Dell Technologies

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 over a billion 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.

"With so many options, I can deliberate a lot. That's complexity I don't want."

Without guidance, customers frequently assembled incompatible configurations and felt overwhelmed

Customers often chose parts that didn’t work together. Error messages asking users to choose another compatible part felt frustrating. 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 sold significantly more than the rest. This data was foundational to setup the design around customer behavior.

Solution

One Configurator MVP

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 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.