E-Commerce Checkout Redesign Case Study

Contributing to a cross-functional team effort to modernize the buy flow and support international expansion

Overview

As Senior Product Designer on a cross-functional team at a major social media technology company, I contributed to a comprehensive redesign of our e-commerce checkout experience. This project aimed to increase conversion rates, modernize the interface, and enable global expansion across multiple markets.

Challenge

Our existing checkout flow suffered from several critical issues:

  • High cart abandonment, particularly on mobile devices and for high-value products

  • Outdated UI patterns inconsistent with the company's established design system

  • Limited payment flexibility restricting our ability to serve diverse user preferences

  • Technical constraints blocking international growth and causing performance issues

  • Reliability problems including validation errors that eroded user trust

Goals & Success Metrics

Increase Conversion

Reduce cart abandonment and friction, particularly for mobile users purchasing high-value products

Modernize Experience

Align checkout with the company's design system to improve consistency, accessibility, and cross-device responsiveness

Payment Flexibility

Integrate modern payment methods (Apple Pay, PayPal, Buy Now Pay Later solutions) to reduce checkout friction and expand market reach

Global Scalability

Build modular checkout architecture supporting region-specific requirements across UAE, India, EU, and Canada

Technical Performance

Eliminate validation issues and performance bottlenecks impacting user trust and completion rates

Team Approach & My Role

Discovery & Strategic Foundation

Team effort: Our cross-functional team analyzed conversion data, identified user drop-off points, and conducted competitive audits across 6+ leading e-commerce platforms to benchmark best practices.

My contributions:

  • Led conversion analysis identifying mobile drop-off patterns through data analysis and user journey mapping

  • Facilitated stakeholder workshops with Product, Engineering, and Business teams to align on priorities and define success metrics

  • Synthesized competitive research findings into actionable design principles

Design & Prototyping

Team effort: We explored multiple design directions in Figma, leveraging the company's established component library for rapid prototyping and consistency.

My contributions:

  • Designed end-to-end checkout flows for shopping bag, upsell, and confirmation screens

  • Refined pixel-level details ensuring alignment with design system standards

  • Created responsive design specifications optimizing experiences across mobile, tablet, and desktop viewports

  • Developed comprehensive design documentation including interaction specs, error states, and edge cases

Validation & Iteration

Team effort: The team established internal testing programs and ran A/B experiments to validate design decisions and measure impact.

My contributions:

  • Designed and analyzed A/B experiments, including the Apple Pay Express Checkout test

  • Established internal dogfooding program enabling team feedback loops that caught issues before production release

  • Facilitated weekly design reviews, synthesizing feedback from stakeholders across Product, Legal, Finance, and International teams

  • Incorporated learnings from user testing and conversion metrics into iterative improvements

Implementation & Launch

Team effort: Close collaboration with engineering ensured we built modular, scalable checkout flows that could support ongoing optimization.

My contributions:

  • Partnered closely with Engineering to ensure technical feasibility, creating annotated specifications and participating in sprint planning

  • Standardized asset delivery process, reducing design-to-development handoff time by 30% through structured Figma libraries and documentation

  • Participated in QA reviews to ensure design fidelity in final implementationResults & Business Impact

Results & Business Impact

Conversion Uplift

Apple Pay Express Checkout increased purchase rates by 5.4% in the first 24 hours, with overall conversion rates trending upward across all payment methods

Reduced Friction

Streamlined express checkout flows reduced the number of steps required, directly improving mobile completion rates for high-value products

Global Scalability

Successfully launched modular checkout system supporting 4 new international markets (UAE, India, Canada, EU), each with country-specific payment methods and regulatory requirements

Payment Flexibility

Enabled integration of 4 new payment methods (Apple Pay, PayPal, BNPL, company-branded payment solution), expanding payment options and reducing checkout friction

Technical Performance

Addressed critical bottlenecks, reducing checkout latency by over 50% and significantly improving system reliability

Design System Consistency

All new screens and components adhere to the company's design system, improving consistency across 15+ checkout screens and enhancing long-term maintainability

Key Takeaways

Data-informed iteration

Combining quantitative conversion data with qualitative user testing revealed friction points invisible in metrics alone. The 5.4% lift from Apple Pay came from understanding that mobile users wanted fewer steps, not just another payment option.

Design systems accelerate delivery

Leveraging the existing component library enabled rapid prototyping while maintaining consistency. This allowed us to test more variations faster and ultimately ship with confidence.

Collaboration drives outcomes

Regular cross-functional alignment prevented late-stage surprises and ensured design solutions met business and technical constraints. Weekly reviews with Legal, Finance, and International teams were crucial for global expansion.

Modular thinking enables scale

Designing for flexibility from the start made international expansion feasible without complete redesigns. Each market required unique payment methods and compliance needs—modularity made this manageable.

Performance is a feature

The 50% reduction in checkout latency wasn't just a technical win—it directly impacted user trust and completion rates. Treating performance as a design consideration from day one paid dividends.

Reflection

This project's success was the result of close collaboration across design, engineering, and product management. While I'm proud of my contributions to design execution, stakeholder facilitation, and engineering partnership, the outcomes reflect the collective expertise and shared ownership of the entire team.

The experience reinforced that the most impactful work happens at the intersection of user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility—and that getting there requires clear communication, strategic thinking, and genuine partnership across disciplines.

This project showcases my ability to:

  • Lead complex, high-impact redesigns within established design systems

  • Drive measurable business results through data-informed iteration

  • Navigate cross-functional stakeholder dynamics across product, engineering, legal, and international teams

  • Balance user needs with technical and business constraints

  • Scale design solutions for global products and diverse markets