Swap It Like It's Hot

I designed a feature that, when added to recurring subscription reminders, has a big impact on churn rates and customer satisfaction.

ARPU is an Ecommerce SaaS app helping merchants manage subscription notification emails.

skills

Design Thinking
Information Architecture
UI / UX Design
UX Writing
Wireframing
Prototyping
Figma

soft skills

Empathy
Leadership
Communication
Collaboration

The Problem

Customers who create recurring subscriptions for things like food or home goods can lose interest over time when their choices turn “stale.”

Even for the users who do feel compelled to update rather than cancel their subscription, the process isn’t always as seamless as it should be.

my role

We envisioned and executed on a seamless, three-click experience for the subscription customer to be able to swap, say, one flavor of kombucha in their upcoming subscription package for another.

We also needed to support the merchant in setting up swappable items on the back end and customizing the prompt in their emails. This involved building a new section of ARPU that allows merchants to turn on product swapping and preview the end user experience.
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I started with wireframes that laid out the ideal flow for both experiences, then collaborated with the product owner on defining the full scope of the feature. Together, we tackled questions such as: Should the customer be able to change their mind after swapping? What level of customization makes the most sense for the merchant?

ARPU has a mature design system library, but starting with wireframes and flows always helps me design the experience before designing the UI.

Once the feature reached full definition, I built the dev-ready mockups in the ARPU design system. A new section was added to the back end to house the feature, and I created mockups for the customer experience that gave us something to use for user testing and marketing on the ARPU website.

Here you can see how the back end (left) gives an accurate preview of what the end user sees (right), instilling confidence in the ARPU user that their brand experience is top notch.

the results

In conversations with key ARPU customers, our Customer Experience Manager reported extremely positive reactions to the new feature.

Paired with ARPU’s other features, Product Swapping rounds out a robust set of tools that reduces churn. Few, if any, other Ecommerce apps offer the same tools all in one place.