@CHEWY
Homepage redesign for Chewy+ members
Defining a north star for my use case becomes the blueprint for a page
Chewy+ is Chewy’s new membership program that’s had great early success. As I looked beyond the MVP launch, I revisited our presence on the homepage, with new goals, and new branding.
Post-MVP, Chewy+ homepage elements were fragmented, competing with the "Bark Bar" for attention and burying high-conversion carousels below the fold
The problem
Revision our presence on homepage to elevate our member only offers and streamline customer notifications
The project
Before (left) and after (right) redesign on the app homepage for Chewy+ customers
The post-MVP "growth debt"
By early 2025, the general admission launch of the Chewy+ membership program had already proven to be a massive win for the business. The data was clear: Chewy+ members were our most engaged cohort, accounting for 71% of all app sessions, with 75% of paid members choosing the app as their primary way to shop. This high level of engagement meant that the homepage component wasn't just a design element, it was the primary lens through which our most valuable customers viewed the brand.
Chapter 1
Competing for attention
In it’s starting state, the Chewy+ component had become vertically bloated, attempting to house both transactional notifications and promotional offers. This pushed the “Buy It Again” carousel (one of Chewy’s most consistent revenue-generating features) well below the fold. Our qualitative research (UXR) showed that because the offers were tucked into a text-heavy contextual message, they lacked the "excitement" and "energy" required to feel like an exclusive member benefit. We weren't just cluttersome; we were diluting the perceived value of the membership itself.
MVP homepage experience for Chewy+ customers at time of project kick off
Navigating "growth debt"
Despite the program's success, the initial launch experience was built for speed rather than long-term scalability. The team was unable to secure buy-in from the stakeholders who managed the “Bark Bar” (the app’s centralized notification system). As a result, we were forced to build "parallel" notifications within the Chewy+ component. This created a fragmented user experience where members were greeted by two competing "next best action" areas, leaving them confused about where to find critical updates.
An observation
While transactional updates (like expiring rewards) belonged in the Bark Bar, I identified member-exclusive offers as high-impact moments that required a distinct, elevated presence to drive program success.
Aligning with a global vision
As I began deep-diving into the Chewy+ experience, a larger opportunity emerged. The Core App team was preparing to redesign the homepage for the entire customer base. Interestingly, their new "North Star" was inspired by the "pet-photo-forward" concept originally pioneered by the Chewy+ MVP. This created a unique opening. Rather than designing a siloed feature, I had the chance to influence the foundational architecture of the app’s most valuable real estate.
Chapter 2
App team homepage redesigns before we merged projects
Data driven discovery
To ensure our decisions were grounded in user behavior, I analyzed page metrics and conducted a competitive audit. The data revealed a clear mental model: users primarily treat the top of the homepage as a "Shortcut to Account" (a quick dashboard for status checks) before transitioning into their shopping journey. I realized that to be successful, our component needed to be concise enough to act as a dashboard, yet distinct enough to signal the "premium" nature of a paid membership.
Homepage data showing top actions and journeys
Forcing prioritization
With so much at stake, there was significant internal pressure from Product Managers to display a wide array of data points. To cut through the noise, I led a workshop to force a "goal-first" hierarchy. We moved away from a list of features and toward four core objectives:
Exclusivity: Make members feel immediately recognized.
Elevation: Give Member Exclusive Offers (MEOs) the visual weight they deserve.
Efficiency: Remove the friction of redundant notifications.
Value: Subtly but consistently reinforce the "Total Savings" program benefit.
This prioritization exercise was the turning point. It allowed us to stop asking "What can we fit?" and start asking "What actually drives value?" By defining these pillars, I moved the project from a defensive "cleanup" task to an offensive strategy for program growth.
Designing the north star
The most significant architectural decision I made was the separation of Utility from Inspiration. To declutter the experience, I successfully negotiated to move these "maintenance" updates into the Bark Bar, where there was already a mental model for account tasks. This freed up the homepage "greeting" area to focus exclusively on the high-energy, high-value moments that make the membership feel worth the price: Member Exclusive Offers (MEOs).
Chapter 3
Unlocking brand expression
One of the major failures of the MVP was the "contextual text" format. It was dry and didn't allow for the high-quality creative assets our Brand team was producing. I moved to a design that treated the MEO slot as a hero moment. By creating a dedicated, highly elevated slot for these offers, we finally gave the brand team the canvas they needed to make "limited-time offers" feel like an event rather than an errand.
Zoomed in “contextual message” component showcasing a very transactional active member offer
Validation through UXR
I used UXR to pressure-test our bolder ideas. For instance, we explored an "animated ticket" concept to showcase program value and savings in a compact way. However, testing revealed that the animation and very loud pink was not enough for customers to notice it. This feedback was instrumental in my decision to pivot toward a "persistent savings" module. I treated "Total Savings" as a background element—always there to reinforce value, but visually quiet enough to not compete with the primary offer.
Stimuli used in user research
A distinct visual language
To solve the "dashboard" versus "shopping" conflict, I introduced a new visual system for the header. I used a unique shape and background color to wrap the user's account summary. This created a clear "Member Zone" at the top of the page that felt separate from the rest of the shopping journey. By condensing the user's account info into a "Greeting" area, we regained the vertical real estate lost in the MVP, successfully pulling the "Buy It Again" carousel back into view without sacrificing the premium feel of the Chewy+ experience.
Refinements made after UXR findings
From use case to framework
While my primary focus was the Chewy+ member experience, I approached the design with a "universal" mindset. I realized that the problems we solved—cluttered headers, fragmented notifications, and the need for a distinct "personal zone"—were pain points for every customer, not just members. By creating a modular, flexible "Greeting Area," I wasn't just fixing a membership component; I was building a new architectural standard for the entire app.
Chapter 4
Driving adoption across teams
The impact of this work became evident when the Product and Design teams responsible for the global homepage redesign saw the results of my discovery and UXR. They recognized that the "Member Zone" logic—which separated a user’s personal dashboard from the shopping journey—was the most effective way to handle the app's "Shortcut to Account" mental model.
Finalized design showing Chewy+ (left) and non Chewy+ (right) use case
A unified platform experience
Instead of my designs remaining a siloed "Chewy+ only" experience, they were adopted as the official blueprint for the App Homepage 2.0. This cross-team adoption led to several key systemic improvements:
Consistency: The unique shape and background color I developed became the standard way to denote "High-Value Zones" across the app.
Alignment: My negotiation to move utility alerts into the Bark Bar established a new governance rule for all notification types, ending years of cross-team "land grabs" for homepage real estate.
Scalability: The elevated "Offer Slot" I designed for Chewy+ was modularized, allowing other teams to showcase personalized promotions without breaking the page's visual hierarchy.
By looking beyond my immediate brief, I successfully transformed a "membership cleanup" project into the foundation for a more cohesive, high-performing global platform.
Results and impact
The transition from a text-heavy MVP to a brand-rich, elevated "Member Zone" yielded strong results in an A/B experiment launched in December. By streamlining the notification clutter and giving Member Exclusive Offers (MEOs) a dedicated, high-visibility canvas, we saw a massive shift in how members interacted with the program.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): We achieved a +204bps increase in offer engagement.
Offer Conversion (CVR): Even more critical was the +108bps increase in conversion. By making the offers feel "exclusive" and "exciting" through better brand integration, we successfully turned passive browsing into active purchasing.
Plans for a full roll out and launch are scheduled for end of Q1 2026.
Chapter 5
Before (left) and after (right) redesign on the app homepage for Chewy+ customers