SHOWCASED PROJECT: Online printing for Staples.com
I was in charge of leading a team of 6 UI and UX designs for the biggest project for the company over a 3 year period consisting of multiple designs iterations. The business value for this new staples online printing solution was at $47 million with 900k orders per year and 12k visits per day. Opportunity for growth through traffic and conversion improvement. By redesigning this platform we could supersede an old third-party service saving the business $2 million per year. The goal was to hit 24% conversion witch was hit within a few months of release increasing overall conversion +10%.
CUSTOMER PRODUCT REVIEW
App Design for Ecommerce
MY ROLE
As the lead designer, I was responsible for enhancing the customer review experience to increase user confidence and conversion rates. I conducted comprehensive research, including heuristic and competitor analysis, to identify pain points and opportunities. Using these insights, I developed user flows, wireframes, and UI designs to create an intuitive and transparent review system that allowed users to easily identify key product insights. This redesign contributed to higher user trust and improved purchase decisions, ultimately driving increased conversions.
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HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
3 Months
MAKE OF THE TEAM
1 UX Lead (Me)
1 UI Designer
8 Developers
Product Manager
Several other team cohorts
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KEY GOAL
Conversion increase
App score increase
OBJECTIVE
The goal was to address the limitations of the app’s basic customer review features. We aimed to:
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Enable users to quickly locate key product insights.
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Increase trust and credibility.
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Drive higher conversion rates through improved review clarity.
PROBLEM
User feedback indicated that the app’s simple review interface made it difficult to extract critical information. This lack of clarity reduced user confidence and led to missed opportunities for informed purchasing decisions.
RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY
During the discovery phase, I conducted a thorough heuristic analysis of competitors’ review systems to identify both best practices and areas for improvement. By examining how various apps and websites presented customer reviews, I pinpointed features that effectively enhanced user experience—such as:
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Effective features: Ratings distribution charts, keyword filters, and user image uploads.
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Areas for improvement: Review sorting tools and the clarity of review subscores.
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This deep dive not only informed our design decisions but also highlighted opportunities to leverage successful competitor strategies while innovating a more user-centric solution.
DESIGN
I designed solutions to address these key issues and make it easier for users to find the information they need to make informed decisions:
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Clickable Ratings: Added a clickable ratings average at the top of the product page, leading directly to the review section.
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Ratings Distribution Chart: Introduced a distribution chart to give users a clearer view of the ratings breakdown.
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Stars as Filters: Implemented a ratings distribution chart that allowed users to filter reviews by star ratings.
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Machine-Generated 'Keyword' Filters: Integrated filters based on machine-generated keywords to help users quickly find reviews addressing their specific concerns.
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Review Filter: Added the ability to filter reviews by attributes such as verified buyer status and image availability.
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Reviews Sort Tool: Made the reviews sort tool more prominent, allowing users to easily sort by "Lowest Rated," "Most Recent," and "Most Helpful."
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Review Display Volume: Limited the initial review display to 6–10 reviews, with the option to "Load More" to reduce overwhelming users.
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Respond to Negative Reviews: Implemented a feature to respond to negative reviews, helping to mitigate potential damage to the product’s reputation.
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User Images: Enabled users to upload images with their reviews, allowing for a more authentic representation of the product.
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Contextual Review Subscores: Provided clearer and more relevant subscores to give users a better understanding of product aspects.
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Writing a Review: Enhanced the review writing process to include relevant subscores and the ability to upload photos, as well as a follow-up question to help other users.
DESIGN ITERATION PLAN
The redesign was rolled out in three strategic iterations:​
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Iteration 1: Focused on critical, low-effort, high-impact enhancements based on immediate user insights.
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Iteration 2: Introduced additional improvements that leveraged functionalities already available on other platforms.
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Iteration 3: Rolled out entirely new features designed to fill significant gaps in the user journey based on deeper research.
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Close collaboration with product and development teams ensured that each iteration was both user-centered and technically feasible.
Finalised UI wireframes built with our comprehensive UI component library, a core part of our design system. Accessibility was also a key consideration, with essential features including:
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Tab Navigation: Ensuring logical, intuitive keyboard focus order with clear visual cues.
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Alt Text: Providing descriptive alternative text for images.
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Keyboard Navigability: Guaranteeing that all interactive elements are fully accessible via keyboard.
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Semantic Structure: Utilising proper labeling, ARIA attributes, and roles for assistive technologies.
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Colour Contrast: Adhering to WCAG guidelines to ensure sufficient contrast for readability.
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Dynamic Type and Scalable Interfaces: Allowing text and UI components to adapt to user-defined settings.
These measures ensure our design is inclusive and user-friendly for everyone.
RESULTS AND VALUE
Many customer behaviour metrics were tracked to measure success – from interactions with multi-faceted review elements (stars, pros/cons, filters) and time spent on each page, to the percentage of users engaging with the sort tool and images. While these indicators showed positive improvements, the main KPI that resonated with stakeholders was the overall app store rating.
The improved review experience played a central role in raising the app store rating from 2.2 to 4.6. Key changes included:
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Greater transparency: Rating distributions, advanced filters, and clear review attributes.
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Machine-generated keyword filters: Helped users quickly surface specific concerns.
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User-uploaded images: Reinforced authenticity and built trust.
By making reviews more informative and accessible, users gained the confidence needed to make better-informed decisions—ultimately driving higher conversion rates and an improved overall app reputation.
BEFORE
AFTER
