Reimagining the Registry: Connecting with Newer Generation
Senior UX Designer
CB2 (Crate & Barrel) - Mobile App
E-commerce
Retail & Consumer Goods
Customer Experience (CX)
Customer Experience (CX)
Duration
6 months, 2024
Core Responsibilities
UX Design, Systems Thinking, Ideation & Concept Development, UX Research -Mixed-method, Information Architecture, Content Strategy, Usalibility testing & Validation
Overview
In early 2024, CB2 launched its Gift Registry -“The Registry” in the U.S. While the feature generated initial interest, early usage revealed customer skepticism and high drop-off across the registry journey.
This created an opportunity to understand adoption barriers and design the experience to better align with modern gifting behaviors.
My Role
I drove an end-to-end registry shopping experience, focusing on reducing operational complexity and evolving the registry to support newer, more flexible gifting behaviors.
Users:
Shoppers aged 18+ including individuals and groups creating registries for both traditional and non-traditional life moments (e.g., weddings, housewarmings, birthdays, shared milestones).
01 DISCOVERY
Problem statement
" Users struggled to confidently discover, set up, and shop from CB2’s Gift Registry mobile App due to complexity, unclear value, and limited personalization—resulting in high abandonment and low sustained adoption."
32%
Abandonment rate
3.7%
Sign-up rate
Users abandon at key steps—32% before setup, 18% after building their account dashboard
Only 3.7 % of 10,000 registry page views converted into 370 sign-ups by Q1 2024
Identifying the Opportunity
Registry e-commerce is a complex and highly competitive space, so we began with rapid discovery to understand how today’s Millennials and Gen Z approach event-based gifting—and why many hesitate to choose CB2 as their primary registry platform.
Through early data analysis, we observed low adoption and high abandonment rate (32%) before setup. In parallel stakeholder workshops, it became clear that technology alone would not drive engagement and needed more experience that allowed users to bring trust and aligned with modern gifting behaviors rather than a traditional, transactional model.
BIG QUESTION: User-centric Goal Driven
If we reduce complexity through a more inclusive, guided registry experience, users will gain confidence earlier in the journey—reducing setup abandonment and increasing overall sign-up.
Secondary Research Findings
The Challenge Was Relevance—A Shift in Gifting Behaviour
The concept of gift registries has evolved significantly with the rise of e-commerce, shifting from traditional, one-time events to more flexible, ongoing, and customizable experiences for both registrants and guests.
As part of discovery, I conducted a market analysis of the U.S. gift registry landscape, a $7.73B market annually. While weddings remain a major use case (35%), baby shower registries now represent the largest share (54%), with non-traditional registries accounting for the remaining 11% market gap.
This distribution highlights a key behavioral shift: modern registries are no longer limited to singular life events, but span a broader range of moments, needs, and timelines. The growing share of non-traditional registries signals an opportunity to design registry experiences that feel more flexible, inclusive, and adaptable—rather than optimized solely for weddings
Validating Insights
Mixed Method Research
I partnered closely with the UX Research team to conduct mixed-methods research, combining in-store ethnographic interviews with registry shoppers and an online survey to capture broader behavioral patterns.
I facilitated stakeholder workshops to align on goals and define critical research questions. Qualitative insights revealed emotional drivers and pain points, while analytics and observational data validated behavior at scale—together uncovering both the why and the what behind registry abandonment and engagement.
Interviews (6-8 participants)
Surveys (n=213)
Ethnographic Study
Stakeholder Workshops (5-8 participants)
02 DEFINING
Synthesis data for end-to-end CX
To design an end-to-end registry experience, cross-functional teams collaborated across Product, UX, Research, Engineering, and Operations to share expertise and surface real user pain points across the full registry journey. We gathered extensive feedback from multiple data sources, using it to identify where CB2 could differentiate and address existing gaps in the registry experience.
To make sense of the findings, insights were synthesized through an affinity-mapping process, allowing us to identify patterns, prioritize critical issues, and build a holistic view of user needs.
Key insights revealed opportunities to strengthen emotional connection around life events, improve gift tracking and post-event management, enable more personalized product curation, and simplify the guest experience through clearer flows, real-time inventory visibility, and a more reliable, intuitive gifting process.
Insights and FIindings
Our research uncovered both concrete pain points and deeper emotional currents shaping how people experience gift registries. On a practical level, users struggle with platform acceptance and the complexity of coordinating contributions from multiple guests for various kinds of events. But more revealing is the emotional layer: guests crave a sense of connection and meaning when they give, yet feel constrained by registry systems built around narrow event categories. Here we explore whats are the user core problems to tackle.
Registry Awareness
1 in 3 participants believed registries were primarily used for weddings, baby showers, or housewarmings, and unaware of its use for broader events
Limited Inventory
Participants feel that the decision to sign up for an registry s based on the products inventory that closely aligns with the event .
Out-of-stock surprises
Participants were unable to track which items were out of stock in real-time and wanted an automated system to update their registry and notify them when inventory changed
Lack of inclusive design
Participants believed that the registry was too focused on weddings and didn’t cater to other life events or diverse relationships.
Guest Experience
Participants believed that their guests faced difficulties navigating the registry
hey expected a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for guests to find, purchase, and track gifts.
Lacked ommnichannel UX
Participants that set up their registry at the store level, where unable to access it on their App. They expected a seamless exchange between the app and in-store
Impersonal registry CX
Participants believed the registry felt impersonal and lacked customization options. They expected to personalize their registry page and categorize items to their unique style.
Lack of guidance/inspiration
Participants believed that the registry didn’t offer enough guidance or inspiration. They felt overwhelmed,
curated suggestions, checklists, or expert advice to help with decisons.
Post- registry service
Participants believed services provided post creating a registry is critual for signing up. They expect assistance, delivery flexibility, rewards and discounts.
Concept Prioritization:
Esinhower Metric - 2x2
With numerous pain points identified, we needed a strategic approach to focus our efforts. We mapped potential concepts on a 2x2 matrix, evaluating emotional connection versus functional value and their ability to engage both new and existing users.
Several promising concepts emerged—personalized gifting, group gifting, omnichannel integration, and post-event assistance. Three stood out for balancing high emotional connection with strong functionality: Event360 Registry, Guest-Friendly Process, and Group Gifting.
We selected Event360 Registry because it directly addresses the significant drop-off rate while enhancing intuitiveness and engagement. It focused on seamless, inclusive experience that fosters genuine brand connection for both new and returning users.
03 IDEATION
How might we
Guiding design decisions
These How Might We questions helped us reframe the problem and generate user-centered solutions. They guided us in reducing friction and creating a registry experience that goes beyond basic functionality—one that feels intuitive, inclusive, and emotionally resonant for our customers.
Focused on simplification, flexibility, and building user confidence, these questions informed our decisions throughout the design process. The result is an experience aligned with modern gifting behaviors that remains secure, engaging, and effortlessly easy to use.
Mapping Customer Journey
The existing customer journey enabled our team and cross-functional partners to reimagine the entire user experience. Visualizing each stage revealed nuanced opportunities for improvement that might otherwise have been overlooked.
Through collaborative mapping sessions, we uncovered hidden pain points and discovered just how deeply emotional connection influences our users' registry interactions. Their feelings don't just accompany the experience—they actively shape it.
This insight proved invaluable for concept development. It allowed us to design solutions that address both functional and emotional needs, creating a more meaningful and impactful user experience.
Mapping Customer Journey
We developed this information architecture through cross-functional department workshops with Product, Design, Engineering, Marketing, and Store Operations teams to map key touchpoints and pain points.
We then validated our assumptions with 5–8 target users through card-sorting and empathy-mapping sessions, revealing how people naturally group registry tasks and what emotional needs drive their decisions.
The result is a streamlined, adaptive signup and onboarding flow that offers event-specific guidance, skippable steps, and intutive prompting—ensuring no one feels locked into a rigid process. A robust overarching information architecture connects everything into one seamless experience, continuously refined through iterative testing.
Concept Prototyping
UI Designs of Event 360
Concept The Event360 Program is a reimagined approach to creating and managing gift registries, designed to be inclusive, intuitive, and personalized. It allows users to seamlessly register for a variety of events—beyond traditional events catering to a larger user base, with a focus on emotional connection, ease of use, and real-time updates.
04 MEASURED OUTCOMES
The Event360 Program transformed how users engage with CB2's gift registry. By addressing key pain points and prioritizing inclusivity and seamless interactions, it strengthened the emotional connection between users and the brand while significantly improving the overall customer experience.
Impact & Outcome of the Event360 Program
Increased User Engagement:
This inclusivity has led to a rise in adoption across various life milestones, creating more opportunities for CB2 to connect with a diverse customer base.
Reduction in Drop-Off Rates:
Through a more intuitive and engaging interface, Event360 has minimized friction in the user journey. Real-time updates, easy navigation, and streamlined product management have reduced user frustration and significantly decreased the drop-off rate.
Enhanced Emotional Connection:
By offering more personalization options, such as custom messages and curated gift suggestions. This has translated into a more loyal customer base, with increased word-of-mouth referrals and social media engagement.
Impact-focused Outcome:
The Event360 Program has transformed CB2’s gift registry into a forward-thinking, inclusive, and user-centric platform. As a result, we have observed a significant increase in both online and in-store customer registry sign-ups and requests. The impact on user engagement, brand loyalty, and overall customer satisfaction has been substantial, with measurable improvements in key metrics.
The research conducted has provided valuable insights, and the process of product enhancement continues to evolve, focusing on further refining and improving other aspects of this service.
Results
+0%
+0%
Engagement
Average engagement rate increase in Q1,
post launch
+0%
+0%
Conversion Rate
streamlined process and inclusive onboarding experience
-0%
-0%
Abandonment Rate
Reduction by 25% with seamless usability and feature clarity
Reflections & Learnings
Expanding beyond the "registry = wedding" mindset proved more challenging than anticipated. This revealed the need for stronger marketing to communicate the registry's versatility across life events. I took a hands-on approach to embed inclusivity into the design, ensuring it resonated with users celebrating all types of milestones.
The project reinforced that user needs evolve continuously, making iteration and feedback essential. Staying adaptable allowed us to refine the product and better align with shifting expectations.
This work established a strong foundation for future enhancements while proving that both wins and obstacles drive meaningful growth.
GIFT REGISTRY
—It's meant for everyone
ndhotr20@gmail.com
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