Case Study: Redesigning a Two-Sided Marketplace Seller Dashboard Increased Listings by 33%

Design · 6 min read

MarketSquare operated a niche marketplace for vintage furniture where sellers frequently abandoned listing flows due to uncertainty about pricing and exposure. The product team ran qualitative interviews with 24 sellers and found that uncertainty about fees, unclear preview of search ranking, and a cluttered dashboard were the main barriers. The hypothesis was that reducing ambiguity and providing clear next steps would increase listing volume.

Designers created a three-pronged redesign: a simplified listing form with inline fee estimates, a visual exposure meter showing likely impressions based on historical data, and a prioritized action queue replacing the dense analytics panel. Prototypes were built in Figma and tested in five remote unmoderated studies and two moderated sessions for usability edge cases. The team also instrumented Mixpanel to capture micro-conversions across the listing funnel.

After rolling the redesign to 20 percent of the seller base, the marketplace saw a 33 percent lift in new listings per active seller and a 14 percent increase in average time-on-dashboard, indicating higher engagement. Sellers reported feeling more confident pricing items, and support tickets related to fee questions dropped 28 percent. The case underscores the value of transparent signals and prioritized task management for two-sided products.