Walmart+
early access
During the biggest holiday event of the year, Walmart has an exclusive early access event, giving all customers a sneak peek at our upcoming deals before they go live to the public.
Industry
E-commerce
My Role:
Senior Product Designer (Lead)
Date:
Nov 2023
The Problem
Drawing from insights gathered during the 2022 holiday experience, feedback indicated that customers weren't clear on the value proposition of signing up for W+ during Early Access.
Uncertainty regarding the benefits as a W+ member
Unclear on the advantages of getting a head start to the sale
Our Goals
A big part of our goal was to create a unified Black Friday experience accommodating all aspects of the customer shopping journey while making sure that users had access to the best price for quality products as a Walmart+ member.
Communicate the value of Early Access
Our biggest goal was to acquire new W+ members during the Early Access event, but we also wanted to ensure users were clear on the other benefits we had other than Early Access.
Clarity around when the event starts
The key to any good user experience is clarity and simplicity because it enhances user comprehension, and reduces cognitive load. By prioritizing this goal, users can more effectively grasp the timeline of our Early Access and Black Friday event.
Early Access awareness
As part of the customer journey, it was vital to take an end to end approach by reviewing not only the Early Access page, but every interaction point along the customer's path.
The Approach
In the initial phase of this project, I served as the sole designer for the entire holiday experience, dedicating three months to the project before additional designers were brought on board. As the lead designer, my responsibilities included partnering with the research team to understand the pain points from the prior year and strategizing ways we could clearly state the value prop of Early Access and designing solutions to improve our Early Access experience.
Design & ideation
Once I identified the key pages to prioritize, I started off with the product detail page because analytics data showed that the item page was the top entry point for W+ sign-ups for both web and app during holiday.
Item page
What we're trying to solve for:
W+ banners are located in the middle of the product detail page which can be overlooked by customers
We want ensure customers are clear on how to get access to an Early Access deal
Understanding the value of a Walmart+ membership
Below are some concept ideas focused on a fixed sticky banner and a CTA button. This is a way to provide persistent visibility while ensuring that the Early Access message remain prominently displayed as a user scrolls. As I moved further along the design process, I worked with a content designer on creating a matrix of all the member and event types to tailor the messaging and CTA buttons for each specific audience. The matrix not only helped in identifying the most relevant content for different user segments but also facilitated a strategic approach to crafting compelling CTA buttons and copy.
Deals page
What we're trying to solve for:
Users are unclear on the dual messaging from prior year
Uncertainty regarding the benefits of signing up for a membership
I explored various design options to emphasize the timing of the Black Friday Deals without overshadowing the Walmart+ acquisition event. This was achieved by distinguishing between the two and keeping them separate. Additionally, to ensure the messaging remained clear, I strategically placed Walmart+ banners throughout the rest of the page.
Close collaboration with various teams
Not only did I work on the early access and the product detail page but I also collaborated with the following teams to ensure an end to end holiday experience.
Homepage team
Product detail page
Checkout/conversion
Marketing
Product
Research
W+ Acquisition
Search
Bottom sheet pop up
One solution was to introduce a bottom sheet pop-up to enhance awareness and encourage users to subscribe to the Walmart+ membership from the Early Access page. This strategic placement was chosen because the Early Access page was prominently visible during that period.
Early access emphasis
Another solution was to ensure that early access was prominently displayed on the item page since this is the top entry point for W+ sign-ups for both web and app during holiday.
The screenshots below demonstrate the streamlined sign-up process, showing how quickly users can transition from the item page to becoming a Walmart+ member.
The impact
Through close collaboration with all teams, including the end-to-end design team, stakeholders, acquisition team, marketing, UX research, and merchandising, we were able to achieve the following:
+21% growth over last year during Early Access
Members accounted for more than 50% of digital GMV on event days
Bigger spike at the start of Early Access vs start of all access