The Disco Experience
Designing post-purchase ads for clarity and impact.
We reimagined Disco’s post-purchase experience to help shoppers discover brands they’d genuinely love after checkout. Through iterative design experiments, engagement grew from 0.3% to over 4%, driving stronger repeat purchases and sign-ups.
Defining the challenge
Engagement on the original experience sat at just 0.3%. Most shoppers ignored offers entirely. We set out to make post-purchase moments feel more relevant and actionable, targeting click-through rates closer to the 1–2% seen on major platforms.
What kept shoppers from engaging
We ran studies to understand why shoppers ignored offers and what would make them feel more credible and worth exploring. Through prototypes, we tested three approaches: keeping the inline layout, reframing offers as rewards, and simplifying to a single focused offer.
Shoppers weren’t ready to browse right after checkout. Their focus stayed on order confirmation. Familiar brands, clear value, and simple layouts built trust and made offers feel genuine rather than distracting.
Inline layout (baseline)
Rewards framing
Single offer focus
“Most important thing for me is seeing what I actually bought. I want to see where it’s going, my contact info, how much was charged.”
— Q3 study participant
What shaped our new approach
Building on early insights, we ran a second study to understand what made offers feel worth claiming. We tested pricing cues, reviews, brand familiarity, and layout variations to see what drove confidence and action.
Clear tone stood out most. Shoppers responded to straightforward language and visual clarity. Added context like reviews built trust, while streamlined layouts reduced effort and improved follow-up visibility.
Simple offer layout
Brand snapshot
Browse and discover
“The messaging feels condescending because I know these offers aren't exclusive to me; they're offered to anyone who purchases from this store.”
— Q4 study participant
Reimagining the post-purchase moment
We built an MVP to test if a cleaner layout and clearer intent could improve engagement. The original experience felt crowded and passive, while brands wanted stronger follow-up capture.
The redesign focused on one offer at a time, anchored in the shopper’s recent purchase. It drove fewer impressions but delivered higher engagement and stronger value per visit.
Learning from too much change
The next version improved on weak points from the MVP, which saw a 2.4% claim rate and 1.17% conversion rate. We combined feedback and data to make offers more engaging and informative.
But too many updates at once blurred what worked. The lesson was clear: smaller, focused experiments lead to measurable progress.
Refining through focused experiments
We shifted to smaller, controlled experiments to pinpoint which changes truly improved performance. Each iteration tested a single variable while keeping the MVP’s strongest traits. Clearer descriptions and larger calls to action increased clicks, while removing product tiles lifted claim rate from 2.5% to 3.8%.
These focused tests proved that clarity and simplicity drove measurable gains in engagement and revenue per load.
Product row added
Brand descriptions
No product tiles
No hero image
Exploring trust, control, and clarity
Testing revealed that shoppers valued credibility and transparency in post-purchase moments. We explored ways to build trust, from showing claim counts for social proof to adding ratings and short video for storytelling.
Each concept showed promise but required heavier engineering investment. We paused development to focus on leaner tests that delivered faster insight and laid the groundwork for what became the core design system.
Social proof
Credibility
Storytelling
Offer visibility
The design that delivered the best results
This version became the foundation for scaling across brands and platforms. Building on earlier experiments, we created a focused, mobile-first flow that reduced friction and guided action through clear hierarchy, tone, and imagery.
By presenting one offer at a time and leading with strong visuals, the design stayed consistent from claim to follow-up. It achieved the highest engagement of any test and established a flexible system ready to adapt across formats and use cases.
Scaling required structure, not sameness
As the business grew beyond direct-to-consumer brands, we learned that scale depended on adaptability, not repetition. Each platform required its own balance of clarity, flexibility, and performance.
Some leaned on brand imagery or full-page immersion, while others simplified for technical constraints. This structured flexibility preserved trust and clarity across partners, allowing the experience to grow with the business.
With brand row
Full-page takeover
No hero imagery
Other publishers
What the redesign achieved
The original experience crowded shoppers with too many products and little context. The redesign brought focus, guiding attention to what mattered most.
Engagement grew from 0.3% to over 4%, and revenue increased more than fivefold. Beyond results, it built a scalable system that adapts to new platforms while keeping the experience clear and easy to act on.
From clutter to clarity
Laying the foundation for growth
The redesign became a shared foundation for clarity and scale across design, product, and engineering. It worked seamlessly across devices and platforms while setting the stage for future growth.
Some challenges sat beyond design, including brand supply and technical scale, but the work established the structure needed for expansion, helping Disco reach larger publishers and new markets.
Credits
- Product Manager: Dan Kaufman
- Product Manager: Graeme Kemp
- Frontend Engineer: Aryan Gupta
- Backend Engineer: Cassidy Haas
- Data Science: Peter Li
- Product Marketing: Miriam Young
- Product Designer/Manager: Justin Carrasco