PetSafe Brands
Leading a fast UX assessment to turn mobile purchase friction into a conversion-focused roadmap.
I led a 6-week UX assessment for four PetSafe DTC brands, focused on identifying friction in the mobile purchase funnel and translating qualitative insights, analytics signals, benchmark findings, and expert UX recommendations into a clear roadmap for conversion improvement.
Company
PetSafe Brands
Industry
E-commerce / DTC / Consumer products
Role
UX Lead Designer
Product type
Mobile e-commerce / PDP / Purchase funnel
Timeline
Nov 2025 – Dec 2025
Team
UX Lead, UX Designer, Client Stakeholders, Analytics, Business, Product
Methods
UX Assessment, Heuristic Evaluation, Benchmark, Journey Mapping, Analytics Review, Wireframes, Prototyping, Strategic Roadmap, Executive Storytelling
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Gemini, Google Analytics, Miro, Slides / Presentation tools
Status
Delivered assessment / Roadmap for implementation
Some parts of this project are under NDA, so I'm showing a curated version of the process, artifacts, and outcomes. Sensitive analytics, brand-specific findings, business data, and client documentation have been blurred or simplified while keeping the design decisions, methodology, and my role clear. I'm happy to walk through more detail privately in an interview or portfolio review.
Sensitive product and analytics details have been blurred or simplified to protect confidential business information.
Context
PetSafe Brands needed a strategic UX assessment across four DTC brands to understand why users were dropping off in the mobile purchase funnel, especially around the Product Detail Page and decision-making moments before checkout.
The project had a very compressed timeline. The team needed to quickly understand multiple brands, analyze mobile experiences, review qualitative and quantitative signals, identify friction patterns, and deliver a clear roadmap that could support the next implementation phase.
Why it mattered
Auditing the screens was the fast part; six weeks doesn't leave room for much else. The harder job was tying UX friction to the business KPIs that actually mattered here, conversion rate and revenue, and getting stakeholders to agree on what needed to change, why, and in what order across four different brands.
My role
I worked as UX Lead Designer, leading the assessment strategy and helping the team move from discovery to actionable recommendations in six weeks. My role combined UX leadership, research synthesis, benchmark analysis, stakeholder alignment, AI-assisted workflows, and executive storytelling.
- Led the UX assessment process across four PetSafe DTC brands.
- Coordinated the audit of the mobile purchase funnel, with focus on PDP, navigation, decision support, and conversion opportunities.
- Structured the benchmark approach across brands and competitors.
- Helped connect qualitative findings, analytics signals, and UX heuristics into a clear diagnosis.
- Reframed the project narrative after critical feedback into a stronger sequence: Qualitative Discovery → Quantitative Definition → Expert Design.
- Guided the creation of wireframes, prototypes, and UX recommendations.
- Built the final assessment storytelling to connect user friction with business impact.
- Used Gemini to accelerate benchmark planning, analytics interpretation, insight synthesis, and executive narrative structure.
The challenge
The main challenge was to diagnose conversion friction across multiple mobile e-commerce experiences in a very short timeline, while aligning stakeholders around a clear, evidence-based roadmap.
- User challenge: users needed clearer product information, stronger decision support, and a smoother mobile PDP experience to feel confident moving forward in the purchase journey.
- Business challenge: PetSafe needed to identify UX opportunities that could contribute to increasing conversion from 1.01% to 2.19%, while prioritizing improvements across multiple DTC brands.
- Design challenge: the team had to work quickly across several brands, limited time, complex analytics, stakeholder expectations, and a large amount of information that needed to become a simple executive story.
Problem statement
How might we help mobile shoppers make clearer purchase decisions on PetSafe DTC brand sites, while identifying UX improvements that can support conversion growth within a short assessment timeline?
Goals & success criteria
User goals
- Help users understand product value, differences, and purchase options more clearly.
- Reduce friction on mobile PDP and key decision-making moments.
- Improve confidence before moving from product discovery to purchase.
Business goals
- Identify UX opportunities connected to conversion rate and revenue.
- Support the goal of moving conversion from 1.01% to 2.19%.
- Prioritize improvements across four DTC brands.
- Create a roadmap that could unlock the next implementation phase.
Design goals
- Build a clear UX diagnosis across mobile PDP and purchase funnel.
- Combine heuristic evaluation, benchmark, analytics review, and stakeholder input.
- Translate findings into actionable recommendations.
- Use storytelling to make the assessment easy to understand for executive stakeholders.
Process
01 — Discover
Understanding the funnel, the brands, and the conversion problem
I started by understanding the context of the four brands, the mobile purchase journey, and the business concern around conversion. Because the timeline was short, discovery had to be focused and structured from the beginning.
- Reviewed the mobile purchase funnel with special attention to PDP and decision-making moments.
- Analyzed workshop inputs and client context to identify the most important areas to evaluate.
- Coordinated a benchmark strategy for each brand and relevant competitors.
- Reviewed analytics signals to understand where users were dropping off.
- Identified recurring friction patterns across navigation, product information, trust, clarity, and purchase flow.
- Used AI to accelerate the first layer of analysis while keeping final conclusions grounded in UX judgment.
How I used AI
I used Gemini to create a dedicated project space where I could organize client inputs, workshop notes, benchmark criteria, and brand-specific analysis. AI helped me move faster by identifying what to review on each site based on the PDP drop-off problem. Final decisions stayed grounded in UX criteria, stakeholder feedback, product constraints, and my own design judgment.
Benchmark planning structure used to focus the assessment on the most relevant mobile PDP and funnel frictions.
02 — Define
Turning scattered findings into a clear diagnosis
After the first discovery activities, I helped the team organize findings into a clearer assessment structure. The goal was to avoid a long list of disconnected observations and instead build a diagnosis that connected user friction, analytics signals, and business impact.
- Synthesized findings into friction themes across the mobile journey.
- Connected qualitative observations with analytics signals from the purchase funnel.
- Prioritized UX problems based on user impact, conversion relevance, and implementation potential.
- Reframed the assessment narrative after critical feedback into a clearer sequence: Qualitative Discovery → Quantitative Definition → Expert Design.
- Helped align stakeholders around the logic of the final story before moving into recommendations.
How I used AI
I used Gemini to support synthesis across multiple brands and organize patterns into clearer themes. AI also helped structure the final narrative, but the prioritization and framing were based on UX criteria, stakeholder feedback, analytics interpretation, and business goals.
Friction map used to connect user pain points with business impact and prioritize the most relevant opportunities.
03 — Develop
Exploring UX recommendations and conversion-focused improvements
Once the diagnosis was clear, I helped translate the main opportunity areas into UX recommendations, wireframes, and product improvements. The focus was not to redesign everything, but to identify the changes that could create more clarity and confidence in the purchase journey.
- Explored improvements for mobile PDP structure, content hierarchy, and decision support.
- Created wireframes and prototypes to communicate recommended changes.
- Identified opportunities to improve product information clarity, trust cues, comparison support, and purchase paths.
- Worked with the team to connect each recommendation with the friction it solved.
- Used feedback loops to refine the proposal and make it easier for stakeholders to understand.
- Balanced quick wins with broader roadmap opportunities.
How I used AI
I used Gemini to generate visual and structural ideas for PDP improvements based on the assessment findings. AI supported exploration, but final wireframes and recommendations were shaped through UX judgment, stakeholder needs, and conversion-focused priorities.
Wireframe exploration used to translate assessment findings into clearer product detail page recommendations.
Before / after structure showing how product information could be reorganized to reduce friction and support purchase decisions.
04 — Deliver
Delivering a roadmap that connected UX findings with business goals
The final deliverable was a strategic assessment report that translated research, analytics signals, benchmark findings, and expert UX recommendations into a clear roadmap. The presentation needed to help stakeholders understand not only what needed to change, but why those changes mattered for conversion.
- Delivered a robust UX assessment report for four DTC brands.
- Presented a roadmap focused on improving the mobile funnel and PDP experience.
- Connected recommendations with conversion-related business goals.
- Structured the final story around Qualitative Discovery → Quantitative Definition → Expert Design.
- Supported stakeholder alignment for the next implementation phase.
- Helped show how UX improvements could contribute to moving conversion from 1.01% to 2.19%.
How I used AI
I used Gemini to help structure the final executive storytelling and organize the assessment into a clearer narrative. AI was especially valuable because the timeline was very short, but the final message, recommendations, and prioritization were shaped through UX leadership, stakeholder feedback, and business context.
Roadmap structure used to connect UX opportunities with business priorities and implementation planning.
Before / after
Before
The mobile funnel had friction points that were difficult to prioritize across four brands. Findings, analytics signals, and stakeholder concerns needed a clearer structure to become actionable.
After
The assessment translated qualitative findings, analytics signals, benchmark insights, and expert UX recommendations into a conversion-focused roadmap for the next implementation phase.
Final solution
The final proposal focused on three main experience improvements:
A clearer mobile PDP experience
Recommendations focused on improving hierarchy, product clarity, trust cues, and decision support so users could better understand what they were buying and why it mattered.
A stronger conversion-focused diagnosis
The assessment connected qualitative friction, analytics signals, and benchmark patterns to help stakeholders understand which UX problems were most relevant to conversion.
A strategic roadmap for implementation
The final report organized opportunities into a roadmap that helped the client move from diagnosis to action with clearer priorities.
Impact & results
User value
Identified mobile PDP and funnel frictions that affected product understanding, confidence, and purchase decision-making.
Business value
Delivered UX recommendations aimed at contributing to conversion growth from 1.01% to 2.19%.
Product value
Created a structured roadmap of prioritized improvements across four DTC brand experiences.
Team / process value
Helped the team move from scattered findings to a clear executive story that unlocked alignment for the next implementation phase.
Obstacles & trade-offs
This project required constant trade-offs between depth, speed, stakeholder expectations, and the amount of information the team needed to process. Because the timeline was very short, the assessment had to stay focused on the highest-impact areas.
- Working across four brands in only six weeks.
- Understanding a complex e-commerce ecosystem in a limited timeframe.
- Connecting qualitative findings with analytics signals without overcomplicating the story.
- Reframing the project narrative after critical feedback.
- Balancing detailed UX analysis with executive-level clarity.
- Prioritizing recommendations that could support conversion without trying to solve everything at once.
- Working in English while ensuring the final presentation felt clear, professional, and persuasive.
What I learned
This project reinforced that finding problems is the easy half of UX leadership. The harder half is helping a team see which problems actually matter, why, and what to do about it next.
- I learned how to lead a UX assessment under strong time pressure.
- I strengthened my ability to connect UX findings with business KPIs such as conversion and revenue.
- I improved how I use AI to accelerate analysis without replacing UX judgment.
- I learned the importance of storytelling when presenting complex findings to stakeholders.
- I confirmed that a strong roadmap is not just a list of recommendations; it is a decision-making tool.
- I strengthened my confidence leading discovery and strategy in English-speaking client contexts.
Six weeks, four brands, and a lot of ambiguity to lead through. PetSafe is a good example of how I connect UX findings to business goals under pressure, using AI to move faster where it helps, and turning a messy assessment into a roadmap the team could actually act on.
Stephanie Cacheo — Senior UX Designer