Thrive app redesign

Enhancing personalization & helping our users find their next favorite

My Role

Senior product designer-

Strategy, User research, User Flows, Hi fidelity prototypes, Interactions, Testing, Copy writing

Team

2 PM’s, 1 Junior designer and 6+ engineering team

Duration

February 2024 - April 2024

Overview

Thrive is a social discovery and food delivery app. Through our UX audit and research, we identified broken user journeys, a need for personalization, and outdated navigation. To address these, we revamped key flows like "Pick-Up," "Pre-Order," and introduced a fresh homepage. These updates significantly improved food discovery, making the overall experience more seamless and intuitive.

About

Thrive connects over 14,000 restaurants with customers, offering more than just food delivery. As a social food discovery platform, it empowers users to ask for and share recommendations, share food experiences with a community of like-minded food lovers, making food discovery a community-driven experience.

Know our users

Our platform caters to food enthusiasts, especially millennials and Gen Z (18-35 years), who crave both the ease of food delivery and the thrill of exploring new culinary spots. Whether ordering their go-to dishes or sharing recommendations within a community of food lovers, they appreciate personalized suggestions, real reviews, and building social connections through their food adventures.

UX audit & User research

Understanding the existing app

Before diving into the UX audit, we began by analyzing quantitative data to identify key pain points in the user journey, such as areas with the highest drop-off rates, click-through rates, average time spent in-app to place an order, number of orders, and retention rates.

This helped us focus on specific touchpoints where improvements were needed. In addition to the UX audit, we conducted session recording analyses using User Experior and user interviews to cross-validate the data and uncover the root causes.

Before diving into the UX audit, we began by analyzing quantitative data to identify key pain points in the user journey, such as areas with the highest drop-off rates, click-through rates, average time spent in-app to place an order, number of orders, and retention rates.

This helped us focus on specific touchpoints where improvements were needed. In addition to the UX audit, we conducted session recording analyses using User Experior and user interviews to cross-validate the data and uncover the root causes.

Insights

What we learned

After the user interviews, we spotted three main types of users, which really helped us tackle the next phase of the problem. These groups gave us a clear picture of different behaviors, goals, and frustrations, so we could fine-tune our solutions.

After the user interviews, we spotted three main types of users, which really helped us tackle the next phase of the problem. These groups gave us a clear picture of different behaviors, goals, and frustrations, so we could fine-tune our solutions.

Deal hunters

These users searched and ordered based on the offers most of the time they opened the app.

Goals:

Find the best offers and discounts before placing an order.

Frustrations:

Missed deals or hard-to-find offers on the platform. Confusion when offer banners are unclear or hidden.

Explorers

Likes to discover a new restauarnt to try.

Goals:

Enjoy trying trending places & seek personalized suggestions based on their preferences.

Frustrations:

Disappointed with generic recommendations or lack of variety.

Brand loyalists

Orders from the same 2 or 3 brands repeatedly.

Goals:

Find reliable restaurant options quickly for special occasions.

Frustrations:

They don’t require new restaurant suggestions and prefer to quickly place orders, as they usually know where to order from.

Strategy

Turning Insights into Action

After 2 weeks of deep diving into the problem statement, analyzing user behaviors, and finalizing the product direction, we transitioned to the design phase.

We aimed to systematically analyze all key user flows. We prioritized screens and design flows using the impact-effort matrix, allowing us to complete the design updates in phases.

After 2 weeks of deep diving into the problem statement, analyzing user behaviors, and finalizing the product direction, we transitioned to the design phase.

We aimed to systematically analyze all key user flows. We prioritized screens and design flows using the impact-effort matrix, allowing us to complete the design updates in phases.

Solutions

Key screens & Comparision

The all new homescreen:
Homescreen was designed to enhance Thrive's social engagement and awareness, reflecting its identity as a socially driven food commerce platform while moving towards a more personalized experience. By integrating Food and Feed elements into a single screen, we enabled users to discover content more effectively.

Features like “Hungry Kya?”, “Posts,” “Saved Favorites,” and “In the Spotlight” were tailored entirely to user preferences and history.

The all new homescreen:
Homescreen was designed to enhance Thrive's social engagement and awareness, reflecting its identity as a socially driven food commerce platform while moving towards a more personalized experience. By integrating Food and Feed elements into a single screen, we enabled users to discover content more effectively.

Features like “Hungry Kya?”, “Posts,” “Saved Favorites,” and “In the Spotlight” were tailored entirely to user preferences and history.

The all new homescreen:
Homescreen was designed to enhance Thrive's social engagement and awareness, reflecting its identity as a socially driven food commerce platform while moving towards a more personalized experience. By integrating Food and Feed elements into a single screen, we enabled users to discover content more effectively.

Features like “Hungry Kya?”, “Posts,” “Saved Favorites,” and “In the Spotlight” were tailored entirely to user preferences and history.

The all new homescreen:
Homescreen was designed to enhance Thrive's social engagement and awareness, reflecting its identity as a socially driven food commerce platform while moving towards a more personalized experience. By integrating Food and Feed elements into a single screen, we enabled users to discover content more effectively.

Features like “Hungry Kya?”, “Posts,” “Saved Favorites,” and “In the Spotlight” were tailored entirely to user preferences and history.

Unified search

The new search now offers a more user-friendly zero state with “recent searches” for quick access, and separates results into "Restaurants," "Dishes," "Feed," and "People."

Food page & some new journeys

The new design aims at personalizing the food page by highlighting users' favorites and relevant recommendations. We revamped the pick-up and pre-order journeys, resolving user issues and improving offer discovery with a dedicated new page.

Offers , Pre-order & Pick-up page

Creating dedicated sections for Offers, Pre-order, and Pick-up allowed users to easily navigate based on their needs. For Pre-order and Pick-up, reinforcing visual cues throughout the journey was key to reminding users of the type of order they were placing thus leading to less errors.

Some more personalisation

Research showed that when users are in exploration mode, they want to find restaurants similar to those they've interacted with or ordered from. So, we added new sections like "Because You Viewed" and "More Like This," based on users' previous orders and interactions

Impact

The Thrive app revamp highlights how design thinking, teamwork, and user focus can address real pain points and improve usability. We saw a boost in engagement, especially with social features. Notably, "Thrive Faves" and the "Recco Game" exceeded expectations—more on these in upcoming case studies. Here are the key metrics we monitor to ensure continuous improvement.

Business Metrics

CTR ( Click through rate )

The percentage of users who click on the social and commerce components.

Order metrics

Order volume , order conversion rate and pre order and pick up usage.

Cart abandonment rates

How often users leave items in the cart without completing a purchase.

Retention rate

Percentage of users returning after their first visit over time (e.g., 7-day, 30-day retention).

Social sharing

Frequency with which users share recommendations, ratings, and lists with their network.

Time spent on the app

How much time users spent on the app in one session

What’s next?

Continuous User Feedback & Iteration

We aim to enhance the personalization by incorporating additional user data points, such as dietary preferences, favorite cuisines, and time-based recommendations. This will allow us to deliver even more accurate and relevant suggestions. Additionally, we'll experiment with further gamifying the social and discovery experience, rewarding users for sharing reviews, engaging with community posts, and unlocking achievements.

In my 2+ years as a Senior Product Designer at Thrive, I’ve worked on over 30 projects, from revamps to zero to one features. One of the highlights was the “Track Restaurant” feature, along with other cool projects like the Thrive Track restaurants, Thrive Social, Recco Game, and Faves, Thrive design system. These features boosted order volume, user engagement, community growth, and retention.

Stay tuned—more case studies and insights are on the way!


In my 2+ years as a Senior Product Designer at Thrive, I’ve worked on over 30 projects, from revamps to zero to one features. One of the highlights was the “Track Restaurant” feature, along with other cool projects like the Thrive Track restaurants, Thrive Social, Recco Game, and Faves, Thrive design system. These features boosted order volume, user engagement, community growth, and retention.

Stay tuned—more case studies and insights are on the way!


Thank you for watching!

Thank you for watching!

From concept to creation, let's make it happen!

Got an idea, opportunity, or just want to say hello? I’m always up for new adventures, fun collaborations, or even just a cup of coffee! 😄

Crafted with love,

Creativity, caffeine, and just a sprinkle of overthinking!

From concept to creation, let's make it happen!

Got an idea, opportunity, or just want to say hello? I’m always up for new adventures, fun collaborations, or even just a cup of coffee! 😄

Crafted with love,

Creativity, caffeine, and just a sprinkle of overthinking!

From concept to creation, let's make it happen!

Got an idea, opportunity, or just want to say hello? I’m always up for new adventures, fun collaborations, or even just a cup of coffee! 😄

Crafted with love,

Creativity, caffeine, and just a sprinkle of overthinking!

From concept to creation, let's make it happen!

Got an idea, opportunity, or just want to say hello? I’m always up for new adventures, fun collaborations, or even just a cup of coffee! 😄

Crafted with love,

Creativity, caffeine, and just a sprinkle of overthinking!