What Is eBay Kleinanzeigen?
An online marketplace to buy, sell, swap, and more. It offers numerous categories such as second-hand furniture.
Why This Project?
As an expat in Germany, I frequently used this website to find affordable items for my flat. However, I found the website design and features to be problematic. Navigating and finding relevant information was difficult. As a designer, I wondered how the experience of discovering categories, like household goods, could be improved.
What was my role?
Primary designer & researcher
I was coming up with a conceptual redesign for this project on my own and used the following methods:
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Heuristic evaluation based NNg 10 Usability Heuristics
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Assessed pain points through user Interviews/ usability tests
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Designing wireframes based on opportunities
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Developed the design system
Tools
Figma | FigJam
Pen & Paper
Google Meet
Timeline: four weeks
Observations are made by checking out the website and seeing where this website feels constrained.
Some constraints I faced during design process.
Since Google ads are probably one of eBay kleinanzeigen's main sources of revenue, I tried placing some ads on the landing page to minimize business risk. I'm aware that I probably won't be able to remove or resize these ads in a real-life situation.
Enhancing Discoverability
The scope of this case study is the discoverability of items on the landing page of the website so that it is easier for users to search for items they want. Therefore, the redesign aims to reduce the mental interaction cost while using the website.
Designing for Success: My Objectives and Vision
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A modern and trustworthy website experience
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Improved navigation to discover new items and increase revenue
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Increase Click-Through Rate for the initial landing page listings
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Increase CTR to at least 50% of my sample size
UX DISCOVERY
The first step
So what did I assume was wrong with the website?
Finding IxD pain points based on 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interaction Design
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Lack of visual hierarchy
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Poor color contrast
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Inconsistent alignment
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No clear visual dominance
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Small text and body copies
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Jakob's law is not applied, with unclear prominence of key items such as "Place an Ad" and "Search for Item"
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Text-based category section and random galleries with poor user interface design decisions.
Red Route analysis
Buyers>>
Red route: Buy/ Search categories
Normal route: Clicking on outsourced ads
Sellers>>
Red route: Place an ad
Normal route: Profile setting
Background
Google Play Store reviews indicate that many users were dissatisfied with the website's user interface.
Objectives
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Investigating website users' pain points
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Analyzing users' interactions with the website.
Methodologies
Primary research: In-depth interview and usability test
Interview
Hi, my name is Ghazaleh.
Thanks for taking the time to help me with this research.
Are you familiar with user interview or usability test terms?! In this session, I will ask you about your experience with the eBay website.
There is no right or wrong answer to my questions. I just want to hear about your thoughts and feelings.
Results
😊 Successful: Looking at the number of results to find a more accurate category
😲 Surprised: Find a desired product using breadcrumbs
🤨 Untrustworthy: Outdated design and a large number of ads
😵 Confused: Category section
Talking to users and gathering some user insights
I conducted open-ended research to identify issues & validate my assumptions
Result-Current metrics (6 users sample size)
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100% of visitors found the website to be outdated
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50% of the visitors did not trust the website due to intrusive ads, the other half had ad-blockers enabled
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85% of visitors searched for what they were looking for instead of using the website's categories
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The average time spent on the website was 8 minutes, indicating that visitors did not find the information they needed and had to look elsewhere.
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16% Click-Through Rate for the initial landing page listings
What did I learn from competitor analysis and user insights?
The competitors had a cleaner and more straight-forward design
As a buyer, I want a better user interface with less noise, so that I can find relevant deals and suggestions on the landing page as well.
I created a table of features benchmarks and compared it to the empathy map I did from user interviews.
Direct competitors
OLX — Avito
Indirect competitors
Amazon — Otto
DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION
First wireframes and designs
Test out the opportunities in the design
I found five major issues and my design is specifically tailored to address these problems.
How might we?
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improve the design of the most accessed points like the CTAs and the search bar
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distinguish outsourced ads from users' ads without harming the business
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decrease the noise and confusion of the landing page and make it more engaging
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improve the website's experience for non-German speakers and newcomers
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give users faster access to the ads based on their location, especially first-time users
Style guide
With my redesign,
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Improved website readability by incorporating consistent margins, spacing, visually appealing card designs, and categorized icons.
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Enhanced landing page thumbnails while maintaining the presence of outsourced ads.
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Streamlined and user-friendly CTAs for improved clarity and understanding.
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Users can set the distance easily using the NAV bar that shows their location. They also have access to the website in English.
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Engaging and distinguishable user ads from outsourced ads.
Feature promotion
My approach to improving CTR: Redesigning product cards for better results
Important elements to be improved:
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Card size
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Location/ destination
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Clear heading
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Price
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Date of the ad on top of the card
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For outsourced ads, Anzeige should be replaced with a location tag
Final categories & landing page card's design
Feature promotion
Navigation Bar
Usability tests and iterations:
Gathering feedback from my users provided me with helpful information to improve the design elements such as using a monochrome color palate and clear CTAs
FINAL DESIGNS
Landing page
Landing page
Usability tests and iterations:
The typeface is illegible because thumbnails are so small that product information cannot be easily conveyed.
Users in the user interviews said that they feel confused by the current website design and that the website lacks trust signals.
Lessons learned
So what did I learn?
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Defining the scope of design provided me with a clear insight into the wants, needs, and behaviors of my target audience, leading to a more profound understanding and connection with them.
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Creating an attractive and easy-to-use experience is difficult. Each user thinks and behaves differently. For example, moving the "All Categories" section to the hamburger menu can make more room on the landing page, but not all users may easily find it in the navigation bar. Considering these different user behaviors is important to design something that looks good and is easy to use.
