THE CHALLENGE
Madewell was investing heavily in matching sets for Spring 2022, but the shopping experience made discovery difficult. Sets were often displayed side-by-side on listing pages, but customers had to navigate back and forth between product pages to purchase coordinating pieces. From other entry points, it wasn't clear that matching pieces existed at all.

THE WORK
I initially designed a quick-add solution with dropdowns in the right rail to minimize friction—add matching pieces without leaving the product page. But this required building several new components plus redesigning the add-to-cart interaction, more scope than our timeline allowed. Before committing, I tested three existing mobile sets experiences (Outdoor Voices, Skims, Aritzia) and discovered participants consistently bypassed quick-add functionality in favor of viewing more images and reading reviews. They preferred Aritzia's simpler approach.

I pivoted to a streamlined design: simple product tiles for matching pieces, testing placement above and below product details. This required minimal new development and aligned with actual user behavior.

IMPACT
Early results showed +$4.56 revenue per visitor, compared to the product recommendation zone average of $1.83. The work demonstrated how testing assumptions early—even informally—can prevent overbuilding and lead to simpler, more effective solutions.