abillion: Boosting marketplace sellers engagement through storytelling tools
abillion: Boosting marketplace sellers engagement through storytelling tools
Role:
UX Designer
Period:
Nov 2023 - Apr 2024
Type:
Commercial
Collaborators:
Collaborators:
Shaun, Product Lead at abillion
Skills:
Market Research, UX Research, UX Design
Industry:
Social networking, Consumer reviews, and E-commerce
Sections
Introduction
abillion's peer-to-peer marketplace connects conscious consumers with sustainable and ethical products
abillion's peer-to-peer marketplace connects conscious consumers with sustainable and ethical products
abillion is the world’s 1st conscious community platform that combines social networking, consumer reviews, and e-commerce for over 10 million users across 188 countries.
In May 2022, abillion launched the world's first peer-to-peer marketplace, connecting conscious consumers with sustainable and ethical products.
From Oct 2022 to Apr 2023, I worked together with my teammate and supervisor, Shaun, to transform the shopping experience to one that allows sellers to connect authentically to conscious and impact driven users.
abillion is the world’s 1st conscious community platform that combines social networking, consumer reviews, and e-commerce for over 10 million users across 188 countries.
In May 2022, abillion launched the world's first peer-to-peer marketplace, connecting conscious consumers with sustainable and ethical products.
From Oct 2022 to Apr 2023, I worked together with my teammate and supervisor, Shaun, to transform the shopping experience to one that allows sellers to connect authentically to conscious and impact driven users.
Problem
Relevance gap between Marketplace and abillion's mission and values
Relevance gap between Marketplace and abillion's mission and values
As a new peer-to-peer marketplace, listings grew rapidly and randomly from both users and businesses. We found that users experienced a "relevance gap" between how marketplace aligns with abillion’s mission and values and the lives of users.
As a new peer-to-peer marketplace, listings grew rapidly and randomly from both users and businesses. We found that users experienced a "relevance gap" between how marketplace aligns with abillion’s mission and values and the lives of users.
Business context
Low engagement and conversion on abillion's newly launched peer-to-peer marketplace
Low engagement and conversion on abillion's newly launched peer-to-peer marketplace
Many of the listings were facing low engagement. This was not only hurting revenue potential but also sellers trust in the marketplace's ability to help their businesses.
Many of the listings were facing low engagement. This was not only hurting revenue potential but also sellers trust in the marketplace's ability to help their businesses.
research
Marketplace landing page as a potential way to close the relavance gap
Marketplace landing page as a potential way to close the relavance gap
We conducted deeper research focused on uncovering buyer's persona, abillion's current marketplace ecosystem and analysing practices of successful marketplaces. We found that what the marketplace lacks is a touchpoint before the listing grid, like a landing page, to introduce how sellers and products tie into abillion's mission and values.
What is our buyer's goals, pain points and behaviours?
What does abiilion's marketplace ecosystem contain?
What are other marketplaces doing to be relevant to users' lives?
What are some early ideas of design principles and strategies that abillion can adopt from other successful marketplaces?
We conducted deeper research focused on uncovering buyer's persona, abillion's current marketplace ecosystem and analysing practices of successful marketplaces. We found that what the marketplace lacks is a touchpoint before the listing grid, like a landing page, to introduce how sellers and products tie into abillion's mission and values.
What is our buyer's goals, pain points and behaviours?
What does abiilion's marketplace ecosystem contain?
What are other marketplaces doing to be relevant to users' lives?
What are some early ideas of design principles and strategies that abillion can adopt from other successful marketplaces?
Framing the opportunity
Pivot to creating a series of touchpoints for sellers to create connect with buyers through stories
Pivot to creating a series of touchpoints for sellers to create connect with buyers through stories
Deeper analysis of several listings showed us that some sellers were already providing narratives or explanations that tie them to abillion’s mission, but it was not visible at first glance in the current marketplace grid design to activate the emotional trigger.
We pivoted from simply introducing a landing page, to focus more broadly on a series of new touchpoints that would empower sellers to tell their stories of their product and brand to connect better with buyers.
Deeper analysis of several listings showed us that some sellers were already providing narratives or explanations that tie them to abillion’s mission, but it was not visible at first glance in the current marketplace grid design to activate the emotional trigger.
We pivoted from simply introducing a landing page, to focus more broadly on a series of new touchpoints that would empower sellers to tell their stories of their product and brand to connect better with buyers.
Design Direction
Empowering different types of sellers to share their brand and product stories
Empowering different types of sellers to share their brand and product stories
We expanded the scope from only a marketplace landing page to:
seller shop AND
marketplace landing page
These were the guiding design questions that we subsequently had after establishing this new scope.
Research with existing and potential sellers to accmodate the types of sellers
To understand how to design for a range of sellers to tell their stories effectively, we interviewed 15 sellers who were a mix of existing abillion sellers (including non-profits with listings), and sellers that abillion have approached to list on the marketplace but are not currently selling on abillion.
We also asked questions to uncover why they choose to use abillion and where abillion sits in their mind when it comes to marketplace positioning.
We expanded the scope from only a marketplace landing page to:
seller shop AND
marketplace landing page
These were the guiding design questions that we subsequently had after establishing this new scope.
Research with existing and potential sellers to accmodate the types of sellers
To understand how to design for a range of sellers to tell their stories effectively, we interviewed 15 sellers who were a mix of existing abillion sellers (including non-profits with listings), and sellers that abillion have approached to list on the marketplace but are not currently selling on abillion.
We also asked questions to uncover why they choose to use abillion and where abillion sits in their mind when it comes to marketplace positioning.
Design Concepts
Iterative low-fidelity to high-fidelity co-design with engineering
Iterative low-fidelity to high-fidelity co-design with engineering
Low-fi marketplace landing page and seller shop designs
High-fi marketplace landing page and seller shop designs
Final outcome
The final designs
The final designs
To balance the complexity of too many styling choices for a first version of this feature, we decided to go with a fixed number of template styles that covered the different use cases from seller persona research. We also validated the usability of these templates internally with 3 sellers from various persona types.
Learnings
Reflections and lessons
Reflections and lessons
Since releasing the new designs, we have excelled in certain areas and discovered challenges in others through feedback from users.
What did I learn?
This was my first large scale project working in an AGILE team. As I previously designed in a waterfall team, I had to adapt my ways of working by responding to change more frequently over following a plan.
With new seller features introduced, I would have liked to spend more time to work on the onboarding experience since it goes hand-in-hand with the marketplace experience.
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