Search Super App

Challenge

For most of the users the app served as a link to other services. We solved few tasks on spot, but couldn’t control the UX of visited external sites that also often lacked some features when compared to their mobile apps

Solution

Merging our services into a super app allowed us to provide answers without redirecting to a search results page or even to anticipate the question itself. The new architecture and technologies provided a better UX for the users as well as brought additional value for site owners and other Yandex products

Based on the analysis of the current app’s usage, our business goals and the international market research, we figured out 3 main components required to build our own successful super app – mini apps, e-commerce, content feed. Stay with me to find out why and how do they work

Shortcuts for routine scenarios

Remember that goal of anticipating requests? I developed a shortcut format that solved recurring queries in a single or even zero clicks in cases when visual data was enough. The set of shortcuts was personalised and reflected the usage of Yandex services by a person

Mini apps in place of websites

To provide a better UX we turned mobile websites into mini apps – easy to navigate, built with unified guidelines and almost instant to load. With that technology we packed all of Yandex services in one super app, thus saving storage on users’ phones and our marketing budgets, spending it just on one app

E-commerce platform

To evolve the whole web experience, we promoted mini apps development to site owners. It became especially beneficial for E-commerces

If you are looking for a specific product online you may end up at a poorly built website, asking yourself if it is reliable to use. On the other hand, mini apps were made with user-friendly components and had ratings to improve both UX and credibility. It was a game changer for sellers, who experienced increased profits from satisfied customers. In the meantime, we got a transactional revenue stream in addition to the classic ad model

A range of solutions for businesses

With our technologies merchants built online stores with instant and safe to pay checkouts automatically filled with data from users’ Yandex accounts – a dream come true for anyone who has experienced typing address and payment details over and over again

Discovery of offers and features

I came up with the design of a mini app store that promoted them through the prism of their features and goods. It was a crucial part of our platform, as to stick with shopping in mini apps they had to be more beneficial than websites. By collecting exclusive deals in such an engaging format we made that profit obvious

Сontent feed

Though we didn’t expect users to explore all of these fancy features if they would still use the app briefly. We made an effort to redesign our feed and make it more engaging and relevant to the person’s interests

Suitable for all content types

The new feed design provided a scalable system to portray various formats from posts and image carousels to videos in a distinctive and modern style. After lots of experiments with design and algorithms the NPS raised significantly as well as the app’s time spent

E-commerce included

For merchants with mini apps I developed new formats to showcase their products, including enhanced ones for original promotions. It also launched a new stream of social e-commerce where bloggers could enrich their articles or videos with partner integrations

Going beyond the scope

With all these changes we basically entered a new era – the one where we competed with ecosystems rather than separate services. Yandex as a whole was evolving and we wanted to manifest it

A shared direction across platforms

With our major release we also announced the launch of a visionary desktop beta. It provided a much more personal experience and was boosted with shortcuts and content feed, representing specific interests of our audience

Brand new Yandex

While working on the super app transformation it became clear that we needed to use new formats for the brand. Our team initiated a company-wide redesign, which led to the creation of a new logotype that served for both online and offline services well, reflected our values and scaled easily for the sub-brands

A long journey

To transform the app that much we had to run countless experiments, dealing with change aversion and getting closer to our goal with every next iteration

Outcomes

+20%

sales in mini apps

+15%

revenue of Search Portal

+8%

content feed time spent

Initially a three-man design squad my colleagues and I shaped the vision of the future super app from larger components to smaller ones, pitched it weekly to stakeholders and gradually involved more teams to join us and work out final solutions on each others part.

What I am most proud of is that while I was asked to lead the e-commerce stream, I actively collaborated with other designers and the final version of the launched main screen was proposed and designed by me

Years	Role	Scope
2019-2021	Lead Product Designer	Product Strategy, UI/UX Design, Prototyping, Branding