The problem
Zalando's brand partners were flying blind. They had fragmented data across paid and organic channels, no way to benchmark against competitors, and no visibility into long-term customer value. They needed a single source of truth to build smarter marketing strategies.
The solution
Customer Journey Compass—a product that gives brands holistic customer data, competitive benchmarks, and KPIs focused on long-term shopper value. One platform to understand performance, assess funnel impact, and spot opportunities.
What I did
- Led product design end-to-end from MVP through four major releases
- Conducted user research — scoped, scripted, and synthesized findings from 11 user interviews when our researcher was at capacity
- Co-defined the product roadmap with PM and presented to leadership to secure 9 months of dedicated investment
- Created custom visualizations including a Sankey diagram for funnel movement that became one of the most-used features
- Established design operations — quarterly UX reviews, debt backlog, and ways of working that kept the team aligned
Starting scrappy
I joined when the project was just infrastructure and data pipelines. Together with the PM, we built the MVP in Looker Studio—prioritizing speed over polish. We wanted to validate the concept before investing in anything custom.
Testing the waters
We tested the MVP with 16 brand partners. The PM and I shadowed their review meetings, observed how they reacted to the data, and documented every piece of feedback. The appetite was clear—they wanted more. [Research visuals]
Proving it out
With validation data in hand, I started exploring what an integrated experience could look like in our ZMS ecosystem. I kept the mockups low-fidelity intentionally—I wanted feedback on the journey and data, not the aesthetics.
With our UX researcher stretched thin, I stepped up to lead the research. I scoped the goals, wrote the script, and ran 11 interviews across internal users and brand partners over two weeks. The findings gave us confidence to push for real investment.
[Draft visuals / Research share out]
Building for real
We secured a dedicated team for 9 months. Design always worked a milestone ahead—consulting with engineering during execution while testing the next release.
Milestone 1 → Foundations.
Migrated everything from Looker Studio into zDirect (Zalando's partner platform). Clean, tabular data. Internal release only.
[M1 visuals]
Milestone 2 → Bringing the data to life.
An org-wide brand refresh hit mid-milestone. We adapted, then brought in charts across all tabs and added month/quarter filtering. I designed a custom date selector when the existing component couldn't handle our needs.
25+ partners onboarded.
[M2 visuals]
Milestone 3 → The big features.
We introduced an overview page—a snapshot of brand performance to help users build strategy.
I created a custom Sankey visualization showing how shoppers move through the funnel, which quickly became one of the most-used features.
We also shipped audience data, sliced by country, age, gender, and category.
100 partners onboarded.
[M3 visuals]
Milestone 4 → Adding intelligence.
We'd planned AI-powered insights, but org constraints pushed us toward a rule-based approach first. I worked with PMs and content design to build an insight framework that reads as natural language—surfacing meaning faster and reducing user queries.
235 partners onboarded.
[M4 visuals]
Where we landed
[Visual: slide from all hands or celebratory product shot]
Behind the scenes
[Visual: Three cards / callout boxes]
Why Looker Studio for MVP? Speed over polish. We needed to validate the concept before building custom. The constraints actually helped us focus on what data mattered most.
Why lead research myself? Our researcher was stretched across multiple products. Rather than wait or skip validation, I ran it myself. The hands-on user exposure shaped better decisions downstream.
Why rule-based over AI? Org regulations and timelines made AI risky. A rule-based framework let us ship value now while keeping the door open for smarter insights later.
What’s next
New org strategy for 2026 means new opportunities. I'm working with the Compass and Audience PMs on smarter recommendations, tailored insights, and a redesigned home experience I've been wanting to tackle.
[Coming soon?]
Reflection
This project hit differently. True 0→1 ownership, a PM who trusted my expertise, and a team that kept nothing in silos. One of the most rewarding projects of my career—and we're just getting started.