Challenge: The redesign aimed to address usability challenges faced by novice users while ensuring alignment with the latest Carsales design system. The existing design was not meeting user needs effectively, which hindered the overall user experience.
Action: Leading a team, we conducted thorough research to understand user pain points and gather insights. This research informed our approach, allowing us to create a simplified user experience that aligned with contemporary design standards. We iterated on our designs while balancing innovation and performance metrics.
Result: The redesign resulted in significantly improved usability scores, reflecting a more intuitive experience for novice users. However, the need to balance innovation with established performance metrics led to some design reversions. This project highlighted the importance of aligning customer needs with business objectives, ensuring that our solutions deliver both user satisfaction and business success.
The carsales Details page is crucial for revenue, as it serves various customer types and connects to all areas of the business. Over the years, customer feedback highlighted that the page was overwhelming, particularly for novice users. It also had not been updated to reflect the latest carsales design system (Torq). An extensive discovery process was conducted to identify and address the key issues.
Product design lead
4x Product designers
1x Content designer
11 months
Web wide and compact
iOS and Android
• Current state analysis
• Landscape review
• User journey
• JTBD
• Service blueprint
• Analytics review
• First click test
• Expert review
• Co-design workshop
• Concept design
• Prototypes and Usability testing
• Detail designs
• AB testing
Previous qualitative research revealed that novice users faced challenges on the Details page. To dig deeper, we conducted a First Click Test and reviewed Google Analytics, allowing us to pinpoint where users struggled to find and interact with the correct elements. Common issues included users clicking on non-interactive UI elements and selecting the wrong products or services.
A review of 11 online marketplaces and OEMs showed that simplified structures, side panels, tabs, and modals could reduce cognitive load and enhance consistency across devices. However, poorly integrated media and promoted products were found to obstruct user tasks. These insights inspired potential restructuring ideas for the Details page.
Designers conducted an expert review from a novice persona perspective. The results were striking: participants unanimously rated the page's usability as poor, giving it the lowest possible score. Novice users would be overwhelmed by jargon and would require expert support to complete tasks. With usability this low, the only direction from here was up.
Inexperienced users make up nearly half of all buyers. Without sufficient support, these users face a steep learning curve when looking for a car.
A key aspect of this project was ensuring that everyone involved with the page was aligned with our goals. To facilitate this, I created an ecosystem map that helped us visualise and understand the relationships and dependencies between the various actors and components contributing to the page's development.
By applying Jobs To Be Done and Service Blueprint methods, we unpacked the page's front and backstage processes, revealing issues like multiple versions of the enquiry form and less relevant legacy components that had been carried over from previous design.
I facilitated a series of workshops with Stakeholders, designers, PMs, and SMEs to create high-level page layouts, leading to themes like grouping related products with tabs, reducing enquiry forms, and managing media placements. This approach meant that everyone in the team was able to contribute and be onboard for the re-design journey.
Two wireframe prototypes were created, prioritising simplicity and the top 10 customer jobs. Unmoderated customer testing showed both prototypes significantly outperformed the current design.
1-on-1 usability tests conducted with customers on both desktop and iOS revealed that simplifying and grouping content to reduce page length significantly improved usability, resulting in the System Usability Score (SUS) increasing from poor to excellent.
Concerns about measuring performance impacts led to the reinstatement of some design elements. The decision to maintain multiple exposed enquiry forms, along with worries about features being hidden behind tabs, prompted the return of certain elements closer to the original design.
When early signs of underperformance emerged, we acted quickly to identify the root cause. Customers had previously indicated a preference for a more minimal image gallery design, allowing for larger images. However, the new design led to a decrease in the use of the enquiry form compared to the Control. My hypothesis was that removing the car name and price from the gallery reduced customer confidence in making an enquiry. This was confirmed when reinstating the car name and price in the gallery design brought enquiry rates back in line with Control.
The project demonstrated the complexity of redesigning a critical page where even small changes can have significant business impacts. The methodology was thorough, addressing customer needs and aligning them with business objectives. However, the challenges of measuring performance impacts in a complex environment necessitated compromises. The iterative process and segmented A/B testing provided valuable insights, guiding future design decisions.
Customers were overwhelmed with conversations and safety concerns. Research and workshops introduced pre-filled prompts, privacy controls, and scheduling tools beyond messaging. This resulted in feature prioritisation, a roadmap, and descoped functionalities.
The client, a jeweller, had zero engagement ring sales after six months online. Testing revealed customers lacked confidence in purchasing high-value items without expert support. We recommended shifting to lead generation, implementing user-friendly language and enhanced support to increase engagement and conversions.
