Tiffany Lim

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Search Redesign

Slickdeals is a deal discovery platform with a passionate community of more than 12 million users. Browsing had always been the hero, while Search reached only about 4% of users. I took Search from early beta to general release and position it as a core entry point for discovery and conversion, driving search usage and revenue by 40%.

Role

Sr. Product Designer

Responsibilities

Product strategy

End to end design

Handoff + Documentation

Timeline

3 Months

Impact at a glance

+40% increase in search usage and revenue

Background

Slickdeals’ Sitewide Transformation

In Spring 2024, Slickdeals launched a limited beta of redesigned core experiences for select users. The goal was to modernize the platform, reach a younger audience, and improve retention and revenue. Search was part of that first release.

Search over the years -- Classic -> MVP Beta

Search V1 Baseline

Mininimalist + Modern

The new search experience had a cleaner, more modern and minimalist layout. With much more white space, users were able to focus more on the important details, deal results were easier to scan.

Grid View

Previously, search only provided results in a forum style list view. In this update we released a brand new grid view in search that brings ecommerce patterns to the surface. Results appear as product forward cards so people can scan images, prices, and key info quickly.

Scout Deals

For the first time we surfaced Scout deals alongside community posts. Scout is our automated tool that finds live offers across retailers, which increased coverage and kept results fresh so people could find a match more often.

Problem

Users Can’t Find What They’re Searching For

After releasing the first beta of Search, we collected in product feedback, watched behavior in Heap, and interviewed both longtime users and new visitors. Visual reactions were mixed and surface level usability looked fine, but the signal was clear. Search was not reliably helping people find what they needed quickly, and it softened the community signal that gives Slickdeals its trust and context..

Strategy

Designing a smarter search journey from the very first interaction

Designing a smarter search journey from the very first interaction

Rather than focus solely on results, I worked backwards from user intent — reimagining how search could guide users from query to conversion with fewer steps and more relevance.

This meant improving the search experience from the ground up:

  • Starting with a more engaging entry point through dynamic placeholders
  • Surfacing intent-matching suggestions in autocomplete
  • Reducing reliance on filters by offering pre-scoped categories, brands, and store links
  • Creating clearer pathways to browse and explore, even when results were limited

By focusing on the user's journey — not just the outcome — I aimed to transform search into a true navigational and discovery tool, while supporting business goals like engagement and conversions.

Delivery

Bring Relevance to every step

Capture more users

Search needed to capture users from the very first interaction.

To draw attention, I introduced a dynamic placeholder that cycles through trending queries. When clicked, the search bar expands into a full-page preview showing recent searches, popular terms, curated deals, and featured collections — turning a simple input into a starting point for discovery.

Autocomplete Guides the User

Autocomplete now acts like a guide. As you type, it elevates categories, brands, stores, and matching deals in one view. Suggestions are ordered by a gentle read of saved preferences and recent clicks, while community context stays visible on deal suggestions with votes and comment counts.

Transformed the search results page into a discovery hub

I redesigned the search results page to better reflect how users explore deals on Slickdeals, balancing both e-commerce and community content. In addition, modules for related categories, collections, brands, stores, and users were included to support discovery and keep users engaged.

Prevented dead ends

Thin or empty states move the session forward. We surface expired deals for research, offer related categories and brands to pivot, and present a Deal Alert that pre fills the query and preferred retailers. If personalization is steering too narrowly, a single tap widens the view so momentum never dies.

Outcome

Search became a growth driver

Across all experiments, we drove a 30% increase in voting behavior, on a platform with over 12 million users.

While some experiments were A/B tested and others released sequentially, the overall pattern was clear:

Reflections

Lessons Learned

Taking over this project post-MVP taught me how to filter noise, focus on impact, and confidently drive direction even midstream.

  • I inherited a firehose of user feedback, some constructive, some just noise. Learning to spot patterns, cut through the clutter, and make decisions based on what mattered most became one of the most valuable muscles I built on this project.
  • Jumping in post-MVP was intimidating at first, but it gave me the freedom to question previous decisions and reframe the problem from a fresh perspective.
  • One of the most meaningful wins was advocating for a redesigned search preview, it wasn’t on the original roadmap, but I made the case, and it changed the way users approached search from the start.

Up Next

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for taking the time to read this case study, I hope this gave you a clear look into how I approached a complex feature already in motion, identified the right opportunities, and pushed for design decisions that made an impact.

 

If you're curious to see more, feel free to check out my other case studies:

Community Growth Experiments

AI Comment Summary

Swagbucks Live Daily Trivia

Notifications System

Let’s Connect.

linkedin

hello@tiffanylim.design

© Tiffany Lim, 2025. Made with love, Figma, and coffee.

Tiffany Lim

Work

Play

About

Resume

Slickdeals is a deal discovery platform with a passionate community of more than 12 million users. Browsing had always been the hero, while Search reached only about 4% of users. I took Search from early beta to general release and position it as a core entry point for discovery and conversion, driving search usage and revenue by 40%.

Search Redesign

Role

Sr. Product Designer

Responsibilities

Product strategy

End to end design

Handoff + Documentation

Timeline

3 Months

Impact at a glance

+40% increase in search usage and revenue

Background

Slickdeals’ Sitewide Transformation

In Spring 2024, Slickdeals launched a limited beta of redesigned core experiences for select users. The goal was to modernize the platform, reach a younger audience, and improve retention and revenue. Search was part of that first release.

Search over the years -- Classic ->

Search V1 Baseline

Mininimalist + Modern

The new search experience had a cleaner, more modern and minimalist layout. With much more white space, users were able to focus more on the important details, deal results were easier to scan.

Grid View

Previously, search only provided results in a forum style list view. In this update we released a brand new grid view in search that brings ecommerce patterns to the surface. Results appear as product forward cards so people can scan images, prices, and key info quickly.

Scout Deals

For the first time we surfaced Scout deals alongside community posts. Scout is our automated tool that finds live offers across retailers, which increased coverage and kept results fresh so people could find a match more often.

Problem

Users Can’t Find What They’re Searching For

After releasing the first beta of Search, we collected in product feedback, watched behavior in Heap, and interviewed both longtime users and new visitors. Visual reactions were mixed and surface level usability looked fine, but the signal was clear. Search was not reliably helping people find what they needed quickly, and it softened the community signal that gives Slickdeals its trust and context..

Strategy

Designing a smarter search journey from the very first interaction

Designing a smarter search journey from the very first interaction

Rather than focus solely on results, I worked backwards from user intent — reimagining how search could guide users from query to conversion with fewer steps and more relevance.

This meant improving the search experience from the ground up:

  • Starting with a more engaging entry point through dynamic placeholders
  • Surfacing intent-matching suggestions in autocomplete
  • Reducing reliance on filters by offering pre-scoped categories, brands, and store links
  • Creating clearer pathways to browse and explore, even when results were limited

By focusing on the user's journey — not just the outcome — I aimed to transform search into a true navigational and discovery tool, while supporting business goals like engagement and conversions.

Delivery

Bring Relevance to Every Step

Capture more users

Search needed to capture users from the very first interaction.

To draw attention, I introduced a dynamic placeholder that cycles through trending queries. When clicked, the search bar expands into a full-page preview showing recent searches, popular terms, curated deals, and featured collections — turning a simple input into a starting point for discovery.

Autocomplete Guides the User

Autocomplete now acts like a guide. As you type, it elevates categories, brands, stores, and matching deals in one view. Suggestions are ordered by a gentle read of saved preferences and recent clicks, while community context stays visible on deal suggestions with votes and comment counts.

Transformed the search results page into a discovery hub

I redesigned the search results page to better reflect how users explore deals on Slickdeals, balancing both e-commerce and community content. In addition, modules for related categories, collections, brands, stores, and users were included to support discovery and keep users engaged.

Prevented dead ends

Thin or empty states move the session forward. We surface expired deals for research, offer related categories and brands to pivot, and present a Deal Alert that pre fills the query and preferred retailers. If personalization is steering too narrowly, a single tap widens the view so momentum never dies.

Outcome

Search became a growth driver

Across all experiments, we drove a 30% increase in voting behavior, on a platform with over 12 million users.

While some experiments were A/B tested and others released sequentially, the overall pattern was clear:

Reflections

Lessons Learned

Taking over this project post-MVP taught me how to filter noise, focus on impact, and confidently drive direction even midstream.

  • I inherited a firehose of user feedback, some constructive, some just noise. Learning to spot patterns, cut through the clutter, and make decisions based on what mattered most became one of the most valuable muscles I built on this project.
  • Jumping in post-MVP was intimidating at first, but it gave me the freedom to question previous decisions and reframe the problem from a fresh perspective.
  • One of the most meaningful wins was advocating for a redesigned search preview, it wasn’t on the original roadmap, but I made the case, and it changed the way users approached search from the start.

Up Next

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for taking the time to read this case study, I hope this gave you a clear look into how I approached a complex feature already in motion, identified the right opportunities, and pushed for design decisions that made an impact.

 

If you're curious to see more, feel free to check out my other case studies:

Community Growth Experiments

AI Comment Summary

Swagbucks Live Daily Trivia

Notifications System

Let’s Connect

linkedin

hello@tiffanylim.design

© Tiffany Lim, 2025. Made with love, Figma, and coffee.

Tiffany Lim

Work

Play

About

Resume

Search Redesign

Slickdeals is a deal discovery platform with a passionate community of more than 12 million users. Browsing had always been the hero, while Search reached only about 4% of users. I took Search from early beta to general release and position it as a core entry point for discovery and conversion, driving search usage and revenue by 40%.

Role

Sr. Product Designer

Responsibilities

Product strategy

End to end design

Handoff + Documentation

Timeline

3 Months

Impact at a glance

+40% increase in search usage and revenue

Background

Slickdeals’ Sitewide Transformation

In Spring 2024, Slickdeals launched a limited beta of redesigned core experiences for select users. The goal was to modernize the platform, reach a younger audience, and improve retention and revenue. Search was part of that first release.

Search over the years -- Classic → Old Design → Search V1

Search V1 Baseline

Minimalist + Modern

The new search experience had a cleaner, more modern and minimalist layout. With much more white space, users were able to focus more on the important details, deal results were easier to scan.

Grid View

Previously, search only provided results in a forum style list view. In this update we released a brand new grid view in search that brings ecommerce patterns to the surface. Results appear as product forward cards so people can scan images, prices, and key info quickly.

Scout Deals

For the first time we surfaced Scout deals alongside community posts. Scout is our automated tool that finds live offers across retailers, which increased coverage and kept results fresh so people could find a match more often.

Problem

Users Can’t Find What They’re Searching For

After releasing the first beta of Search, we collected in product feedback, watched behavior in Heap, and interviewed both longtime users and new visitors. Visual reactions were mixed and surface level usability looked fine, but the signal was clear. Search was not reliably helping people find what they needed quickly, and it softened the community signal that gives Slickdeals its trust and context..

Strategy

Designing a smarter search journey from the very first interaction

Our north star was simple: make search the fastest dependable path to a deal. We focused on capturing more users at entry, guiding intent from the first touch, narrowing results without heavy filter work, building recovery so momentum never dies, and adding personalization so relevance improves for each person.

Delivery

Search V2

Capture more users

The search bar became a place to start. A dynamic placeholder cycles timely prompts that reflect what a person follows and what they looked at recently, then opens a full page preview on click. The preview surfaces recent searches and high intent suggestions, tailored to saved preferences without hiding exploration.

Autocomplete Guides the User

Autocomplete now acts like a guide. As you type, it elevates categories, brands, stores, and matching deals in one view. Suggestions are ordered by a gentle read of saved preferences and recent clicks, while community context stays visible on deal suggestions with votes and comment counts.

Transformed the search results page into a discovery hub

I redesigned the search results page to better reflect how users explore deals on Slickdeals, balancing both e-commerce and community content. In addition, modules for related categories, collections, brands, stores, and users were included to support discovery and keep users engaged.

Prevented dead ends

Thin or empty states move the session forward. We surface expired deals for research, offer related categories and brands to pivot, and present a Deal Alert that pre fills the query and preferred retailers. If personalization is steering too narrowly, a single tap widens the view so momentum never dies.

Outcome

Search became a growth driver

By rethinking the search journey and aligning it to real user behavior, we saw measurable impact:

    • Search usage and revenue increased by 40%
    • More users were navigating via category and brand, thanks to autocomplete improvements
    • Search no longer felt like a dead end, fallback states kept users engaged and more likely to convert
    • The project also influenced adjacent roadmap items and laid the groundwork for continued improvements across other entry points

Reflections

Lessons Learned

Taking over this project post-MVP taught me how to filter noise, focus on impact, and confidently drive direction even midstream.

  • I inherited a firehose of user feedback, some constructive, some just noise. Learning to spot patterns, cut through the clutter, and make decisions based on what mattered most became one of the most valuable muscles I built on this project.
  • Jumping in post-MVP was intimidating at first, but it gave me the freedom to question previous decisions and reframe the problem from a fresh perspective.
  • One of the most meaningful wins was advocating for a redesigned search preview, it wasn’t on the original roadmap, but I made the case, and it changed the way users approached search from the start.

Up Next

Thanks For Reading

Thanks for taking the time to read this case study, I hope this gave you a clear look into how I approached a complex feature already in motion, identified the right opportunities, and pushed for design decisions that made an impact.

 

If you're curious to see more, feel free to check out my other case studies:

Community Growth Experiments

AI Comment Summary

Swagbucks Live Daily Trivia

Notifications System