Scaling Exfluential's E-Commerce Store

Product Design

Responsive Design

Print Design

Year

2025-2026

Client

Exfluential

Role

Product Design Lead

Exfluential is an enterprise marketing platform that helps global healthcare organizations manage branded content, customer engagement, and marketing campaigns at scale.

Context

I joined Exfluential to lead the design of a brand new Store experience from the ground up. We launched a tightly scoped MVP focused on non-customizable print products, then quickly expanded into swag and consumables as adoption grew. Over time, the Store evolved into a core part of the platform, becoming a feature the sales team actively used to win new business.

Rather than measuring success through a single KPI, the product proved its value over time through continued adoption, positive customer feedback, and growing internal reliance across the company.

The opportunity

As customers became more familiar with the Store, one request surfaced again and again: co-brandable print products.

Exfluential already supported customization for co-branded digital marketing assets, so customers expected the same flexibility when ordering physical materials. But designing for print introduced an entirely different set of challenges. Users needed to upload logos, position artwork across products with different printable areas, understand inventory and pricing, and trust that what they approved on screen would match the final product in hand.

For users with little design or technical experience, every additional decision became another opportunity for confusion.

As customers became more familiar with the Store, one request surfaced again and again: co-brandable print products.

Exfluential already supported customization for co-branded digital marketing assets, so customers expected the same flexibility when ordering physical materials. But designing for print introduced an entirely different set of challenges. Users needed to upload logos, position artwork across products with different printable areas, understand inventory and pricing, and trust that what they approved on screen would match the final product in hand.

For users with little design or technical experience, every additional decision became another opportunity for confusion.

Defining the MVP

Before designing the experience, I worked with stakeholders to evaluate whether we should utilize Shopify's API or build the feature ourselves.

While Shopify offered a faster path to launch, building in-house gave us greater control over future functionality, vendor workflows, and the healthcare-specific requirements we knew the platform would eventually support. With that direction set, I partnered with engineering to define a tightly scoped MVP that delivered immediate value while leaving room to scale.

Before designing the experience, I worked with stakeholders to evaluate whether we should utilize Shopify's API or build the feature ourselves.

While Shopify offered a faster path to launch, building in-house gave us greater control over future functionality, vendor workflows, and the healthcare-specific requirements we knew the platform would eventually support. With that direction set, I partnered with engineering to define a tightly scoped MVP that delivered immediate value while leaving room to scale.

The challenge

Customization introduced far more than a new UI. It required balancing user confidence, business rules, inventory management, vendor production requirements, and engineering scope within a two-week timeline.

The challenge was creating an experience that felt approachable for non-technical users while preventing costly production mistakes before they could happen.

Customization introduced far more than a new UI. It required balancing user confidence, business rules, inventory management, vendor production requirements, and engineering scope within a two-week timeline.

The challenge was creating an experience that felt approachable for non-technical users while preventing costly production mistakes before they could happen.

Design principles & goals

Approachable by default. Most users were doctors, front office staff, and practice administrators with varying levels of technical confidence. Every interaction needed to feel intuitive from the very first click.
Confidence over flexibility. Users were given enough freedom to personalize their products while guardrails prevented costly production errors before checkout.
Scale thoughtfully. The MVP solved an immediate customer need, but every design decision considered how customization could evolve across future products and workflows.

The solution

I led the end-to-end experience from product discovery through checkout, designing a workflow that guided users through customization without overwhelming them. Uploaded logos automatically populated every available print area, users could freely resize and reposition artwork within approved boundaries, and contextual guidance surfaced only when it was needed.

Beyond the interface, I collaborated closely with engineering, customer success, product marketing, and our print vendor to ensure the experience reflected real production workflows, inventory availability, pricing tiers, and approval requirements. Every design decision aimed to reduce uncertainty before an order ever reached production.

To accelerate iteration, I also introduced AI (Claude Design and ChatGPT) into my workflow to rapidly explore concepts and communicate design directions with stakeholders, significantly reducing feedback cycles.

Success Metrics

Reduced support requests related to product personalization by creating a more intuitive and guided customization experience.

I wish all [Exfluential's] customization features were this easy!

Anonymous Client

@ Galderma

I wish all [Exfluential's] customization features were this easy!

Anonymous Client

@ Galderma

Reflection

This project reinforced that great product design starts long before the interface. Building a brand new capability meant constantly balancing user needs with business priorities, technical realities, and operational constraints while protecting the long-term vision of the product.

Looking back, I would have invested more time understanding the broader roadmap for the Store before jumping into execution. Designing with that longer-term context from the beginning would have helped shape an even stronger foundation for future iterations.

This project reinforced that great product design starts long before the interface. Building a brand new capability meant constantly balancing user needs with business priorities, technical realities, and operational constraints while protecting the long-term vision of the product.

Looking back, I would have invested more time understanding the broader roadmap for the Store before jumping into execution. Designing with that longer-term context from the beginning would have helped shape an even stronger foundation for future iterations.

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