UX Research · Redesign
Pets at Home - Removing Friction from a Broken App
The Pets at Home mobile app was losing users mid-journey. I researched why, ran an accessibility audit, built a design system, and redesigned the core flows. A/B testing confirmed measurable improvements.
Role
UX Researcher & Designer
timeline
6 Months
team
4 People
industry
Retail / E-commerce
The PRoblem
Users were abandoning tasks they came to complete.
The Pets at Home app had navigation patterns that confused users and an accessibility layer that barely functioned with screen readers. Key shopping flows - browsing, adding to basket, checking out - had enough friction to push users out before they completed their task. The app was losing customers not because of the product, but because of the experience.
The approach
Audit first. Redesign second.
I began with a screen reader audit using an Android screen reader, surfacing three critical accessibility failures in the navigation alone. Usability testing with real users followed, generating the insight for a persona that grounded every subsequent design decision. I built a design system from scratch, restructured the core navigation around actual user behaviour, and produced three rounds of wireframes, each informed by expert peer review and usability testing. The final designs were validated through A/B testing against the original.
The outcome
Measurably better. Validated by testing.
A/B testing confirmed the redesigned flows produced significantly improved task completion rates. Users described the new navigation as intuitive on first attempt, with no instruction needed. The accessibility layer was rebuilt from the ground up, resolving all three critical screen reader failures identified in the initial audit. The project demonstrated that accessibility remediation and UX redesign are stronger together than either approach alone.
The tools
This are some of the tools I used in this project.
Figma
Notion
Miro
slack
The redesign felt like a completely different app in the best way. Tasks that used to take minutes now take seconds. It just works.