The Challenge
The Invisalign accessories shop had a 72% cart abandonment rate. Patients struggled to find compatible products, shipping costs surprised them at checkout, and the purchase flow required too many steps for simple reorders.
I was tasked with redesigning the e-commerce experience to reduce friction and increase both conversion rate and average order value.
"How might we reduce friction in the accessories purchase flow while increasing average order value?"
A Leaky Funnel
The existing shop was built as an afterthought to the main Invisalign experience. It lacked the polish of modern e-commerce and created unnecessary friction at every step of the purchase journey.
The Scale of the Problem
Where Users Dropped Off
Funnel analysis revealed three critical friction points in the purchase journey:
Understanding Purchase Friction
My approach centered on understanding where users struggled and why. I combined competitive benchmarking, funnel analytics, and qualitative interviews to build a comprehensive picture of purchase friction.
Competitive Analysis
Benchmarked Nike, ASOS, and Bloomingdale's to identify e-commerce best practices and gaps.
Funnel Analysis
Analyzed analytics and session recordings to identify exact drop-off points and rage clicks.
User Interviews
Interviewed patients who abandoned carts and those who completed purchases to understand motivations.
Key Insights
Research synthesis revealed three core friction points that mapped directly to the drop-off data:
Shipping Surprise
"I was ready to buy until I saw $8 shipping on a $12 product. That's ridiculous. I'll just get it at my dentist." — Abandoned cart participant
Product Confusion
"I don't know if these cleaning crystals work with my type of aligners. There's nothing telling me what I actually need." — Abandoned cart participant
Reorder Friction
"I buy the same thing every month. Why do I have to re-enter everything? Amazon remembers my orders." — Repeat customer participant
Friction-Free Commerce
Rather than incremental fixes, we redesigned the entire purchase flow around three core principles that directly addressed the research findings.
Three Design Principles
The solution was grounded in three core principles that directly addressed the research findings:
Transparent Pricing
Show shipping costs upfront on product pages, not at checkout. Display free shipping thresholds clearly to encourage larger orders and eliminate surprise friction.
Smart Recommendations
Surface personalized product recommendations based on treatment data. Show "Works with your aligners" badges to eliminate compatibility confusion and build confidence.
One-Click Reorder
Enable returning customers to reorder previous purchases with a single click. Save payment and shipping information to eliminate repetitive data entry.
Streamlined Purchase Flow
Browse Products
See prices with shipping upfront
Add to Cart
Smart recommendations shown
Quick Checkout
One page, saved info
Business Impact
The redesigned accessories shop was A/B tested over eight weeks before full rollout. Results exceeded targets across all key metrics.
A/B Testing Methodology
Measured Impact
6x Revenue Per Session
Combined improvements in conversion rate and average order value drove a 6x increase in revenue per session, exceeding the initial project targets.
What I Learned
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Transparency Builds Trust
Showing shipping costs early reduced abandonment more than any checkout optimization. Users prefer honest friction upfront to surprises at the end.
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Personalization Drives Value
Contextual recommendations based on treatment data increased AOV more than generic upsells. Relevance beats volume.
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Small Fixes Compound
No single change drove the 60% lift. It was the combination of dozens of micro-optimizations that created the impact.