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A catalogue you can actually check out of.
The dreaded, but inevitable, browser crash.
Picture this: TikTok serves you the top you've seen on Hailey Bieber and Emrata. They have your size. You're mid-checkout, debating expedited shipping for your girls' date tomorrow, annnd the browser crashes. You refresh, but you can't remember what the top was called. The visual thread's snapped, soo you move on with your day.
Beautiful, but hard to shop.
Before commencing design, I gathered a cohort of 6 people to navigate Ref's mobile browser. They loved the imagery, but most weren't sure what was tappable.
The shopper's mood, stage by stage.
12 shoppers sorted 22 features. They think in app patterns.
That gave me a navigation I didn't have to invent: Shop, Bag, Loves, and Account, with product details kept on the product itself.
Keep the editorial feel. Make every photo tappable.
Onboarding, simplified.
Testing put the ideal onboarding at 3 to 5 screens. I kept it to 2, with Face ID so returning shoppers skip the password entirely.
Flipping through a catalogue.
Shoppers love Ref’s editorial feel, so the home page reads like a lookbook. The difference: every photo is now a doorway into what’s in it.
Checkout, made simple.
Price, tax, and shipping sit up front. Editing size, quantity, or moving an item to Loves all happen inside the bag, so nobody has to leave it.
Loves, aka the wishlist.
Wishlisted items had a 67% chance of being bought, so Loves earned a spot in the nav bar. Named lists like “Capsule Closet” turn saving into planning.
The wishlist went from a dumping ground to a decision tool.
Every tap is a decision point, and a drop-off risk.
Two questions shaped every decision: why does this product deserve your attention, and what are you actually here to do?
When you're dropping $200+ on a single piece, you want to feel good about it (no buyer's remorse, please). My cohort wanted fabric sourcing, care instructions, and sizing upfront, not buried behind a support line they'd have to dig for. And lo and behold, Ref's product pages now have all three.
Ref's been closing the same gaps.
Since this study, Ref has rolled out fit details, material and care info, and even a "Ref under $200" edit (hi, Maze task). All gaps my cohort surfaced. The one piece still unsolved is where this whole thing started: shopping Ref on mobile without the browser giving out on you.
The final "Complete Purchase" tap.
Shoppers could edit their cart without leaving it, but I never fully tested what causes abandonment at that last step. Hesitation, distraction, price shock, or all of the above? That's where I'd foray into next.