Optimizing payouts
Outcome
Weekly customer experience call volume about payout confusion.
Seller understanding of how to manually withdraw their earnings.
Project brief
Context
After the removal of automatic payouts due to the launch of eBay balance and the Payments redesign, there was a spike in seller call volume regarding how to manually withdraw earnings from eBay.
Problem
Sellers who went to withdraw their earnings were confused by the payout module. Specifically, sellers who saw £0 thought they had nothing to withdraw and didn't know they needed to enter an amount.
Solution
Re-labeling key interface components and adding a blinking cursor, combined with a hierarchy update that grouped content contextually, led to an immediate reduction in call volume regarding payouts.
Payout module refresh
An audit of the current experience showed me there were several opportunities to fix comprehension and consistency issues with a simple hierarchy and content update.
The updates I made aligned content in the payout module to the rest of the Payments experience. In this case, using the same language helped to reinforce familiarity and reduce confusion.
Prototype walk-through presentation coming soon!
Showing a sense of urgency
I moved fast to propose sensible content updates that stakeholders said were "No brainers," enabling us to move fast with next to zero review and implementation lag.
October 9
Emails and notifications are sent to sellers in the UK, announcing free selling, eBay balance, and payout process changes.
October 16
eBay balance launches. Automatic scheduled payouts are removed.
October 17-20
Through the weekend, there’s a spike in customer contacts with a majority of calls about withdrawing earnings.
October 21-22
I audit the payout module and review proposed content changes with stakeholders.
October 23-25
The team works with engineers to assess constraints and discuss implementation.
October 28-30
ENG rolls out solutions incrementally, reducing calls about payout process changes.
Methodology
There are several ways we can evaluate content consistency. For this project, I narrowed that focus to the product area and module UI, ensuring terms were being consistently used across Payments.
Grouping content contextually can improve comprehension by creating distinct sections that organize related information, improving flow and reducing cognitive load.
Often, simply reading the words out loud or navigating the interface with a screen reader can improve sequencing. This can also help determine how bounding boxes should be drawn.
