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WineDirect

Designing flexible subscription & account systems for regulated e-commerce

Designing flexible subscription & account systems for regulated e-commerce

Re-architected a fragmented B2B2C subscription experience to reduce churn, enable self-serve, and strengthen long-term customer loyalty.

Re-architected a fragmented B2B2C subscription experience to reduce churn, enable self-serve, and strengthen long-term customer loyalty.

Role

Lead Product Designer

Scope

End-to-end subscription lifecycle & account system redesign

Timeframe

20 weeks

Org reach

Product, Engineering, Research, Customer Support, Marketing

Impact summary

Impact summary

Reduced churn risk across key winery accounts

Enabled self-serve subscription management for B2C

Shifted B2B customers to a mobile-first strategy

Reduced front-end build time by 50% via systems & frameworks

Hootsuite product dashboard pictured on an iPad and iPhone

“Yours is always a voice I stop to listen to.”

“Yours is always a voice I stop to listen to.”

–Michael Des Cotes, Customer Insights Manager

Hootsuite product dashboard pictured in mobile views

The problem & context

The problem & context

WineDirect powers e-commerce and wine club subscriptions for wineries operating in a highly regulated environment. The legacy Member Account and subscriptions functionality was rigid, desktop-oriented, and optimized for internal workflows rather than consumer lifecycle needs. High-touch support, inefficient back-office processing, and limited subscription flexibility were constraining repeat behaviour and increasing churn risk across winery partners.

1

Subscriptions was a key revenue driver… and a fragile build

Subscriptions was a key revenue driver… and a fragile build

2

Customer confusion drove high B2B2C support volume

Customer confusion drove high B2B2C support volume

3

Fear resulted in internal reluctance to innovate

Fear resulted in internal reluctance to innovate

User needs

User needs

Based on research & interviews, two interconnected users shaped the system:

  1. Wine club consumers needed a flexible, mobile-friendly way to manage shipments, preferences, and incentives without contacting support, building autonomy and trust over time.

  2. Wine club managers relied on a 40+ step operational workflow to process subscriptions, creating friction and operational burden.

The opportunity was a restructuring of how wine club subscriptions were configured, customized and maintained across the lifecycle.

Business goals

Business goals

The business needed to:

  • Reduce churn across key B2B winery accounts

  • Convert high-touch support to scalable self-serve

  • Increase subscription stickiness and repeat purchasing

  • Modernize accessibility amid ADA pressures

  • Improve platform marketability in a competitive e-commerce landscape

I was brought in to re-design core revenue-critical workflows that balanced regulatory constraints, brand customization, and consumer autonomy, while enabling phased delivery.

The Wine club manager's (B2B) operational workflow was high-touch and inefficient, causing operational bottlenecks

A social score widget that appears on the new homepage dashboard

Approach

Approach

My strategy was to reframe the initiative from 'account redesign' to 'subscription lifecycle architecture'. To accomplish this, I:

1

Conducted dual-sided discovery to uncover gaps between B2B & B2C user expectations

Conducted dual-sided discovery to uncover gaps between B2B & B2C user expectations

2

Mapped the end-to-end subscription journey, identifying breakpoints in repeat behaviour

Mapped the end-to-end subscription journey, identifying breakpoints in repeat behaviour

3

Prioritized high-impact lifecycle moments for MVP while preserving long-term scalability

Prioritized high-impact lifecycle moments for MVP while preserving long-term scalability

4

Validated low-fidelity prototypes with moderated user testing

Validated low-fidelity prototypes with moderated user testing

5

Introduced a modular white-label design system enabling winery-level brand customization

Introduced a modular white-label design system enabling winery-level brand customization

6

Partnered with Engineering to implement a reusable UI framework

Partnered with Engineering to implement a reusable UI framework

Strategic moment: White label design system

Strategic moment: White label design system

The risk

The risk

Each enterprise winery required high-touch customization, slowing growth and fragmenting the member experience.

Each enterprise winery required high-touch customization, slowing growth and fragmenting the member experience.

The controversy

The controversy

Sales needed faster onboarding. Engineering needed maintainable patterns. Product needed flexible subscriptions within regulatory guardrails.

Sales needed faster onboarding. Engineering needed maintainable patterns. Product needed flexible subscriptions within regulatory guardrails.

What changed after

What changed after

I introduced a modular white-label system with configurable subscription components, cutting front-end effort by 50%, unlocking B2C revenue, and enabling scalability & stickiness for B2B.

I introduced a modular white-label system with configurable subscription components, cutting front-end effort by 50%, unlocking B2C revenue, and enabling scalability & stickiness for B2B.

A social score widget that appears on the new homepage dashboard

Delivering a modern, branded & personalized e-commerce shopping experience

Delivering a modern, branded & personalized e-commerce shopping experience

Before

After

Impact

Impact

Beyond usability improvements, and modernizing a 10+ year old experience, this work:

15%

Increase in monthly active users, following legacy redesign

Increase in monthly active users, following legacy redesign

70%

Faster user validation cycles after introducing frameworks

Faster user validation cycles after introducing frameworks

50%

Reduction in front-end development through design system development

Reduction in front-end development through design system development

Closing insight

Closing insight

Subscription growth isn’t driven by feature depth, it’s driven by clarity, autonomy, and repeatable lifecycle moments. When wineries gain efficiency and consumers gain control, retention increases.

Subscription growth isn’t driven by feature depth, it’s driven by clarity, autonomy, and repeatable lifecycle moments. When wineries gain efficiency and consumers gain control, retention increases.

Jolie

Want to work together? Get in touch!

Want to work together? Get in touch!

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