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How I Transformed Seller Behavior by Turning a Low-Visibility Banner Into a High-Impact Growth Lever

Qualitative Insights Research

eBay Inc. is a global online marketplace founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, headquartered in San Jose, CA, connecting millions of buyers and sellers across 190+ markets through auctions and fixed-price listings. With over 132 million active buyers and approximately 2.3 billion live listings, eBay empowers individuals and small businesses to thrive via technology enhancements, like AI-powered tools, livestream shopping, and integrated PSA grading services, while generating around $10 billion in annual revenue

DEFINE

THE PROBLEM

Many eBay sellers fulfill orders more quickly than their declared handling time, yet the platform continues to show buyers extended estimated delivery dates (EDDs). This leads to reduced listing visibility in search results and potentially lower conversion rates.

THE GOAL

To drive alignment between sellers’ actual handling times and their stated times through a product-led banner recommendation and direct seller outreach, ultimately improving buyer experience, seller conversion, and marketplace efficiency.

MY ROLE

Led the qualitative research initiative, designed the survey instrument, facilitated interviews, synthesized themes, and built the Order Discount Readout. Used Salesforce Marketing Cloud to track survey completions and outreach engagement. Used FigJam to map seller personas, pain points, and recommended UX interventions.

MEASURE

SCOPE AND TOOLS

Target Group: Non-business policy sellers who visited the “Active Listings” page on desktop.

Experiment Design: 50/50 - A/B test

Control Group: No handling time (HT) recommendation banner shown

Treatment Group: Banner encouraging sellers to reduce HT by 1 day

Engagement Tracking: Salesforce Marketing Cloud (consultation tracking, notes, adoption rate)

Behavioral Analysis: Hive dashboards to monitor engagement and performance post-change

Design Mapping: FigJam whiteboards to collaboratively document seller personas, objections, and conversation patterns

METRICS

  • Banner visibility rate

  • Seller awareness and adoption during outreach

  • Seller receptivity to change (verbal commitments, objections logged)

  • Post-adoption feedback and reported sales lift

ANALYZE

TOP INSIGHTS

Low Banner Visibility

  • 75% of sellers did not notice the recommendation at all.

  • Key reasons:

    • The banner was placed below the fold and blended with other visuals.

    • It was only accessible via desktop—while many sellers primarily use the mobile app.

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Seller Rejection Despite Benefits

  • 62% of sellers who learned about the recommendation remained disinterested.

  • Common objections:

    • “I use the extra time as a cushion.”

    • “I only ship a few days a week.”

    • “I’m worried missing the window will impact my seller rating.”

  • Many older sellers also found the bulk edit flow unintuitive.

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 Conversion Potential and Misalignment

  • Most sellers were unaware they could exclude weekends from their handling time, or that their early shipments weren’t being reflected in search or buyer expectations.

  • Sellers who did adopt the change reported a noticeable increase in sales within days.

  • Messaging was too generic and failed to reflect seller-specific behavior (e.g., “You ship in 3 days, but your HT says 5”).

IMPROVE

WHAT WORKED

  1. Direct consultations led by the Seller Acceleration team drove a 2.25x higher adoption rate than the test group.

  2. Personalized conversations, grounded in actual seller behavior, were the most effective in encouraging change.

  3. Framing the recommendation as “you already ship early, why not let buyers know?” helped overcome objections.

SELLER SUGGESTIONS

  • Add the recommendation to mobile.

  • Move the banner above the fold and distinguish it with more vibrant design.

  • Provide a walkthrough or tutorial on the BLING bulk editor.

  • Build a simple dashboard or alert system showing the impact of changes (e.g., views, sales lift).

CONTROL

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE CAMPAIGNS

  1. Visibility Enhancements: Move banner higher and improve design contrast

  2. Mobile Integration: Deploy similar nudges on the mobile platform

  3. Message Personalization: Use real shipping behavior in copy (e.g., “You're shipping early!”)

  4. Education & Empowerment: Tutorials for bulk edit workflows and seller-specific case examples

  5. Impact Measurement: Create lightweight analytics tools so sellers can track outcomes post-change

OUTCOMES

  • Completed and presented a compelling, seller-voiced Order Discount Readout that influenced strategic planning across CX, Product, and Seller Engagement.

  • Successfully translated qualitative insights into actionable recommendations.

  • Earned stakeholder buy-in for developing a centralized coupon resource hub and a phased deprecation support strategy.

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