Shopify
Rethinking disputes between merchants and their customers
Role
Product Designer
Year
2021
As part of the Payments and Risk team, I was responsible for working with merchants to prevent, manage, and dispute chargebacks. A chargeback is when a customer disputes a transaction and the payment is refunded to them. This can be for various reasons, but for this project, we decided to focus solely on product related disputes. Examples of product related disputes include receiving damaged or defective items, incorrect orders, or items that do not meet the customer's expectations.
01
The research
One of my favourite aspects about working at Shopify was the empowerment to access data. Anyone equipped with even basic understanding of SQL had the ability to dig up hard numbers, enabling data-driven decisions to support our merchants and enhance their experience on the platform. Using Mode, I was able to uncover key metrics that helped us understand how chargebacks were really affecting our users.
To complement our quantitative research, we conducted five semi-structured user interviews with Shopify merchants, each lasting one hour. This allowed us to gain valuable insights into the issue and understand the perspectives of our users. Transcribed and analysed using Dovetail, our in-house user research team assisted in organising and setting up the research, while I personally conducted the interviews.
02
The problem
Based on our research, we identified the following as the main issues:
In 2020, the average number of monthly chargebacks per shop (for shops that have chargebacks) was 3.89
Shopify's chargeback win rate is just below 20%, way below industry-standard
Merchants are more likely to win a chargeback when they manually supplied supporting evidence rather than relying on Shopify’s automated responses
Product-related disputes made up for 41.8% of all chargebacks
The existing out-of-the-box customer-merchant communication solution is very generic and is not tailored towards resolving issues
03
The hypothesis
An improved communication experience between merchants and customers designed to resolve issues should lead to fewer product-related chargebacks.
04
The opportunity
A solution for merchants to effectively manage claims from various sources within the admin, reducing the number of chargebacks.
05
The solution
Our proposal was to create two APIs: one for buyers to submit claims to merchants and another for merchants to view the claim information in the admin.
To begin with, we built a basic API for the buyers and integrated it with the Concierge team's app, which served as our initial dog-food app. We also considered an alternative use case where buyers could provide complaint information via on-site live chat (see designs below)
For the merchants, we developed another API that integrated with the Inbox app to show buyer messages in the admin. These test cases supported the goals of the Concierge, Shop, and Inbox teams and laid the foundation for a broader Disputes service, reinforcing the Shopify flywheel.
Throughout the development process, we prioritised the needs of both buyers and merchants, ensuring that the APIs were user-friendly and effective in resolving disputes. The result was a reliable and efficient system that enabled seamless communication between buyers and merchants, strengthening the customer experience and trust in the Shopify platform.
The following designs showcase one potential application of our proposed API, where buyers can submit claims information through on-site live chat and have it sent to the merchant via the Inbox app.
Shopify
Rethinking disputes between merchants and their customers
Role
Product Designer
Year
2021
As part of the Payments and Risk team, I was responsible for working with merchants to prevent, manage, and dispute chargebacks. A chargeback is when a customer disputes a transaction and the payment is refunded to them. This can be for various reasons, but for this project, we decided to focus solely on product related disputes. Examples of product related disputes include receiving damaged or defective items, incorrect orders, or items that do not meet the customer's expectations.
01
The research
One of my favourite aspects about working at Shopify was the empowerment to access data. Anyone equipped with even basic understanding of SQL had the ability to dig up hard numbers, enabling data-driven decisions to support our merchants and enhance their experience on the platform. Using Mode, I was able to uncover key metrics that helped us understand how chargebacks were really affecting our users.
To complement our quantitative research, we conducted five semi-structured user interviews with Shopify merchants, each lasting one hour. This allowed us to gain valuable insights into the issue and understand the perspectives of our users. Transcribed and analysed using Dovetail, our in-house user research team assisted in organising and setting up the research, while I personally conducted the interviews.
02
The problem
Based on our research, we identified the following as the main issues:
In 2020, the average number of monthly chargebacks per shop (for shops that have chargebacks) was 3.89
Shopify's chargeback win rate is just below 20%, way below industry-standard
Merchants are more likely to win a chargeback when they manually supplied supporting evidence rather than relying on Shopify’s automated responses
Product-related disputes made up for 41.8% of all chargebacks
The existing out-of-the-box customer-merchant communication solution is very generic and is not tailored towards resolving issues
03
The hypothesis
04
The opportunity
A solution for merchants to effectively manage claims from various sources within the admin, reducing the number of chargebacks.
05
The solution
Our proposal was to create two APIs: one for buyers to submit claims to merchants and another for merchants to view the claim information in the admin.
To begin with, we built a basic API for the buyers and integrated it with the Concierge team's app, which served as our initial dog-food app. We also considered an alternative use case where buyers could provide complaint information via on-site live chat (see designs below)
For the merchants, we developed another API that integrated with the Inbox app to show buyer messages in the admin. These test cases supported the goals of the Concierge, Shop, and Inbox teams and laid the foundation for a broader Disputes service, reinforcing the Shopify flywheel.
Throughout the development process, we prioritised the needs of both buyers and merchants, ensuring that the APIs were user-friendly and effective in resolving disputes. The result was a reliable and efficient system that enabled seamless communication between buyers and merchants, strengthening the customer experience and trust in the Shopify platform.
The following designs showcase one potential application of our proposed API, where buyers can submit claims information through on-site live chat and have it sent to the merchant via the Inbox app.
Shopify
Rethinking disputes between merchants and their customers
Role
Product Designer
Year
2021
As part of the Payments and Risk team, I was responsible for working with merchants to prevent, manage, and dispute chargebacks. A chargeback is when a customer disputes a transaction and the payment is refunded to them. This can be for various reasons, but for this project, we decided to focus solely on product related disputes. Examples of product related disputes include receiving damaged or defective items, incorrect orders, or items that do not meet the customer's expectations.
01
The research
One of my favourite aspects about working at Shopify was the empowerment to access data. Anyone equipped with even basic understanding of SQL had the ability to dig up hard numbers, enabling data-driven decisions to support our merchants and enhance their experience on the platform. Using Mode, I was able to uncover key metrics that helped us understand how chargebacks were really affecting our users.
To complement our quantitative research, we conducted five semi-structured user interviews with Shopify merchants, each lasting one hour. This allowed us to gain valuable insights into the issue and understand the perspectives of our users. Transcribed and analysed using Dovetail, our in-house user research team assisted in organising and setting up the research, while I personally conducted the interviews.
02
The problem
Based on our research, we identified the following as the main issues:
In 2020, the average number of monthly chargebacks per shop (for shops that have chargebacks) was 3.89
Shopify's chargeback win rate is just below 20%, way below industry-standard
Merchants are more likely to win a chargeback when they manually supplied supporting evidence rather than relying on Shopify’s automated responses
Product-related disputes made up for 41.8% of all chargebacks
The existing out-of-the-box customer-merchant communication solution is very generic and is not tailored towards resolving issues
03
The hypothesis
04
The opportunity
The initial goal of this project was to redesign the web checkout. To gain insight into the issues and pain points of our current checkout, we conducted 4 months of user research. Our research findings supported the insights we had previously gathered from data analysis. This provided us with a unique opportunity to completely revamp the checkout experience for our users. However, after this research, it was decided that we would shift our focus to building an iOS app. This change in direction allowed us to apply our research findings and utilise native features to deliver a modern checkout experience for our users.
05
The solution
The initial goal of this project was to redesign the web checkout. To gain insight into the issues and pain points of our current checkout, we conducted 4 months of user research. Our research findings supported the insights we had previously gathered from data analysis. This provided us with a unique opportunity to completely revamp the checkout experience for our users. However, after this research, it was decided that we would shift our focus to building an iOS app. This change in direction allowed us to apply our research findings and utilise native features to deliver a modern checkout experience for our users.
Customers use the Shopify Inbox chatbot to file in a complaint regarding an order. The process is designed to capture all the information a merchant might requires to take action.
The claim appears as a new conversation in Shopify Inbox
The dispute has effects throughout the merchant's dashboard.
Oscar Lozano
©2023
Oscar Lozano
©2023
Oscar Lozano
©2023