MashBlur

If you're buying the bling that goes with it these days, you could be using a technologically sophisticated, of-the-moment process that just joined the love-struck party in 2013, says online jewelry retailer Blue Nile.

Seattle-based Blue Nile, a low-overhead business known for undercutting traditional bricks-and-mortar jewelry stores founded in 1999, knew it needed to update its digital shopping experience. Executives at the retailer had noticed a trend among the target Millennial audience: Most of these men, between 25 and 35 years old, were browsing Blue Nile on their mobile phones, iPads and other gadgets.

But the Blue Nile website had been designed primarily with the PC- or laptop-shopper in mind. Trying to navigate on any other device meant a "suboptimal experience," says Jon Sainsbury, Blue Nile's VP and head of strategy.

"That young customer was migrating to tablets and mobile devices," Sainsbury says. "We needed to be device-agnostic, and we needed to give people a simple, consistent brand experience across platforms. And our site, basically, was due for a facelift."

Executives did just that, deciding to use a responsive design that would allow users to view the website on any size screen and any platform. They briefly considered an adaptive design framework, but ultimately didn't think it met the company's needs and didn't position it to deal deftly with new developments in the tech world, such as the iPad Mini and next-generation Samsung phones.

A responsive design also could prove to be a leg up in the global market, since Blue Nile ships to more than 40 countries.

The website redesign figured prominently into a partnership for an experimental pop-up shop in Nordstrom. The program, which launched in November, put a Blue Nile display case of 75 styles of engagement rings and 40 wedding bands in the high-end downtown Seattle store near its Wedding Suite bridal boutique. Shoppers can look, but not buy, the jewelry on display; a Blue Nile consultant, armed with an iPad, can lead prospects through the process.

"This deal would've been tough without the redesign," Sainsbury said. "The site renders beautifully on the tablet."

If the "bricks and clicks" program goes well during its six-month test this holiday, it could later roll out to 17 other Nordstrom stores around the country.

Blue Nile executives wouldn't disclose the cost of the holiday campaign and website revamp, but said its timing couldn't have been better. Independent research from holiday 2012 found that 80% of online shoppers in the U.S. were browsing on multiple devices, Sainsbury says, with more expected to join this year.

Blue Nile's own studies further proved the point: A year ago, 35% of its shoppers arrived at the site on mobile devices; by mid-2013, that number had jumped to 45%, and the recent Thanksgiving and Black Friday period saw 60% of the marketer's traffic come from mobile.

Blue Nile wanted not only to take advantage of that trend, but specifically to capture upscale, tech-savvy potential buyers who were considering popping the question.

With the revamped site ready for action, Blue Nile launched a mobile ad campaign on Google to drive traffic to the site from those online shoppers who were searching for fine jewelry. (Blue Nile's assortment contains everything from under-$100 gifts like a sterling silver sweetheart locket to $25,000 diamond solitaires and blue sapphire cocktail rings).

Engagement rings make up the lion's share of Blue Nile's business — nearly 70% of sales volume annually — and Christmas is a key selling period for that life-changing bauble. Blue Nile was now ready to try to draw in its target young buyers and give them a digital experience that could carry over from the laptop to an Android to a Samsung Galaxy and to use unique features like Blue Nile's build-your-own ring app on all those platforms for the first time.

Consumers think hard about such a purchase, Blue Nile's metrics have found — it takes consumers two to four weeks to go from looky-loo to buyer, after having studied hundreds of pages of content and upwards of 50 to 100 diamonds.

Blue Nile's interactive gift guide also got an overhaul with a mobile-first design. It's no longer paginated, but has an infinite scroll that has caused a "fantastic lift" in the number of consumers who spend time there, Sainsbury says.

The work quickly started paying off. The percentage of tablet traffic that viewed a product detail page increased from 30% to 40%, and the percentage of smartphone users who entered the diamond search page increased from 25% to 30%. About 50% of click-throughs from Google are coming from mobile devices this holiday season, the company says.

Blue Nile more than doubled the number of customers using its education section via smartphone. Sainsbury says that section, filled with breakdowns of diamond lingo and other information, is an essential step in the buying process.

And consumers aren't just dipping their toe in the water, they're sealing the deal. They have made several orders for rings, necklaces, pendants and other bling — in the five and six figures — from their tablets and mobile phones this season.

"We've been very pleased with the site's ability to get further down the purchase funnel," Sainsbury says. "We're encouraged by what we're seeing."