Streamlining checkout to boost conversion for Adobe

Overview

Project: NextGen Checkout Redesign
Role: Lead Content Designer
Platform: Web + Mobile
Team: Product design, UX research, engineering, data science
Timeline: 4 months

Goal:
Redesign Adobe’s checkout experience to reduce user drop-off, improve clarity, and increase conversion, especially during critical moments like email entry and payment.

Challenge

The original 3-step checkout was structured but rigid, leading to:

  • High abandonment rates, especially during email and payment

  • Friction at every transition point due to reloads and step isolation

  • Heavy, formal, or unclear language that didn’t support user trust or ease

Hypotheses

  1. A one-page, accordion-style layout will reduce perceived effort and increase completion.

  2. Clear, friendly content will improve trust and clarity.

  3. Giving users immediate access to express checkout and account creation will streamline the flow and reduce time to value.

My role & impact

As the content designer, I partnered with design, research, and data teams to:

1. Reimagine step labels and sectioning

  • Changed clinical labels like “Enter your email” to more actionable ones like “Sign up or sign in”

  • Used progressive disclosure (accordion layout) to reduce overwhelm

2. Clarify and humanize microcopy

  • Rewrote upsell module from “Additional offers, curated just for you” to “More ways to get creative”

  • Anchored upsell value in social proof: “People who bought Photoshop also added…”

3. Improve guidance and legal clarity

  • Simplified and chunked payment agreement text

  • Made calls to action clearer and more trustworthy: “Agree and subscribe” placed next to the legal context, not hidden within it

4. Refine post-purchase flow

  • Changed confirmation copy to “Thanks, your order’s confirmed!” to mark closure and guide the user to next steps

  • Created content that celebrated success while clearly instructing the user on password setup and app access

Before & after — at a glance

Area

Tone

Flow

Individual pages, step-by-step

One-page accordion

Reduced cognitive load

Upsell

Before

Formal, directive (“Enter your email”)

Front-loaded, possibly premature

After

Guided and familiar

Optional or better-timed

Content design wins

Built confidence

Reduced friction

Payment

Dense legal copy, sub-optimal placement

Still compliant, but easier to parse, off to the side

Simplified language, inline trust

Confirmation

Separate screen, little guidanc

More connected to next steps

Clear next action (“Create your password”)

Overall

Rigid, siloed

Fluid, trust-building

Increased conversion, reduced drop-off