eBay Hub

Role
Lead Product Designer

Responsibilities
UX Product Discovery
UX Strategy
Interaction Design/Prototyping

Overview

Our product team identified a critical gap in customer engagement that directly impacted Gross Merchandise Bought (GMB). We noticed that buyers were missing key updates about their transactions—such as item availability, price drops, and order status—which led to abandoned purchases and lower retention rates.

Why This Was a Priority

Among competing initiatives on the roadmap, addressing this engagement gap stood out due to its direct correlation with purchase completion and repeat buyer activity. Improving notification effectiveness meant not only reducing friction in the buying experience but also driving incremental GMB growth. The potential revenue impact, coupled with qualitative feedback from customers, made this an immediate focus.

Validating the Problem

To ensure we were addressing the right problem, we combined data insights with direct customer input:

  • Data Analysis: We measured engagement rates on existing notifications, uncovering low open rates and missed interactions at key decision points.

  • Customer Interviews: We conducted user research sessions where buyers consistently reported that they either didn’t receive notifications at the right time or were unaware of how to manage them effectively.

  • Experimentation: A/B testing variations of notifications revealed that personalized and time-sensitive alerts significantly increased conversions.

Process

Meet with product owners to:

  • Discover what we do and don’t know about our tech stack

  • Learn what we know related to notification impact on GMB

  • Understand how we can drive GMB

  • Set timelines and schedules

Build a research strategy that:

  • Establishes the customer mental model around notifications

  • Guides design and aligns with business outcomes

  • Provides insight into what works, what doesn’t and potential opportunities

Collaborate with eBay design system team and mobile team:

  • Ensure we are aligned with the eBay brand

  • Align with content specialists

  • Involve legal (if needed)

Timelines

What do notifications consist of?

Notification Types

What do notifications do?

The in-app Notification Hub displays the current status of actions that directly relate to a user’s experience on the site or app. Communications are personalized, actionable, specific, and time bound.


The Notification Hub performs the following functions: 



  • A medium of communication between buyers & sellers


  • An Inbox that provides awareness on the latest state of an activity


  • Prompts action where necessary

Push Notifications

Push notifications exist in the native iOS and Android apps, as a function of the device’s OS. Customers can control which events trigger a notification, and may turn push notifications on or off at the OS level.

Notification types include - order updates, shopping updates, recommendations & rewards, selling, general (messages from members & daily deals)

Current Experience

The Notification Hub is comprised of two tabs:
Act now and See more.

Problem:


  • Low engagement and missed notifications

  • Notifications disappeared after leaving notification hub.

  • Badging is inconsistent showing only badges for items in Act now tab.

  • The customer mental model didn’t align with the current design


Surveys and Cardsorting

Goals:

  • Understand customers mental model related to notifications

  • Learn how they interact with notifications

  • Opportunities to improve user experience and impact user engagement leading to increased GMB

Learnings:

  • Frustrated with hidden notifications

  • Lack of control over when to dismiss notifications

  • Notification grouping was confusing

Card Sorting Learnings:

  • We found that eBay customers grouped notifications by:

  • Buying/myEbay

  • Selling/Shipping

  • Promotions/Coupons

  • Account/Help

Notification Categories

Customer Feedback:

  • We spent 2-3 iterations with customer feedback related to categories.

  • The labeling that resonated the most with customers were, Buying, Selling, Promotions, Coupons, Account.

  • Additionally customers aligned with and liked the consistent messaging and patterns which made the notifications hub feel more connected.

Next Steps:

  • Gather feedback from users related to information that is relevant to them for each notification

  • Build a prototype with interactions

  • Create usability studies




Notification Messaging

Goals:

  • What is and what isn’t a notification?

  • How much interactivity should notifications have?

  • What information would be appropriate and important?

What we tested:

  • Signal

  • Image

  • Description

  • Price/Discount

  • CTA

  • Interactions

Prototyping and Usability Studies

Notification Messaging

What we learned:

  • Customers value quality images

  • Informative Titles

  • Price and or discounts

  • Brief descriptions

What didn’t work:

  • Excessive descriptions

  • Signals with little information

  • Interactions related to type of notification

Before and After

eBay Branding and Alignment:

  • Notifications are meant to drive traffic to eBay

  • Notifications should be informative but not overwhelming

  • CTA’s are intended for product pages

  • Stacked notifications could potentially cause too much visual noise

  • Larger images should be used on product pages






Business Outcomes