Tradera, the Swedish auction platform owned by eBay, had developed into a thriving online marketplace. But they were losing market share to smaller competitors, and needed to understand why. We were brought in to evaluate the situation, and discovered that the Tradera Android and iPhone apps were receiving harsh reviews. The apps were unstable, with thousands of crashes per day — a critical failure in an era when 63% of users expect a consistent experience every time they interact with a brand (according to the Google/Greenberg study “Rising Expectations in Consumer Experiences”). We could see a clear need for more design-driven thinking to help guide key user outcomes, and native apps to ensure better performance. The Tradera team was very receptive to our findings and agreed to a joint re-design and platforming effort. 

Since many Tradera users play the dual role of buyer and seller, our design approach had to provide a balanced experience to enable both use cases for every user. We began by introducing a tab navigation and smart notification framework to guide users to key areas within the interface. We then designed an onboarding experience that allowed users to explore the product first without being forced to create an account; instead they were shown the benefits of creating an account before being prompted to do so.

On April 4th, 2017, the new Tradera app launched. The share of users engaging with the mobile app increased dramatically, the average rating of the app climbed from 2 stars to 4.5 stars, and the number of crashes inside the platform became negligible. Analytics showed that session times and engagement were higher than ever. And Tradera now had the ability to retarget former users and convert them to active users — which is a massive advantage, considering that as many as 25% of app users open an app once and never return (according to a 2015 eMarketer survey). The new app proved conclusively that beautiful design and development can have a measurable and significant impact on a company’s relationship with its customers.