Emanuele Ceccherini
Gift Card redesign
The gift card section existed — but only worked for users who already knew what they wanted.
No categories, no discovery, no reason to explore. We redesigned it from scratch
to make it visible, browsable, and worth coming back to.
Hidden in plain sight
Satispay had gift cards. Most users had no idea. The section was a flat list of brands with no way to browse by category, no editorial curation, no hook for someone who didn't arrive with a specific brand in mind. It worked as a checkout — not as a destination.
The before state
A single scrollable list of brand logos, ordered with no clear logic. No categories, no search, no sense of what was popular or new. If you didn't already know what you were looking for, you'd scroll once, find nothing compelling, and leave.
What research told us
Users who had bought a gift card before were repeat customers — they came back for the same brand. But new users rarely converted. The drop-off happened at discovery: without categories or signals of what was worth exploring, the cognitive load was too high to start.
From list to shelf
The redesign introduced a proper browsing structure: categories, search, and a home screen that gives users a reason to explore rather than just scan.
Categories + search
Brands are now grouped by category — Food, Fashion, Tech, Entertainment, Wellness and more. A persistent search bar lets users jump straight to a brand by name. Between the two, both browsing behaviours are covered: the explorer and the intent-driven shopper.
Brand page redesign
Each brand got its own identity — a full-bleed hero image, a short description, and a clear denomination selector. The page feels like a product page, not a form. The visual weight of the brand carries the purchase intent.
Decisions that mattered
Most purchased carousel
The top of the section now opens with a horizontal carousel of the most purchased gift cards. It solves two things at once: discovery for new users (social proof — if others buy it, it must be worth it) and a human shortcut for returning ones. A ranked list does what no amount of editorial copy can — it shows what people actually choose.
Buy again carousel
For returning users, a personalised "Buy again" carousel surfaces the brands they've purchased before. One tap to reorder — no searching, no re-navigating. It directly drove the CSAT increase: users who had a reason to return found a faster path than they expected.
Where we landed
The numbers were clear within the first months post-launch. Gift card purchases grew +114% year-over-year. Visits to the section were up +20%. CSAT improved. The section went from a quiet corner of the app to one of its fastest-growing features.
Discovery drove growth
The categories and most-purchased carousel brought in users who had never bought a gift card before. The repurchase carousel kept existing customers coming back faster. Both levers worked — acquisition and retention improved in parallel.
What I took away
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01
Structure is a feature
Adding categories didn't just organise content — it created intent. Users browse differently when they have a frame. Without one, even a good catalogue feels overwhelming.
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02
Social proof beats editorial copy
A "most purchased" ranking tells users more than any curated label. It's honest, dynamic, and requires no trust in whoever wrote the headline.
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03
Retention starts in the product
The repurchase carousel wasn't a marketing feature — it was a UX shortcut. Making it easier to come back is as important as making it easy to convert the first time.