As Design Lead for Customer Choice 2.0, I led the UX strategy and design execution for a key initiative aimed at improving the substitution experience during Walmart’s online order process. The goal was to reduce customer dissatisfaction caused by unexpected or missing substitutions and give customers greater control over their preferences—ultimately driving higher satisfaction, adoption, and fulfillment success.
Through user research and cross-functional collaboration, I identified two major opportunity areas:
Customer Choice 2.0 UX Updates – Customers often missed or struggled to navigate the substitution preferences flow, resulting in poor outcomes. I proposed two interaction models to improve usability:
Option 1: Expand only the first substitution item while keeping the rest collapsed, allowing for a scalable and digestible experience for large orders.
Option 2: Expand all item tiles, giving customers instant visibility and quick access to every substitution option at a glance.
Both solutions were designed with accessibility, speed, and ease of use in mind—enabling customers to manage preferences more efficiently without cognitive overload.
Conditional Substitution Eligibility – We addressed customer frustration when items, particularly in general merchandise, were marked as ineligible for substitution. I helped design a flexible framework that allowed customers to opt into substitutions for these categories, reducing “NIL picks” and improving post-order experience.
Impact:
• Increased adoption of substitution preferences
• Higher customer satisfaction (CSAT, NPS)
• Reduced NIL picks and unexpected subs
• Improved fulfillment accuracy and GMV
• Streamlined experience across platforms for both web and mobile
This initiative advanced Walmart’s customer-centric vision by empowering users with smarter control, while also resolving core operational pain points in fulfillment and inventory management.
After rounds of usability testing and internal stakeholder reviews, we aligned on Option 1: expanding only the first substitution item while keeping the remaining items collapsed. This approach struck the right balance between scalability and clarity, especially for customers managing large orders. It allowed users to focus on one substitution at a time without feeling overwhelmed, while still offering quick access to edit or review other items as needed.
The final flows were designed with mobile-first principles in mind and included clear indicators, progressive disclosure, and contextual actions to keep the experience intuitive and efficient. We documented and delivered a comprehensive set of annotated wireframes, interactive prototypes, and redlines for handoff to development. Key accessibility and performance considerations were also built into the designs, ensuring alignment with Walmart’s inclusive design standards.
This solution not only improved usability but also streamlined the substitution management workflow in a way that scaled effortlessly across order sizes and devices—setting a strong foundation for future enhancements.
