Case Study: Designing Yahoo’s mobile shopping experience for fast, easy product discovery and purchase within a record timeframe.
Role: Senior Interactive Designer (contract) (2012).
Problem
Yahoo lacked a mobile-optimized shopping site at a time when mobile usage was growing rapidly. Users faced difficult navigation, slow load times, and poor product discoverability on mobile devices. The challenge was to create an intuitive, fast, and easy-to-use mobile shopping experience, and launch it within a very tight deadline.
Method
- Conducted competitive research focusing on early mobile commerce best practices.
- Mapped user flows prioritizing quick product discovery and streamlined checkout.
- Designed with the awareness that many users were not very tech-savvy, requiring a simple and intuitive interface.
- Collaborated closely with engineering in an agile, rapid-iteration process to meet aggressive launch timelines.
Solutions
- Category-First Navigation: Placed the most popular categories at the very top for instant access, reducing time-to-product by eliminating unnecessary browsing steps.
- Sliding Left Panel for Filters & Sorting: Allowed quick, non-intrusive filtering without taking users away from their current product list; enabled sorting by price, popularity, and relevance.
- Frictionless Product Discovery: Clear product images, prominent pricing, and availability details, combined with streamlined search featuring smart auto-suggestions.
- Prominent Conversion CTA: Used a bold, contrasting color for the ‘Go To Store’ button to encourage user action and drive conversions.
- Price Comparison Tool: Enabled buyers to view and compare prices across multiple vendors directly within product listings, simplifying decision-making.
Results
- Delivered Yahoo’s first mobile shopping platform successfully and on time.
- Significantly improved product discoverability and user engagement metrics.
- Enhanced buyer confidence and purchase rates with the price comparison tool.
- Received positive feedback from stakeholders and users for usability, speed, and design clarity.
