Affiliate CPanel Redesign

Objectives

Elevate the User Experience: Streamline core navigation, resolve usability bottlenecks, and establish a modern, cohesive UI.

Scale Platform Functionality: Seamlessly integrate upcoming features without overloading the interface or increasing cognitive load.

Drive Business Value: Optimize critical affiliate workflows to boost user retention, engagement, and platform performance.

My Process

My process begins with deep research and inquiry, uncovering user pain points, analyzing behavioral data, and mapping out domain complexities to define the right problem to solve. From there, I translate raw insights into strategic artifacts like affinity maps and user journeys to align business goals with user needs. I then move rapidly into iterative visual exploration, creating wireframes, testing design concepts, and building scalable UI systems to ensure consistency. Finally, I refine high-fidelity interfaces and collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to deliver intuitive, high-impact products backed by clear validation.

Research Objectives

• Uncover Core Usage Patterns: Deep-dive into platform workflows to understand how affiliates interact with key features daily.

• Identify Usability Friction: Gather qualitative user feedback to pinpoint UI bottlenecks, pain points, and task failures.

• Benchmark Competitors: Analyze market solutions to establish usability standards and identify opportunities for differentiation.

Competitor Analysis

We assessed three main competitors in the market, looking at their platform's features and functionality. The key features identified helped us define better what could be missing and what to improve in the redesign: 
Focus is on Vendor search or showcase
Large media (“creative”) pool, including different sizes, languages, types etc. Simple to use tool for generating reports, which include data visualization

User Journey mapping

User interviews

Interviews: 8 participants (6 experienced users, 2 new sign-ups).

Key findings:

1. It was hard to find a vendor in the platform because multiple vendors with same name come up in search results x 2

2.  It was hard to find a product in the platform because of, but not limited to:

   1. clutter(test accounts, dev accounts),

   2. lack of product/vendor description indexing,

   3. products with no clear naming

   4. More than 1 product with the same name but different commission

   5. Test products

3. Session time is perceived at too short: after 1 minute of inactivity users are logged out

4. Affiliates do not understand the difference between link types.

   1. They do not understand how cookie life varies between link types.

      1. Some affiliates mentioned issues using the discount codes when products from more than 1 vendor are added to the cart (commission is either not given at all or applies only to 1 product).

   2. They do not understand where the link type direct them.

   3. Naming of link type is not always clear (e.g. "Add to shopping cart" - whose shopping cart: vendor, affiliate, 2checkout?)