Introducing a New Wish List Experience

Hi, I’m James and I’m a new designer here at Bonanza. I’m excited to talk about some fresh changes we’re making to the Wish List this week, thanks to the work of superstar programmer Eric.

What’s New with the Wish List?

The Wish List is a great way for buyers to collect and save amazing items on Bonanza.com. It’s an awesome feature, so we wanted to make a few changes to make it work better for both buyers and sellers. We had three goals: give the Wish List more attention on the item page, make it easier for buyers ask questions about an item, and make it easy for sellers to respond.

Adding Items to the Wish List

Before the redesign, the Wish List button wasn’t getting a lot of love on the item page. After careful deliberation, we made a couple of dramatic design decisions. We made the button bigger and placed it in the product info box.

The size makes the button a bit more prominent and easier to click, especially for mobile buyers. The placement implies that it’s an important action — similar to adding to cart or asking the seller a question.

We’re hoping these change will help more folks use the Wish List, which has benefits for both buyers and sellers. Buyers can more easily browse and save items. This also helps sellers, as it keeps items top of mind, allows an item to easily be added to cart, and encourages a deeper interaction with a buyer.

After clicking the Wish List button, a window appears to confirm that the item as been added. Pretty straightforward, right? Well, here’s the cool part: buyers can also use this window to ask the seller questions about the item.

The window gives buyers some basic details about the Wish List item — things like the number in stock, shipping timeline, and refund policy. If the buyer needs more info, she can quickly select from a few frequently asked questions, or type in a more detailed note to the seller.

The FAQs are designed to let buyers ask questions with just a few simple clicks instead of extensive typing. This keeps the interaction quick and easy, especially for buyers using a touchscreen.

The idea here is that a buyer has an easy way to talk to a seller about an item of interest. At its most basic level, this could help remove obstacles for the buyer, making it easier to go from interest to purchase. It also allows the buyer and seller to begin a conversation and establish trust.

Replying to Buyers with a Simple Form

Once the buyer sends questions, the seller gets an email notification. It includes the Wish List item information, the buyer’s questions and note, and profile information about the buyer. This information also appears in the Bonanza message center.

If the buyer seems legit, the seller can reply directly to the email, or use a new easy response form in the message center.

The response form is great because it allows the seller to quickly answer questions without too much effort. Sellers can simply select a choice from a set of options, typing a note only if it’s necessary.

When submitted, this generates an email back to the buyer that includes item information, seller responses, and profile information about the seller. The email also features a button that encourages the buyer to add the item to her cart.

Like the buyer form, we designed this interaction with mobile users in mind. Our goal was to make it easy for the seller to reply to a buyer on any device. The simple layout, clear choices, and easy-to-click buttons let sellers send a response with just a few taps. This reduces the work the seller has to do, and enables a faster response to the buyer.

What’s Next?

We’re very excited for buyers and sellers to start using these new Wish List features. And I’m looking forward to keeping you guys up to date with more great design changes as they happen. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions for improvement, let us know! We love the feedback.