Construction equipment marketplace: Driving a 31% increase in transactions with frictionless user flows

Product catalog and pages

The product catalog is the heart of the marketplace, and it was crucial to make it convenient to browse and navigate. To do exactly that, we introduced a comprehensive range of categories so that users could quickly limit the number of displayed products to view only the relevant ones. The category menu is always available at the top of every page, further facilitating navigation.

Every product page showcases the product photos side by side with its key characteristics, including the seller’s location on a map. Neither of the elements draws more attention than the other, as both product photos and details are given equal weight in the layout. The page also displays the product description below the fold and allows users to view videos and attachments provided by the seller.

Our iterative improvements to the product categories and pages allowed us to cut down the time on task by 39% for these user flows. Thanks to our improvements, the platform’s drop-off rates remained under 20%, while transaction volume rose by 31% within the first year.

Signup, sign-in, and account management

The marketplace's registration form requires as little information as possible to create an account, which is possible in under a minute. Thanks to its simplicity, the conversion rate for signup as the target action reached 13% within the first year. At the same time, user error rates for signing up and logging in remained under 10%, thanks to our form validation rules.

We also designed and implemented user account management features. They allow buyers and sellers to add and update their location, contact details, and so on. On top of that, users can gain access to a comprehensive overview of their active and archived product listings and placed orders.

Service catalog

We added a section with their overview to the main page to showcase our client's many services. Each card is linked to a dedicated service page that provides more information on the corresponding service. We also strategically placed offers for relevant services at critical steps in the customer journey, like on product pages or during checkout.

Thanks to the seamless integration of service-related CTAs, our client saw its revenue from this stream increase by 13% following the platform’s launch. Conversion rates for these CTAs also reached 14%, exceeding the client’s expectations.

Powerful search and filters

Construction companies and independent contractors often know exactly what they need when they search for equipment to buy. To help them quickly find the desired equipment model or type, we implemented a powerful semantic search. The search bar is prominently featured in the hero section on the main page and remains available on other pages.

Search results can be further refined with several filters, including the price range, seller location, and technical requirements. The same filters remain available to users as they browse product categories.

These robust search and filtering capabilities allow users to find relevant product listings promptly, saving them time and making user experiences frictionless and convenient. Our iterative improvements for search and filters reduced the time to find by 31% and secured a findability rate of 88%.

Order placement and tracking

Once users find the product that meets their needs, they can place an order in a couple of clicks, with or without adding our client’s services to the cart. We designed the order form to streamline the whole experience, minimizing the corresponding time on task metric by 36% due to our iterative feedback-driven approach.

Users can also easily track their order’s status via their account, with timely alerts notifying them of any changes or updates. We minimized the lag between those changes and alerts landing in the user’s account to ensure users remain on top of the latest updates in their order’s status.

Seller features

We streamlined the process of creating a product listing with an intuitive, comprehensive form that collects the product’s pricing, seller’s location, and other vital information. The form also allows sellers to showcase their products with photos and videos.

During our early testing, user feedback indicated that users were unable to attach files to the product listing. So, we added this functionality to enable sellers to share manuals, certifications, and other files with potential buyers.

Of course, we also ensured that sellers could easily manage their active listings and edit them to update the provided information if necessary. All orders can also be easily managed via the seller’s account, allowing users to update the order’s status once it’s shipped or retrieve the buyer’s contact information.

Built-in communication with managers

If needed, buyers and sellers can communicate directly with our client’s managers using built-in communication tools. So, if they need more information on our client’s services or experience an issue with an order, they’re always just one message away from our client’s team.

We ensured that managers would get notified about new messages immediately. At the same time, our convenient messaging tools and timely user alerts facilitated the whole communication process, with our testing showing a whopping 96% task success rate for this user flow.

 Recommendation engine

The marketplace displays a Best Offers section that provides product recommendations tailored to each user based on their location, search, and browsing history. The product recommendations are displayed on the main page and across the platform.

We balanced our client’s business needs with a seamless browsing experience to ensure the recommendations’ effectiveness. As a result, these recommendations are seamlessly integrated into the layout without overwhelming the user or drawing their attention away from the products they’re browsing.

Thanks to the high accuracy of the product recommendations, our client saw a click-through rate of over 5% for the displayed listings.