Poshmark
An unsolicited redesign of the item listing process to improve buyer and seller satisfaction.
An unsolicited redesign of the item listing process to improve buyer and seller satisfaction.
Item listings don't always include all of the information that shoppers wish to see, which leads to missed sales or disappointment when items do not meet the buyer's needs.
Redesign the item listing process in a way that prompts and encourages sellers to include more detailed information about the item for sale, and effectively reflect these changes on the item listing page.
UX/UI Designer
Figma, Procreate, Photoshop
3 Weeks
Poshmark is an online secondhand clothing retail business that allows people to buy and sell secondhand clothing, shoes, and accessories.
Once registered, anyone can buy or sell on the marketplace via the website or app.
Sellers often fail to include information in item listings that may be important to the potential buyer, which buyers frequently request by commenting on the listing. If sellers do not respond, buyers may purchase the item anyway and end up dissatisfied, or not make the purchase at all. This means sellers may miss out on a sale, or risk having a bad review left on their shop.
Poshmark does not accept returns unless the items have undisclosed damage, or are otherwise not as described in the listing.
Shoppers want to buy secondhand clothing on Poshmark to save money and shop sustainably, but since purchases cannot be returned, they feel apprehensive about buying items that don’t include all the information they’d like to have prior to purchasing.
How can we help shoppers feel more comfortable and confident in making online secondhand purchases to improve both buyer and seller satisfaction?
In the next 6 months the goal of the redesign is to:
The current design (left two screens) for the 'create listing' on the Poshmark app is one screen which prompts users to fill out information about their item.
The 'listing details' page which is how shoppers see the item (right two screens), displays the information the seller provided during the 'create listing' phase.
To learn about users' current behavior and goals surrounding buying and selling secondhand clothing online, I conducted unstructured and semi-structured interviews with current and potential users of Poshmark.
I learned that:
To learn more about the users of Poshmark, I used information gathered during interviews, researched secondhand shopping, and read blogs and articles by and about people who use Poshmark.
After reviewing the surveys and user research, I created two personas. One represents a user who uses Poshmark to sell and buy, while the other represents somebody who only uses Poshmark as a shopper.
The personas each have different motivations, goals, and pain points, and informed the design process by serving as a reminder to balance the needs of the two distinct user groups and use cases.
To understand the scope of the impact of the uncertainty that can be caused by unclear listings, I created journey maps to represent the journeys of both a seller and a buyer navigating the sale and purchase of a skirt.
This step helped illustrate all the ways in which the problem of unclear listings and expectations impacts the experience of all users of Poshmark. This helped me find and clarify opportunities to improve the experience in a balanced way that benefits both users who sell and buy on Poshmark.
Prompting sellers to include detailed information about the items and reflecting those changes in the product pages to create more thorough listings may help users sell and buy items with greater success rates and confidence.
To learn how these other businesses help shoppers feel more confident and satisfied in their purchases, I conducted a feature inventory of four competitors.
I found that providing tips and showing examples of successful photos, emphasizing the benefit of including detailed information, and providing inputs for sellers to add this information in the listing process and then reflecting this information on the product page may help customers feel more comfortable making purchases.
In order to:
I conducted usability testing on the original Poshmark website by guiding participants to complete tasks as if they were either shopping on Poshmark or listing an item.
I learned that users:
After reviewing hundreds of listings that have questions and answers about item specifics, it was noted that many sellers are unaware of what certain information means or how to locate it. Providing informational resources within the listing process for sellers that describe what the field means and how the information can be found may help alleviate confusion and miscommunication.
Additionally, some buyers have been so frustrated to have an item not meet their expectations that they have mailed the item back to the seller- violating Poshmark rules.
The following four potential solutions were identified to address user needs:
Prompt sellers to include more information during the listing process
Emphasize the importance of including more information for buyers
Provide tips and explanations about what each entry means
Adjust the item listing page to reflect this additional information
After identifying potential solutions, I did some sketching to quickly explore different ways of implementing them.
I opted to turn the single page listing process into a flow of several screens, to allow for more space for new input fields and the 'tips and tricks'.
The organization of the information on each screen was determined by a card sort of all the elements deemed necessary, and then I also added a "listing summary" page to provide an easy overview and opportunity to add in any missed information.
Next I created wireframes in Figma based off of the sketches. The listing details screen remains mostly the same, with a few more sections added to reflect new information and a different image layout.
I used these wireframes to do usability testing, and the main pain points I discovered were that users were unclear of how many steps there were in the listing process based off of the percentage-based progress bar, and the inability to cancel further into the listing process.
After addressing concerns identified by the usability testing on the wire frames, I created the final designs in Figma.
I created several iterations, and developed them into this final version which includes the 'create listing' flow, and the updated 'listing details' page.
Next, I tested the new design to discover if the design solutions I created will be successful in helping buyers feel more confident in their purchases.
Using the same scenarios and questions from from the usability test of the original design, I tested the prototype of the redesigned website.
Participants
I designed the screens for iOS following the existing Poshmark app design, while making some adjustments to better meet accessibility guidelines and integrate the changes I was implementing.
I designed using an 8 point grid, as well as a type scale. Spacing is consistent across the design. I used the Poshmark colors, and utilized design elements from across the app for consistency.
Different text sizes and weights, spacing, and background color are all employed to create clear hierarchy among the elements and make pages scannable.
I created several new UI elements for this project, including back and next buttons, 'tips' boxes, 'more info' links, and a progress indicator.
They were designed to seamlessly visually integrate with the existing app, while adding valuable functionality that help solve the user pain points.
New UI elements