and farm shops, as well as at local fairs. Over the years, Chuckling Goat has expanded to have 300,000 customers in 61 countries.
Shann Nix Jones, co-founder of Chuckling Goat, said: “The growth of Chuckling Goat has been incredible, albeit very hard work. Now, we are looking forwards and in the digital world, easy-to-use, functional websites and online platforms are non-negotiable. We can’t wait to see what we can achieve with Nexer Digital’s expert guidance and are excited to complete and launch our new and improved microbiome testing service.”
