Project Overview
My Role: Designer, Ads/Recommendations
Project Type: Strategy, Visual Design
Key Partners: eBay Motors team, View item team, Search Team
Timeline: Q4 2021 - Q2 2022
Platforms: All platforms - iOS, Android, desktop web, mobile web
Outcome: Launched Recommendations across eBay that fit a buyer’s vehicle. Achieved a 2x increase in sales and ads revenue in the eBay Motors vertical.
$6.56M
Ads Revenue in 2022
2X
Inc in Sales in 2022
$2.7M
Inc in Ads Revenue in 2022
Project Goal
Help shoppers on eBay find parts and accessories that fit their vehicle by encouraging more people to use the Finder tool and search filters and increasing their trust in these fitment tools.
Save sellers the stress of having to check fitment with buyers or deal with returns of items that don’t fit.
Problem Space
eBay’s recommendations for car parts do not effectively consider the user's vehicle in their My Garage* or their preference set on the Search or View item page. This lack of relevance can be frustrating and unhelpful for buyers. Inaccurate recommendations often result in buyer dissatisfaction and a higher rate of returns.
*My Garage is a feature on the eBay platform that allows users to create a virtual garage or collection of vehicles they own or are interested in.
What is Fitment?
Fitment is a term used to describe the specifications determining if something fits onto something else or a thing fits into another to accomplish a specific purpose. Within this context, fitment is used to determine whether a part is compatible with a specific vehicle.
Importance of Fitment: Fitment ensures optimal functionality, safety, and performance by matching parts to the appropriate vehicles.
Screenshot of Live iOS Search Page & Product Page of a user selecting a vehicle. 2021
Screenshot of Live iOS Recommendations. 2021
Customer insights
Lack of Trust
There is a lack of trust for people who have shopped for parts and accessories on eBay before and they can be skeptical of using the finder or trusting the fitment feedback eBay gives.
Want eBay to confirm fitment
Shoppers want a “fits” confirmation message to be clearly coming from eBay rather than it just coming from the seller
Finders tool give confidence
Going through the vehicle entry process (Finders Tool) gives shoppers confidence that they will find the right parts.
What did we do?
Objective: To facilitate seamless parts discovery for shoppers by promoting the use of Finder's tool and search filters, while instilling trust in these fitment tools.
Collaboration: We worked closely with eBay Motors, View Item Team, and Search Team to ensure a seamless end-to-end experience in the part-finding process.
Internal Improvements: Our team internally updated the Design brief intake form and piloted the use of the One Pager approach. This allowed us to establish alignment among the Design-Product-Engineering teams, creating a strong triad aligned on problem space, success metrics, user goals, and technical constraints.
Screenshots indicating team alignment
Designs
Co-created Workflows: Collaborated with partner teams to develop workflows for the recommendations area and took ownership of refining these flows.
Iterative Approach: Workflows underwent multiple iterations in close collaboration with Product partners and algorithm engineers. This iterative process considered feasibility and aimed to achieve an ideal user experience.
Iterative Recommendations: Created multiple iterations of recommendations by collaborating with designers, developers, and content strategists. These iterations explored various visual designs and content variations.
Design Critiques and Leadership Reviews: Engaged in design critiques and received feedback from leadership, which guided the evolution of the designs.
User workflow for searching for a part on eBay
Iterations for recommendations on Figma
Iterations for recommendations on Figma
Ongoing Challenges and Mitigation Strategies
Design Systems Alignment: Faced pushback from Design Systems regarding visual style. Concurrently worked with eBay Motors team, stakeholders, and Design Systems to align on visual style, position, and content. Made compromises and reached a middle ground to address concerns.
User Feedback and Language Change: Conducted preliminary research and received user feedback on the term "Confirmed fit." Recognized the implication of eBay confirming compatibility and changed the language to "Fits your vehicle" to better align with user expectations.
Disjointed Experience Concern: I recognized the potential for a disjointed experience due to different delivery times among teams. I raised concerns and advocated for transparency into project phases and improved coordination between teams.
Mitigation Strategies: Implemented improved coordination between teams to ensure a smoother end-user experience. By employing a phased approach, clearer expectations were established with leadership and stakeholders.
Zoom meeting with Design Systems and Partner Design Teams
Shared a comprehensive timeline with stakeholders, illustrating the timeline for each phase of the project, broken by teams.
Design Deliverables
Deliverables catered to various platforms, including desktop, iOS, Android accommodating different contexts and orientations.
Results & Outcomes
What sellers are saying
After incorporating eBay Motors’ fitment compatibility in our listings, we saw a 40% increase in sales literally overnight.
- Jaime Rodriguez, Owner of Southwest Auto Body Parts
What eBay Motors is trying to do is the Holy Grail for sellers—sellers just need to know how to use it.
-Rick Green, 1A Automotive
$6.56M
Ads Revenue in 2022
2X
Inc in Sales in 2022
$2.7M
Inc in Ads Revenue in 2022
Design mocks illustrating recommendations with fitment
Anusha’s impact on the project
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"She has been a highly valuable partner in helping our team explain how and why fitment is so important even in scenarios where she could have been less of an advocate where we were receiving push back. She clearly cares about her work and how our work helps our users. She knows her domain and can gracefully and eloquently share her expertise as well as meeting in the middle and adapting to new scenarios and points of view. I found her to be a great lead, highly professional, supportive and eager while maintaining confidence, guidance and strong partnering"
- Design Lead, eBay Motors
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"Anusha was instrumental in leading ‘Fitment Relevant Merchandising’ track from Design standpoint, emphasizing with users to past studies, and delivering an experience that solved the most glaring relevance problem we had in Merchandising. The test delivered $2.7 M in Ads Revenue already and is poised to deliver more rest of the year."
- Product Manager