BUSINESS IMPACT
INCREASE
INCREASE
IN TEAM SENTIMENT
Mia’s confidence and commitment to the project soared, and each person involved was proud of the outcome.
%
750
750
OUTPERFORMED
ESTIMATES
saving Etsy 7.5 million
in bad recoupment
Moving away from the extreme initial anger, to Sellers thinking about their shop’s financial health.
NEUTRAL
NEUTRAL
SELLER OPINION
Problems
THIS IS A STORY ABOUT ENCOURAGING MY REPORT MIA AND HELPING ETSY WITH UNCOVERING USER NEEDS
Mia, a Senior Product Designer in the Etsy Payments team, faced challenges transitioning into a role that required critical thinking and stakeholder influence. She had recently joined Etsy during a time of significant growth and increased traffic, outperforming other e-commerce sites by 40%. However, along with the growth came a significant rise in fraudulent activity. Therefore, Mia and her team were focused on one goal: reducing fraud.
Etsy faced a surge in counterfeit sales, resulting in millions of dollars in refunds.
The payments team was instructed to take measures to reduce fraudulent activity.
152
152
%
GROWTH IN FRAUD
New to the company, she was hesitant to challenge ideas and norms.
She felt her opinions were not taken seriously or valued, which made her worried about her future with the team.
THRIVING
THRIVING
MIA WAS NOT
Seller
Uses Etsy to list anything within the marketplace guidelines they wish to sell.
Buyer
Any person who uses Etsy to browse or purchase items.
Marketplace
The rules and regulations of the platform that supports both seller and buyer.
Payments Org User Roles
Original User Flow
Payment Account Page
One time notice about the reserve program after the seller was placed in it
Colored banners for further context
A new card on the Payment Account page
Homepage
Shop Manager
Secondary Nav
Contextual Nav
The proposed solution to combat fraud was to implement a payment reserve. This would hold a portion of a sale to cover the costs of returns when a seller doesn't exist. The UI for managing the reserve was to be on the Payment Account page, but sellers rarely visit this page except during tax season. From the beginning, Mia raised concerns about his approach, but she was initially ignored.
User Testing Results
Upon testing the first draft, participants immediately reacted negatively and expressed disappointment and anger.
This is completely unessary and insulting!
Do you realize how much this would affect my livelihood?
If Etsy implements this, I will close my shop immediately
Seller quotes during test
“ I feel like I would be placed in the reserve. I’ve been so OVERWHELMED lately, and I don’t know how to catch up.“
Except for one participant, who took a pause to understand who would be placed into a reserve.
After conducting a thorough investigation with my product partners, we discovered that 96-98% of the sellers who were identified as part of the Reserve program were not actually there due to fraudulent activities. Therefore, we realized we needed to change our approach to avoid upsetting our user base.
This research also helped us develop core principles that would assist Mia and the team approach things differently.
Aligning to Etsy’s Core Value
Success Metrics
Bad Recoupment
Seller & Community Sentiment
Customer Support Tickets
Reserve Completion Rate
Shop Abandonment Rate
Click Rate of Support Materials
Reserve ≠ Jail
Focus on Education
Don’t Surprise the Seller
Reserve Principles
A balanced approach to measuring the success of the Reserve, taking into account the health and security of the marketplace, as well as the well-being of the Seller.
When discussing the next iteration, these principles were used to consider the overwhelmed seller and shift our mindset to a more helpful and well-intentioned one.
Second Iteration
During our second iteration, I motivated the team to involve more groups and concentrate on aiding sellers instead of preventing fraud. We went through hundreds of ideas, and the more we delved into it, the more engaged the team became. Ultimately, the Reserve became a project that people eagerly volunteered to participate in.
Additionally, I realized that enhancing the online experience alone would not be enough to provide adequate support to our sellers, especially given our strong partnership with the Customer Service team. As a result, I requested Mia investigate methods of aiding our sellers both before and after their first sales.
Notifying the seller they are exhibiting behaviors that may place them in the Reserve
Adjusting tone of voice from finance jargon, to helpful tool to run a first-time shop.
Personalized Tips
Access to further details and support
Community Involvement
Learning Hub
Dedicated Customer Support
Working Within Constraints
Finalized UI for In-Product Reserve
Even though we were ideating with engineering, during this time development of the reserve was still ongoing. So our partners began to get concerned about the amount of throw-away work that may happen. To find middle ground, we reused some elements from the first iteration. However, we believed that changes in color, badging, and tone of voice would be enough of an initial directional shift.
Macbook Pro
FOCUS ON THE USER
Understanding your audience & their needs is the key to achieving your business goal.
