The origins of trade are rooted in conversations. For any ecommerce seller, conversion rate is the key, the average ecommerce conversion rates are 1% – 2%. Research from Forrester found customers who chat with a brand convert three times more often and have a 10-15% higher average cart value. That's why Lazada launched IM (instant messaging), as one of the 5 seller tools that help the sellers to increase sales.

After I joined Lazada, I led the redesign of Alibaba's international IM platform to empower rapid customized deployment for different business unit.

LAZADA

Jul 18 - Aug 19

When I started working on IM, the icon representation looks all different on different pages, on different platforms. I took the opportunity to optimize our aesthetic for consistency and clarity, recognizing that users were often distracted when looking for IM.

Collaboration shouldn’t be hampered by platform differences. With the redesign of IM, I’ve purposefully made the core experience of iOS, Android and the web the same so users can experience IM like a common language.

For most buyers, when they enter a chat they come with a question. Recognizing from the source of their visits, we prompt a quick link that buyers can add to their chat so the sellers can better understand the inquiries and provide the service.

When IM was first introduced, it was not an easy job for Chinese sellers to answer questions from southeast asian buyers. The new translation feature supports live translation within IM, across all platforms, to help the cross-border sellers to foster communication without barriers.

When the team built IM, we also built for scalability. We need to support all international IM business including Lazada and AliExpress. I started an atomic IM UI library that can be customized and stacked together. Therefore any business unit can quickly customize the experience and look to adapt to their business logic.