A new approach to photo books
Why photo books?
It's one of the top revenue-generating categories, with strong margins and high customer retention. High-value customers often create multiple books each year. Despite its potential, it's also one of the most complex products to build and we saw an opportunity to simplify the experience and unlock even more value.
Our goal
Improve customer satisfaction and increase conversion by making the photo book creation process easier, faster, and more enjoyable.
Our team
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1 UX Designer
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1 Product Owner
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1 Business Manager
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1 UX Researcher
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And me... (UX Director)
This was a project initiated and driven by UX. We felt we could improve the photo book creation experience, and ultimately needed to convince the business to make the investment. We started by talking to customers. After multiple rounds of feedback we felt we had a solid design, and worked closely with engineering on a light-weight development plan.
I led this project from gathering the team, generating new concepts, convincing the business to make the investment, and ultimately through A/B testing and launch.
What we did
01
We began by interviewing customers to gain deeper insights on how they create their books, what’s working well, and where they face challenges.
02
We brainstormed on improvements and reviewed competitor approaches.
03
We created a robust prototype and tested with our customers.
04
We continued to iterate and get feedback, and established a small go-to group of customer photo book advisors.
05
We finalized the design, worked through a development plan, and launched it as an A/B test against the existing experience.
Our result
A 7% lift in conversion.
Lots of positive feedback from happy customers.
Increased CSAT.
The new design
The new design features scrolling as the main interface making it easy to see multiple spreads at once to get an overview of your book and place photos and design elements throughout.
Backgrounds and embellishments were simplified to initially show only the elements that match the user’s selected design, with easy access to more options through browsing, search, and a color picker.
What we learned
The scrolling view of the book was a hit with users. It made it much easier for them to place and organize photos, get a clear overview of their project, and easily add backgrounds and design elements throughout.
The small, dedicated group of photo book enthusiasts we created was invaluable. Having quick access to their feedback allowed us to rapidly test ideas, validate solutions, and keep momentum as we iterated through development.
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The original design
In the main view, people click on next and previous arrows to paginate through the photo book. People can see only one spread at a time, making it hard to get an overview of the book.
Accessing backgrounds and embellishments was cumbersome. Users needed to open and close several sub-trays to see what's available.
