Conversion Lift: How Hearth Reimagined Checkout for Ceramic Marketplace

Design · 5 min read

Hearth’s conversion funnel revealed drop-offs late in checkout when users hesitated over shipping cost and return policies. The product team discovered through session recordings and survey prompts that uncertainty about handmade item fragility and return timelines deterred purchases.

The redesign reorganized checkout to surface shipping estimates, insured shipping options, and a concise, plain-language returns summary with an easy-to-find "ask the maker" button. Microcopy emphasized protections and delivery predictability, and the payment form was shortened with smart defaults for address and postal code lookup.

Within six weeks Hearth experienced a 19% lift in completed purchases and a 15% reduction in pre-purchase questions to makers. The write-up details the microcopy playbook used and how short A/B tests guided copy and layout iterations to the winning variant.