Increased the volume of voucher purchases in the marketplace by solving UX problems

What I’ve found at this stage:

• Wrong user focus — existing personas targeted young users (18–25), while the real age distribution was almost even between 24–55. Design had to acknowledge different levels of tech proficiency.

• User login problems — GA and Customer Support data showed account activation and login issues; many client employees had no e-mail or were not tech-savvy.

• Low user satisfaction — NPS was 28, with recurring complaints about confusing fund-spending restrictions (social funds usable only for specific purchases).

• Redundant features — duplicated marketplace functionalities and almost unused ones (e.g. list view switching) only increased cognitive load.

• No price filter — users couldn’t list only the vouchers they could afford.

• Hard category navigation — category names meant to be “exciting” were ambiguous and too broad; users struggled to place vouchers into them.

• Users preferred search over browsing — the top 10 vouchers (IKEA, Spotify…) drove 80% of sales.

• Some clients did little to inform employees about Nais and their available funds.

Key findings:

• Cognitive overload on listings — the category/filter column took too much width, cramming vouchers into 3-item rows; after a short scroll the column was blank space.

• No quick scanning support — voucher details were scattered across the card; images rarely carried the provider’s logo (Netflix etc.), forcing users to read titles.

• Voucher details modal with extreme load — a full-screen modal with all details and options (50+, even 60+ variants) required scrolls, broke flows and offered no direct access.

• Order page UX issues — missing option details (e.g. chosen location) and awkward interactions like a 1–100 quantity dropdown.

• Search inefficiency — misconfigured scoring meant ~60% of searches failed to surface the desired voucher.

• Top vouchers “hidden” — uncontrolled sorting buried top-10 items under 50+ newly added provider listings.

• Too complex path to deposit personal funds — depositing required leaving the purchase flow for a rarely visited “Settlements” area, so most users never knew it existed.

Main points to address:

• The current registration and login process does not support users with low technological knowledge.

• Users want to quickly find and purchase a desired voucher — current UI & back-end solutions limit that.

• Some users don’t even know (or forget) they have accounts, as their employers put little effort into communication.

Solutions for login & registration:

• Phone number as an alternative login — users pick e-mail or SMS for registration and password reset. SMS cost per user is covered by a single marketplace purchase.

• Remember user details after logout — cookies store the login, so users only re-enter their password.

Solutions:

• Decrease cognitive load on listings — duplicated filters removed; search, filters and category select unified in one place. Freed space stopped vouchers from being cramped, and above the fold users now see the 3 most desired items instead of one promo banner.

• Improve search — I reviewed the scoring system and voucher content structure; results became accurate, and a prompting mechanism lets users jump straight to a voucher page.

• Rebuild categories via card sorting — a workshop with real users grouped vendor cards into affinity groups and named them.

• Improve item scanning — details consolidated in one card area, with a reserved logo spot unifying list appearance.

• Move voucher details from modal to a standalone page — no more accidental closes, unobstructed details, better mobile responsiveness.

• Reduce cognitive load on voucher options — with back-end devs we identified that location was the worst option type; options are now grouped by city (12 cities instead of 60+ items), lists over 10 items got quick search, and price was separated from hand-written titles.

• Cover missing funds inside the flow — if balance is insufficient, the user tops up with personal funds without leaving checkout and lands on the confirmation page.

Solutions:

• Educational materials for managers — instant answers to common activation questions; printed packs went to clients with the most inactive accounts.

• Nais promoters on-site — educational days at client workplaces where Customer Service answered questions and helped employees register.

• Phase I (lower back-end involvement) — redesign the catalog and voucher details page, improve search, rebuild categories, prepare promotional materials.

• Phase II — login / registration / password reset with SMS, opening the platform to all users.

• Phase III — quick top-up of missing funds, involving extra payment-provider logic, so it shipped last.

I was the only designer (later promoted to Product Leader) at Nais for almost 3 years. In that time:

• Satisfied employees built client trust — some increased their benefit budgets.

• Average provision per sale fell — and that’s good. Top providers have lower reseller rates; the old strategy of pushing high-provision, low-demand vouchers was a dead end. Sales volume let Nais renegotiate terms with top providers.