FAIRE INTERNSHIP

Reducing retailer membership churn

CONTEXT

Faire is a wholesale marketplace that connects independent retailers with local brands

Insider is Faire's membership subscription program where retailers get free shipping with select brands.

Time

2 months

Team

Designer
Software Engineer
Data Scientist
Product Manager

THE PROBLEM

Retailers are cancelling their Insider membership. Annual Insider churn rate has increased by 10%.

70% retailers who cancel their membership also leave Faire.

MY IMPACT

I led the design of the Insider cancellation flow, expecting to decrease monthly churn rate by 30%.

I worked alongside a product manager, product marketer and data scientists to help retailers better understand the value of their Insider membership.

V1 shipped on Faire's platform

RESEARCH

Retailers aren't understanding the value of Insider

In order to understand what has led retailers to cancel, I audited the entire Insider membership journey from start to end. There was little transparency in how much the retailer has saved. Retailers don't understand how they are saving financially with Insider.

Over 90% of retailers entering the current cancellation flow are cancelling.

The cancellation flow is outdated. The current copy and content doesn't convince retailers to keep their membership.
Pause
Benefits screen
.Cancellation form

HYPOTHESIS

If retailers understand the value of their free shipping benefits, they'll be less likely to churn from Insider.

I chose to design separate cancellation flows for two retailer types, who have different experiences with Insider. Breaking even retailers are retailers whose Insider savings exceed their membership fees. Not breaking even retailers are retailers who haven't been saving.

Segment #1

"I'm cancelling because I don't understand that I'm saving on shipping with my brands.

Jane Doe

Breaking Even

Segment #2

"I'm cancelling because I'm not saving with Insider since I'm not ordering enough."

Adam Lao

Not Breaking Even

BREAKING EVEN

How might retailers understand their membership savings?

We went far and wide with our explorations in helping retailers recognize their membership's value. After speaking with the data science team, we found that retailer's savings across brands were very granular and often disproportionate to the quantity of orders. Thus, instead of focusing on the numbers, I chose to show retailers the large quantity of brands they're losing shipping with.

VERSION 1

Shipping savings across orders

CHOSEN

Brands with free shipping

So, what brands do retailers care the most about?

Following the retailer's ordering journey, I hypothesized retailers cared most about losing free shipping with brands that they've ordered from. Next, retailers would care about brands sitting in the cart, saved in their favorites. I put brands most popular last because retailers wouldn't have engaged with them.

BUT, WAIT!

From interviews, 15% of retailers cancelled their membership because they no longer wanted to keep buying from most re-ordered brands.

It was difficult to predict what brands churned retailers want to continue buying with. as there are lot of factors outside of Faire's control. In order to optimize Faire's chances of showing retailers a brand they care about, we chose to randomize brands in those 4 categories and display as many as we can in the cancellation flow.

VERSION 1

Categorizing brands

CHOSEN

Randomizing brands

NOT BREAKING EVEN RETAILERS

Why might retailers stay with Insider, if they're not saving?

As this segment of retailers have placed little to no orders, I explored incentives to get them to stay with Insider, without utilizing their free shipping savings. Ultimately, I decided to recommend this group of retailers high quality brands in their category because retailers think one-time order deals are insustainable.

VERSION 1

Staying for discounts

CHOSEN

Staying for brands in their category

NEW RESEARCH

Pausing is crucial to retailers who expect lower order volume in upcoming months.

However from data, we found that pause rates were at an all-time low. I discovered that the pause UX was unconvincing and has poor copy.
What's going on here? Why should I pause?

I hypothesized retailers would be more likely to pause their membership if Faire first reminded them of their benefits.

Instead of presenting pause as a modal in the first step of the flow,  I moved it to the membership benefits screen. We were confident in our hypothesis that pause will be the main reason why churning retailers keep their membership. Therefore, I chose to present pause as the best action to take.

VERSION 1

Pause as one of many options

CHOSEN

Pause as the best action

Introducing a recovery offer: Free Insider for a month

To get retailers to stay with Insider, the finance team introduced a recovery offer. After exploring numerous iterations, I landed on framing the recovery offer as a special offer for users to claim and get out of the cancellation funnel quickly. I chose to offer the deal near the end of the cancellation flow because that's more financially sustainable to Faire.
BEFORE
AFTER

Making Cancellation Clear & Rejoining Easy

Previously, when a retailer cancels their membership, the updated account status copy was not clear. The option to rejoin was not prominent, reducing the likelihood of users reconsidering their decision. I introduced a banner to clearly confirm cancellation and make rejoining more visible, increasing clarity and re-engagement.

BEFORE

Hidden option to rejoin their membership

CHOSEN

Visible banner to rejoin membership

MISSION SUCCESS

We shipped Phase 1 of this flow to 10,000+ retailers!

REFLECTIONS

Grateful for the journey! Here's what I learned....

Data doesn’t tell the entire story
We had more data than we could work with. But without qualitative research, we wouldn’t have understood the full picture of the problem.
Know what type of feedback to ask for
I worked with PM and engineers of all shapes; Some didn’t want to get into the nitty gritty details of design. I also worked with senior staff designers who knew almost nothing about the project. So knowing what feedback to ask for is valuable in getting useful and good feedback.

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