Etsy App Redesign
For Delight & Discoverability
As an e-commerce platform, Etsy allows users to shop for unique vintage and handcrafted items. However, the Etsy mobile app leaves much to be desired when it comes to an engaging shopping experience. So, I redesigned the app for delight and discoverability by utilizing a ribbon menu, grids, and a user-customized shopping experience.
My Role
Analysis & Ideation, UX & UI Design, Prototyping, User Testing
Process
App Analysis & Map, Competitive Analysis, Wireframe, Prototype, User Testing, Iteration
Tools
Whimsical, Figma
Timeline
1 week
DISCOVER
App Analysis & Mapping
To better understand shoppers’ pain points and the app’s friction points, I pulled from my own experience as a user, as well as created an an app map and user flow.
As someone who enjoys browsing and virtual “window shopping” until inspiration hits, I found the Etsy app experience painful. There is no browsing ability and in order to explore products, the user must first type in what they’re looking for in the search bar to generate a product page. What if I didn’t know what I was looking for? Tough luck!
To add to that, the user flow is regularly interrupted with multiple (and sometimes irrelevant) product categories.
DEFINE
People Problem
How can customers seamlessly explore and discover quality handcrafted products online that suit their style?
User Story
As a user, I want to browse a variety of products, so I can discover beautiful, unique hand-crafted items that fit my style.
DEVELOP
Competitive Analysis
When exploring other platforms that offer small business and second-hand e-commerce, as well as creative product exploration, I found that grids are a huge element to showcase items and drive user engagement. Combined with filtering top buttons, users can discover products within broad categories without having to know exactly what they’re looking for. So, those were the main features I identified as critical for my redesign.
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Instagram
Instagram’s Shop tab uses photo grids to showcase products for discovery starting with accounts the user follows, with some menu options on the top for further exploration.
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Facebook
Facebook Marketplace uses user behaviours to show product recommendations in a photo grid format and organized into broad categories and options to view more.
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Pinterest
Pinterest aggregates a dashboard of inspiration with the ability to filter into categories. With the ‘quickview’, users can view and read a snapshot of the pinned post without losing their browsing position.
Sketches & Wireframes
Considering the main main features I wanted to include in the redesign, I created rough sketches, user flows, and wireframes using Whimsical to identify the best user interface and information architecture.
APP HOMEPAGE
Before & After Redesign
Prototype &
User-Testing
With my prototype, I conducted user-testing with my school peers to evaluate if my redesign addresses users’ pain points and improved discoverability and delight.
Overall, my prototype was well-received. The main friction points were regarding the user interaction and navigation between screens and items.
What I wanted to learn
Does the home screen re-design improve product discoverability and exploration?
Is the home page top menu ribbon helpful in product discoverability and browsing?
Does the product quickview improve the user’s experience in dicovering products?
Is the new experience more delightful?
Questions I asked
How would you explore for new products?
How do you feel about the home screen experience and the top menu ribbon?
What are your thoughts on the product quickview?
How do you feel about the way you view the product images?
Iterations
Add ‘On Sale’ button to the top menu to address cost-driven users’ needs.
Add favourite button for users to save products they like.
Improve identification of horizontal scrolling capabilities.
In addition to using the top menu ribbon, allow swiping to scroll between pages.
Try it yourself!
For optimal viewing experience, click the full screen icon in the top right corner > click “Options” in the top right corner > “Fit - Scale Down to Fit”.
Final Thoughts
I thoroughly enjoyed this project. As a frequent user of the Etsy app, I finally had the opportunity to work on the aspects that frustrated me about the app. It felt so satisfying to put in features that I could envision making my shopping experience so much easier and enjoyable.
What I also found interesting was users’ feedback during testing. While I was a frequent user of the app, the testers brought up insights that didn’t even cross my mind. The variety in users’ shopping behaviours was fascinating to experience and design for.