Zola Wedding Marketplace
Product design and direction
2021-2023
Key Takeaway
After a series of experiments and tests focusing on growth and monetization, my team and I drove an increase in gross monthly sales 4.25x.
Every online marketplace is unique. Zola’s vendor marketplace involved once-in-a-lifetime-sized budgets and significant complexity with support for ten vendor categories including venues, photographers, and florists.
Today, the marketplace is a major player in the space and helps people celebrate their love.
Why a marketplace?
Zola's mission is to simplify the wedding process by centralizing planning. It offers a comprehensive set of tools to support engaged couples in getting married the way they want.
A healthy marketplace thrives on discovery, trust, and ease of communication. Couples often struggle to find vendors that match their budgets and preferences. Vendors want quality leads that differ from the spammy ones from other marketing channels.
I focused on making it easy and delightful for engaged couples to discover local vendors and empowering vendors to connect with potential clients.
Growth and engagement
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We experimented rapidly to increase inquiries in total volume and per couple.
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With several successful tests, we boosted monthly metrics by increasing sent inquiries 2.2x and connected inquiries 3.5x. Sent inquiries lead to connected inquiries, which correlate directly to revenue.
Core Experience
The marketplace accounts for a range of touch points throughout the experience ranging from search, short-listing, communication, to-do's and accounting. We designed this experience to be smooth, intuitive, and easy for the user.
Real Weddings
A visual search experience for inspiration that links vendors from the photos
Make the First Move
A matching mechanism that empowers vendors to actively reach out to relevant couples
Vendor Shuffle
A playful feature that assembles a team of vendors from top categories within a given location
Vendor Platform
A refreshingly modern experience for vendors that integrates a design system and simplifies complexity
