North Star Vision and Delivery Strategy for Carphone Warehouse Product Detail Page

Decorative image showing five smartphones side by side.

<span data-metadata=""><span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">Creating a More Modern, User-Centred Shopping Experience for Mobile Handsets

The product detail page (PDP) for handsets at Carphone Warehouse needed a fresh direction. While it had supported customers for years, evolving expectations called for a more intuitive, engaging, and conversion-focused experience.

 

We set out to define a north star vision for the PDP, supported by a realistic delivery strategy that could guide the team through a phased implementation from MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to MLP (Minimum Lovable Product).

My Role

  • Defining the overall UX strategy for the new PDP
  • Planning and leading the discovery phase, including user testing and benchmarking
  • Collaborating with another UX designer to create wireframes and interactive prototypes
  • Leading UX prioritisation and shaping 8 key initiatives
  • Building a phased delivery plan through MVP and MLP stages
  • Ensuring the north star experience was testable, actionable, and aligned with product goals

Discovery Phase

We began with a structured discovery phase that combined user research, behavioural analytics, and best practice reviews to understand how the current PDP was performing and where improvements were needed.

 

Activities included:

  • Baseline unmoderated usability testing (mobile and desktop)
  • Click testing and surveys to capture user expectations and reactions
  • ContentSquare analysis, a behavioural analytics tool that helped us understand how users were really interacting with the live PDP, including scroll patterns, rage clicks, hesitation, and drop-off points
  • A Baymard Institute review, drawing on a leading e-commerce UX research database to benchmark our PDP experience against best practices in the industry

Together, these methods gave us a clear picture of what users found confusing, frustrating, or unclear. I synthesised the findings into 22 problem statements, which were then translated into opportunity areas for design.

From Insight to Action

To help the team move from insight to delivery, I conducted a UX prioritisation exercise that mapped each opportunity by impact and effort, grouping them into categories like low-effort/high-impact and high-effort/high-impact. Related opportunities were bundled together, forming the basis of 8 UX initiatives, which I then laid out in a roadmap.

UX priority matrix for Carphone Warehouse, with blurred-out project details to protect confidential information.
UX priority matrix: Mapping opportunities by impact and effort to identify quick wins, high-value initiatives, and guide a phased delivery strategy. Project details are blurred to maintain confidentiality.

<span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">Roadmapping and The North Star

Each initiative on the roadmap included a clear structure for design, testing, and iteration. We planned regular progress updates tied to specific deliverables wireframes, test results, and learnings.


At the end of this process, we had a validated north star vision for the PDP: a complete, user-tested model of what the ideal experience could look like.

Defining a Realistic Path Forward

To avoid overwhelming users with too many changes at once, and to make development more manageable, I then mapped out how we could incrementally deliver the new PDP through:

  • An MVP (minimum viable product) version
  • An MLP (minimum lovable product) version

This gave the product team a sequence of smaller, prioritised tickets that balanced technical feasibility with user value, creating a clear path from current state to north star.

Affinity mapping exercise showing grouped user feedback from a baseline usability test, used to identify pain points and themes in the existing registration journey.
Affinity mapping: Organising user feedback from our baseline usability test to identify key pain points and themes in the existing registration journey.
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Need a plan, not just ideas?

I help teams turn long-term UX goals into clear, practical steps. If you’re aiming for a stronger user experience but aren’t sure where to start, I can help you build a roadmap that gets you there.

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<span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">What to expect

<span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">Reach out by email

Tell me a little about your product or any challenge you’re facing. Nothing too detailed.

<span data-metadata=""><span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">Book a free 20-minute intro call

We’ll chat through things in more depth so I can better understand your goals and where I can support.

<span data-metadata=""><span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">I'll follow up with a suggested approach

After the call, I’ll take some time to reflect and put together a suggested plan based on what we discussed.

<span data-metadata=""><span data-metadata=""><span data-buffer="">You’ll receive a detailed proposal

If you’d like to move forward, I’ll prepare a full proposal with scope, timeline, and pricing.