One Configurator
Reducing decision fatigue and provide guidance to improve the PC configuration experience
Team
Dell Shop & Learn
Responsibilities
Design Lead
Timeline
6 months
Device
Web
Why improve the PC configuration experience?
Dell's robust online PC customization is its key differentiator. Dell was ramping towards providing more customization options catering to customer freedom. It became important to design an experience that balances between simplicity and customization freedom.
Too many choices led to decision fatigue
Customers had to choose from seventy Dell products, with hundreds of variants and billions part combinations. So many options throughout the journey was leading to decision fatigue.
Customer drop‑off peaked on the product customization page
A billion possible configurations turned the customization page into the journey’s biggest abandonment point. The complexity overwhelmed customers immediately after they entered the product details page.
Without guidance, customers frequently assembled incompatible configurations
Customers often chose parts that didn’t work together. Error messages asking users to choose another compatible part felt frustrating.
Customers needed guidance to understand individual parts and overall build
Customers liked customization freedom, but they struggled to understand part differences and how it impacts overall performance.
Data revealed that 90% of all purchases came from only three variants
Although each system had around thirty variants, only three or four sold significantly more than the rest. This data was foundational to setup the design around customer behavior.
One configuration MVP flow
Final solution to help simplify product choices
Three prebuilt offers shown upfront
Customers can choose from three most popular prebuilt configurations or select the fourth option that unlocked full customization.
Providing guidance for customizing PC configuration if a user decides to customize.
Left column now helps users customize with confidence by hosting modules like the summary widget, compatibility indicator, virtual assistant, and game performance insights.
One configurator delivered strong conversions and launched globally
The new version had a 5.2% lift in average order value and 7.4% lift in revenue per visit. Around 80% of the customers checked out with the 3 prebuilt offers instead of customizing them. This was one of the biggest changes for Dell's PC purchasing journey in recent years, shaping how customers of all segments shop for PCs worldwide.
Design highlights
