Enhanced post-purchase offers to expand choice and boost value
Condé Nast
Info
The post-purchase offer (PPO) experience is the moment right after a customer completes their subscription purchase when they're presented with additional offers- like being asked if you want to add fries with your burger. At Condé Nast, where subscribers engage with premium brands like Vogue, The New Yorker, AD and Wired, there was a strong opportunity to expand this experience. However, up until now, the MarTech subscription checkout flow for Conde brands only showed a single post-purchase offer, limiting choice and revenue potential.
This project aimed to introduce multiple tailored offers, giving users more options to enhance their subscriptions across brands, increasing take rates and average order value.
Results
Upsell conversion rate increased by 23% - from 6% baseline to 7.36%
Average upfront revenue per user grew 7% - from $21 (H1 2024) to $22.47 (H1 2025)
Duration
4 months
Scope
Design, prototyping, User research, Design systems, Technical specs, Cross team collaboration
Credits
Sonakshi Sharma, Marcella Maltese, Krishna Priya U, Shweta Gupta, Adam Lifshitz, Cedric Mascarenhas, Pooja Doshi
What’s Holding Back Our Post-Purchase Offers?
Insights That Set Our Course
To inform our redesign, we conducted thorough benchmarking of ecommerce, booking, and digital publication companies to understand layout patterns, copy strategies, and key information for post-purchase offers.
Card Design Sandbox
03/12
The PPO card design was the cornerstone of our entire system, requiring thoughtful iteration to create designs that work seamlessly for both upsell offers (nudging users to upgrade their current subscription) and cross-sell opportunities (promoting subscriptions to other Conde Nast brands). These cards also needed to flex for future expansion into merchandise and event tickets while staying responsive across all devices.
Final Card Design
Card Design explorations
User Flow Iterations
04/12
When All Roads Lead to User Flow 4
This was where everything clicked through cross-functional collaboration. The intersection of the below insights made user flow 4 the clear winner.
Engineering constraints:
Marketing insights:
Data findings:
What the User Research Revealed
We put our Flow 4 design to the test with 16 real users to validate our approach and identify areas for improvement.
Methodology
Pivoting with Purpose
07/12
The user testing revealed two critical flaws: users found the auto-triggered bottom sheet intrusive while the FAB button remained virtually invisible.
We pivoted to a user-controlled banner on the order confirmation page to explore cross-sell offers. Working with the creative team, we outlined clear requirements for a solution that felt natural and inviting rather than aggressive, focusing on bringing delight and value through the banner experience while putting users back in control of their journey.
Designing at Scale- Brandless Architecture
Delivering designs across multiple brands required a systematic approach. Using Condé Nast's design system Verso, we built scalable, brand-agnostic templates where brand identities are applied through mapped tokens. This brandless architecture ensures consistency while allowing efficient scaling across Conde Nast's brands without rebuilding from scratch.
Live PPO
09/12
Launched on Wired, Architectural Digest, Epicurious and Bon Appétit in February 2025!
Results and Road Ahead
Data from the launch between February and April looks promising, showing positive trends, but there is still significant room for growth. Looking ahead, we're exploring expanding the PPO system to support merchandise and event tickets- offerings that provide tangible benefits beyond digital subscriptions.
Upsell conversion rate increased
Average upfront revenue per user grew
Key Takeaways from the Journey
This project deepened my understanding of how collaboration drives design success. Clear communication and adaptability with engineering and marketing expanded my perspective and challenged assumptions. My greatest growth came from listening, adapting quickly, and becoming comfortable with change as a constant in design.
User research reveals what internal teams can't see. Early testing prevents costly assumptions and ensures solutions actually work for real people.
A Toast to the Team!
Presenting this work at Demo Spectrum, Conde Nast Bengaluru’s company-wide showcase where teams share their most impactful projects, was an incredible moment. Collaborating and creating with Sonakshi and Krishna throughout this journey, seeing it live and sharing our work in front of the entire organization, made this project truly special! ♡
