Offerup

CASE STUDY · UXUI REDESIGN · MOBILE

Overview

Offerup app is the biggest mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the US. The pandemic has caused many local people to struggle to stay afloat, as shelter-in-place orders took effect. I redesigned the OfferUp iOS app to have more efficient and intuitive browsing and listing process. My goal is for users to have a consistent and delightful experience as both a buyer and seller, which will create a marketplace of options.

My Role & Contributions

  • Identified user needs and opportunities by conducting secondary research and user interviews.
  • Led the design decision-making based on the user flow, style guides, and UI components in order to create a consistent product design.

Project Type

UX service redesign

Tools

Figma
FigJam
Miro
Illustrator
After Effects

Duration

6 weeks

Team

Individual Project

PROBLEM

Unclear Navigation

While OfferUp provides specific features to ensure a safe marketplace experience, users still face difficulties finding a used product. This issue is because of the lack of detailed descriptions and photos that accurately show the product's condition. It takes them a great deal of time to discover and decide on a product that matches their price range and expectation.

Complicated browsing
  • No Title or Price Shown, unable to know the details
  • Location filter does not apply and gets mixed
  • Outdated Listings shown
Poor FIltering section
  • Sometimes the Filter does not apply and makes User confused
  • Unwanted listing pops up
Redundant process
  • Users do not know when the seller or buyer will respond
  • Need to add a feature of when to expect a response

OUTCOME

I would like the app to have more efficient browsing and an intuitive user interface. The goal is for the users to have a simple and convenient experience by selling and buying, And Offerup is mainly for a Simple buying and selling experience.
CHALLENGE
How might I enhance OfferUp's user experience for
buyers and sellers so they can more efficiently and intuitively browse and list products?

DISCOVER

BACKGROUND

As a regular user, I found it difficult to see what the actual listing is by just looking at posts on the main page. It has no description or title about it so we have to decide by clicking the each post every time. Also it is hard to navigate posts that are current and active. Users were frustrated with the scattered ads, lack of filtering options, and the disproportional listing layout that OfferUp offers.
"Listings are filtered according to product categories, prices and distances. The more specific the details, the more likely the item will show up during a search. However, due to the massive entry that the app gets on a daily basis and the way products are displayed in an infinite manner, it cannot be assumed that one’s listing will stay on the top all the time.."

RESEARCH

I started the research by looking at the basic demographic information to build a picture of who the OfferUp users actually are. As of 2021, the majority of the user base is female adults with over $60K annual income in the U.S. These data helped segment the target audience who I should interview and conduct testing with.
Competitor analysis
I researched and analyzed 5 different marketplace applications and conducted competitor analysis. I wanted to compare how the user flows were and compare
the similar marketplace apps.
Quantitative Research
I collected quantitative information to validate my findings by creating a survey on social media such as Reddit. 80% of the users wanted detailed descriptions and considered the price, quality, and seller ratings as the main factors for purchasing items.
User Interview
Given the time restraint on this school project, I interviewed 5 users who regularly buy and sell used items online, two of which are OfferUp experts. I asked them to share their experience, pain points, motivations, and goals on shopping and selling second hand items.
Affinity diagram
I moved into defining the problems users faced. I did this by grouping all of my data together in an affinity map.
USER INTERVIEW FINDINGS

What I learned from Users?

There were many ways that the buyers journey could have been portrayed, but from qualitative data, it was understood that the buyer had problems searching for items that they wanted.
  • Users had issues trusting buyers with a low reputation
  • Users had a lot of complaints about another party in a transaction flaking on them
  • Users had trust issues when believing some reviews if there wasn’t enough substance to them
INSIGHTS
From the user interviews, the main takeaway is to standardize the information each listing contains so that buyers can search and filter for the right products and understand exactly what they're getting. This also sets sellers up for success by providing a structure to guide the process.
Listing items
Provide a structure for listing
an item to ensure buyers get
all the necessary information.
Filtering
Detailed filters and quick
category selection to refine
the listings for a more efficient
product search.
Homescreen
A clean and organized layout with prices for a better shopping experience.

DEFINE

Empathy map
Taking the insights gained from the user survey and interviews, I created an empathy map. there was a high dependency on the features the app provided, and that directly affected how they felt about the whole buying process.
Value proposition
Moving on, I used the customer side of the value proposition canvas to map out value for the user by exploring the pains and gains they experience along the buying and selling process.
Personas
Based on the user interviews and creating insights, I created two main personas based on insights from research.
PAINS and GAINS
  • Users had issues trusting buyers with a low reputation
  • Users had a lot of complaints about another party in a transaction flaking on them
  • Users had trust issues when believing some reviews if there wasn’t enough substance to them
PROBLEM STATEMENT
  • Buyers want to save money by the platform, however they have a hard time navigating what they want to find because the home screen is confusing.
  • Sellers are frustrated when Posting a listing takes a lot of time, and repetitive pop ups show up, and suggesting promotion confuses them.
  • Users would like see other users' previous reviews (For Building Trust), but there is no way to trust sellers/buyers other than 5 star Ratings and no comments are shown.
SOLUTION
Long term Engagement
Specified,
Precise Filters
Customized Homescreen
Add Specific Reviews
after sold

IDEATE

Prioritization matrix
I wanted to reflect the Offerup user’s value that cares most about the trustworthy local buying and selling experience. Based on the collected data, I recognized clear information presentation and interface matter the most. I plotted a list of features for improvement based on feasibility and importance.
Information Architecture
To help users to get a bigger picture of our product, I created the following information architecture diagram to understand the scope of refreshing design system.
Crazy 8’s
Before testing, I used the crazy-eights method as a way to brainstorm layout ideas for the new features to get ideas of how I can reduce the process of posting and simplify buying and selling process.
Wireframe
With these research findings, I came up with 3 different scenarios and task flows that seek to improve the user experience on the app. I conducted user testing with the low fidelity wireframes to gather feedback and validate the designs.
View full wireframe

DELIVER

DESIGN

Style Guide
I created a style guide based on the current Offerup color system and maintained the fonts they used.

FINAL OUTPUT

HIGH FIDELITY DESIGN
Onboarding
Sign up with filling out a quick questionnaire for your shopping experience.
Filter & Browse
Detailed filter for buyers to narrow
down search results for a more
efficient discovery experience.
Posting Process
A step-by-step form to guide sellers on the important information to include in their listing.
    SOLUTION
    BEFORE
    AFTER
    BEFORE
    AFTER
    • Added Filtering, saving feature
    • Categories visible in homescreen
    • Organnized layout
    • Prices shown with posts
    • Uploaded photos with option to add more
    • Guide for essential information to include
    • Simplify the number of steps
    BEFORE
    AFTER
    BEFORE
    AFTER
    • customized the results to a particular order
    • Specific Critria to find the right product
    • Adding specific reviews for buyers to view
    • Organized layouts
    Usability test
    After creating the prototypes, I conducted a usability test with four participants. I prepared couple tasks and assumption questions for the participants and measured completion rate, number of errors, total time, and task level satisfaction.
    System usability scale
    After the test, I also provided 10 system usability scale questions to the participants. The average adaptability score was in the higher acceptable range. All of the four participants scored the acceptable scores.

    REFLECTION

    What I learned
    First, I learned not to let my own presumptions affect the redesign decision. It is very easy to assume we know what is best for the product and users, and I had to constantly remind myself that I am designing for the users.Also, it was not easy to redesign the whole application that is highly used in the States. People are very used to the app already and it was not easy to change every design, I felt that when working on UX research project, it would be better to work in a team environment. I felt that there is a lack of feedback when I am designing the solutions. With a team, the design process would be a lot more efficient and more complex problems could be solved. Teammates support each other by building up your ideas.Finally, I wish I could have tested the new features with actual high volume sellers and buyers because I believe their output would have been more beneficial to me, as they are the direct users to these additional features.the more research you do , the better.
    Next Steps
    • Add Scheduling option tabs when messaging sellers
    • Some ‘Items’ may not have a fixed pricing, Some users did not set the price as they wish for the buyers to message them to discuss and negotiate the pricing. Therefore more time is required to improve the quality of the product listings.
    • Add user groups, group chat functions, and the opportunity for users to set up swap meets, garage sales, or community sales events through the app.
    OVERVIEW
    DISCOVER
    DEFINE
    IDEATE
    DELIVER
    TESTING
    TAKEAWAYS
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