Purple Reviews
Purple's existing reviews page had ratings and text. For a $2,000 mattress, that wasn't enough. I redesigned it to make social proof do real purchase work.
E-commerce
UX / UI Design
Desktop/Mobile Web
Information Architecture
Conversion
My part
Company
Purple
Role:
Digital Product Designer
Platform:
Responsive Web
Scope:
IA, filter system, review cards, trust hierarchy
Impact
2021:
Award Recognition
ABPM World Class Briefing Award winner. Continued to inspire and wow visitors daily.
Unified Experience
Design system and direction enabled five independent studios to deliver a cohesive experience without losing their individual strengths.
Scalable System
Design system could be applied to future demos and interactive elements beyond the original installations.
The Problem
The page wasn't built for someone about to spend $2,000+
01
Wrong content above the fold.
The original page opened with a product description and a Buy Now CTA. On a reviews page. Shoppers had already passed the product page. They came here for validation, not another pitch.
02
No context on reviewers.
A 5-star review from a 34-year-old side sleeper with back pain is useless to a 55-year-old stomach sleeper shopping for firmness. Every card looked identical. The page treated them the same.
03
Filters that didn't match how people shop.
You could sort by star rating or keyword search. You could not filter by sleep position, pain concern, or body type. The variables that actually drive a mattress decision weren't there.
04
Thousands of reviews with no synthesis
A shopper is not reading a 1,000 reviews. There was no way to understand what owners as a whole were saying about cooling, pain, or support without reading dozens of individual cards.
Before & After
The Page
Before
After
Focus Area 01
Trust Hierarchy
Above the fold:
Move the proof before the pitch.
The old page opened with a product description and a Buy Now button. I stripped that entirely. The redesigned page opens with 4.3/5 from 170k reviews and the "100% would repurchase" stat before anything else.
Below that: three real customer photos with names, quotes, and the specific product they bought. Emotional validation before rational filtering. The original had no equivalent moment.
Focus Area 02
Filter System
Left rail
Filter by the things that actually drive the decision.
Added sleep style filtering: Back Sleeper, Side Sleeper, Stomach Sleeper, Co-Sleepers. These are the variables a mattress buyer uses to evaluate fit. The old page had none of this. You sorted by star rating and hoped for the best.
The filter panel is a fixed left rail, not a stacked section above results. Mattress shoppers iterate heavily. They need to apply multiple filters and see results update without losing their place. Scrolling up to re-filter is friction on a high-stakes purchase.
Focus Area 03
Review Cards
Card redesign
Make reviewers feel like real people.
Added sleeper profiles directly to each card. Age range, height, weight range, sleep position. For couples, both profiles. A 34-year-old side sleeper at 150lbs reads a review differently than a 55-year-old back sleeper at 220lbs.
The card now tells you whether the reviewer is like you before you read a word. That's the deciding factor on whether a review is useful at all.
Limitation: This assumes reviewers completed their profile at submission. If fill rates are low, the cards degrade visually. The write-a-review flow is a separate problem I haven't solved in this pass.
Design Decisions
Calls I made and why.
Remove the product description entirely
The original page led with material science copy. On a reviews page. That's a product page job. The nav handles discovery. This page has one job: validate the purchase. Everything else is noise.
Two-column layout over stacked sections
Stacking filters above results means scrolling past them to read reviews, then scrolling back to refine. A left-rail layout lets shoppers iterate without losing their place. Standard pattern for a reason. High-consideration shoppers need to iterate fast.
Real photos over marketing imagery
The hero testimonials use actual customer photos, not lifestyle stock. Name, photo, specific product purchased, direct quote. The gap between "stock couple smiling in bed" and "Anne J., Purple Hybrid Premier 3, King" is the gap between decoration and credibility.
Trust bar at the section transition
100-Night Trial. 10-Year Warranty. Free Shipping. Free Returns. These are anxiety reducers placed at the exact moment a shopper shifts from emotional to rational evaluation.
More Projects
Purple Sales Home
E-commerce and promotions
Overview
E-commerce
