| Role | UX Designer, end-to-end from discovery through dev handoff |
| Team | Me, Product, Growth, CX, Engineering |
In a NutshellBlueland sold cleaning products in fixed kits. Customers couldn't swap products or choose their scents, and research showed they wanted more control over what they were buying.
At the same time, Blueland is a subscription-first business, so we had another goal: make it easier for customers to build the bundle they wanted while giving them a compelling reason to subscribe.
I led the experience from research through handoff, designing a self-serve builder where customers could mix products, choose scents, see their savings grow, and compare subscribing against buying once.
The new experience increased average order value by 5%, and half of customers added another product to reach the next discount tier.
View full bundling experience: https://www.blueland.com/pages/build-your-bundle
Context
Before this project, customers who wanted multiple Blueland products had to choose from pre-built kits. The contents and scents were already decided for them. Customer surveys and support tickets kept pointing to the same problem: people wanted to build their own bundle, choose their scents, and understand what they were saving.
For Blueland, there was also a clear business opportunity behind that request. As a subscription-first brand, we wanted to increase subscription adoption, and a customizable bundle could give customers more ownership over their purchase while creating a natural moment to highlight the added value of subscribing. So the challenge wasn’t just how to let people build their own bundle, but how to give customers more control while encouraging larger baskets and making subscription more compelling.
Research
The PM and I ran a customer insights survey with about 66 responses, reviewed existing support tickets, and looked at how other DTC brands approached bundling.
Two findings shaped the experience.
People wanted to build it themselves
57.6% preferred a self-serve builder. Only 7.6% wanted to go through a quiz and receive a recommendation. That gave us a clear direction. Instead of deciding what customers should buy, the experience needed to put them in control.
Bundling had to work across the catalog
68.2% wanted to combine starter kits and refills in the same bundle rather than shop one category at a time. That ruled out a simpler category-specific builder. Customers thought about their bundle as one purchase, so the experience needed to work the same way.
Key findings
| People wanted to build it themselves | Bundling had to span categories |
|---|---|
| 57.6% preferred a self-serve builder over a guided quiz. | 68.2% wanted starter kits and refills combined in one bundle. |
Design
Research gave us the direction, but the harder part was deciding how much choice to expose without making the experience cumbersome.
I explored how products were added, how scent and quantity worked, how the sticky bundle summary behaved, how savings were communicated, and how subscription fit into the purchase.
I built on Blueland's existing design system and created reusable patterns for product tiles, scent selectors, discount states, and the bundle summary across desktop and mobile.
Decision 1: Giving customers control without making everything a decision
My early explorations sat at two ends of the spectrum. The simplest version let customers add a product immediately using default options, while the most flexible version asked them to make every selection before adding anything.
Full customization technically gave customers more control, but it also made every product harder to add. Research had specifically told us that customers cared about choosing their scent, while quantity didn't need that same level of attention. So I landed in the middle: customers chose their scent, while quantity started with a simple default.
The tradeoff
| Gave up | Gained | Why I made the call |
|---|---|---|
| Gave upThe fastest possible add-to-bundle interaction. | GainedControl over scent, the choice customers actually cared about. | Why I made the callA self-serve experience didn't need to make every setting customizable. It needed to give people control where it mattered. |
Decision 2: Keeping product details close without cluttering the builder
The product grid needed to stay easy to scan, especially on mobile, but I saw that overly simplified cards left customers unsure about what they were adding. Instead of pushing people to a separate product page, I introduced a lightweight Learn More interaction that surfaced key details in place. This kept users in the flow of building their bundle while still giving them the confidence to make informed choices.
Customers could open product details in place and add items without leaving the bundle they were building. This reduced drop-off from users who would otherwise leave the builder to research products, and helped keep the experience fast for confident shoppers while still supporting those who needed more context.
Decision 3: Using savings to encourage a bigger bundle
The next challenge was making the value of bundling clear while customers were still deciding what to buy. Rather than waiting until checkout to reveal the discount, I brought savings directly into the bundle summary, so customers could see their current discount and what they’d unlock by adding another item as they built their bundle.
This turned the incentive into part of the shopping experience itself: Add your second → Save 5%, Add your third → Save 10%, Add your fourth → Save 15%. Customers didn’t have to calculate whether another product was worth adding—the interface made the tradeoff visible in real time.
Decision 4: Making subscription part of the value story
Because Blueland is a subscription-first business, the bundle couldn't stop at getting customers to add more products. We also needed to create a clear path to subscription, but without disrupting the sense of control we had built throughout the experience.
Instead of introducing a separate subscription flow, I integrated it into the final bundle decision. Once customers had built their bundle, the sidebar presented two clear paths: Subscribe & Save for additional savings and recurring delivery, or Buy One Time for customers who weren't ready to commit.
The subscription option surfaced the additional savings alongside the bundle discount, so customers could understand the total value without leaving the builder. I also kept the one-time option visible rather than hiding it behind another interaction, so customers could make a clear comparison between the two.
The goal was to make subscription compelling because the value was clear, not because the alternative was harder to find. This created a simple progression through the experience: Build what you want → unlock bundle savings → decide how you want to buy it.
Impact
Once this shipped, the team compared it against the old fixed-kit flow.
- Average order value went up 5%. Giving customers more flexibility didn't lead to smaller, more selective purchases.
- Scent selection got a lot of interaction, people cared about personalizing beyond just which products they picked.
- Half of users added extra products just to reach the next discount tier, showing that making savings visible during the experience influenced what people added to their bundle.
| Self-serve was the right model | Visible savings changed behavior | Flexibility and business goals didn't have to compete |
|---|---|---|
| Self-serve was the right modelCustomers engaged with the customizer instead of needing a quiz to decide for them. Giving them more control still left room to guide behavior through the experience. | Visible savings changed behaviorHalf of customers added another product to reach the next discount tier. Showing the incentive while they were building was more useful than waiting until checkout. | Flexibility and business goals didn't have to competeThe experience gave customers more control over what they bought while still creating clear paths toward larger bundles and subscription. |