Executive Summary

Leading a 3-month discovery project at Wayfair, I guided research that quickly invalidated a feature request and uncovered fundamental invoice process problems that were the cause of over $100 million in outstanding supplier balances at any given time. Our team discovered that users actively didn't want the proposed solution, then pivoted to identify critical invoice clarity and timing issues that led to a complete roadmap transformation focused on detailed invoice redesign.

The Original Brief

Suppliers who sell on Wayfair are able to pay to for different marketing opportunities, including paid promotions to boost their listings, 3D renders, and other services. To pay for these services, supplier marketing teams load funds into their ‘Wallet’ using credit cards.

The Wallet team requested research on allowing suppliers to use their accounts receivable balance (money Wayfair owed them) to fund wallet payments for marketing services, rather than only loading funds via credit card. This change was intended to make existing funds owed to suppliers accessible for marketing initiatives.

Research Approach & Early Findings

I advocated for comprehensive user research and defined our plan for approaching this project. 

Our discovery quickly revealed a critical flaw in the original premise: Suppliers Didn't Want Mixed Accounts

• Marketing personas who managed wallet spending for advertising wanted to keep those funds completely separate
• Accounting personas dealing with accounts receivable and payable strongly preferred distinct financial workflows
• Clear role separation: Marketing teams and accounting teams had different responsibilities and didn't want their money streams mixed

The Wallet Solution Was Invalidated Quickly Rather than making more funds available for marketing, combining receivables and marketing wallet funds would have created confusion and workflow problems for suppliers. The proposed feature would have solved the Wallet team's needs while making things worse for users.

The Hidden Cost to Suppliers Most critically, we discovered that supplier accountants were spending hours manually cross-referencing Wayfair's vague invoices with their internal systems before they could process payments. This manual reconciliation process was the primary cause of payment delays and outstanding balances.

Team Challenge: Halfway through the project, our UX Researcher was laid off, requiring me to redistribute responsibilities and coach our Lead Designer in expanded research capabilities.

Strategic Pivot & Solution Design

Complete Roadmap Transformation Based on invalidating the wallet hypothesis and discovering invoice problems, we completely pivoted to comprehensive invoice process improvements:

Process Timing Improvements:

• Invoice delivery timeline optimization
• Billing cycle communication enhancements
• Charge forecasting and advance notification systems

The Business Case By providing detailed, timely invoices that matched suppliers' internal tracking systems, we projected significant reduction in:

• Supplier accountant reconciliation time (from hours to minutes per invoice)
• Payment processing delays
• Outstanding balance accumulation
• Supplier support ticket volume

Expected Impact

Operational Efficiency Gains: The enhanced invoice details were designed to dramatically reduce supplier accountant workload by eliminating manual cross-referencing between Wayfair and internal systems.

Supplier Relationship Enhancement: Clear, detailed, timely invoices would reduce friction and improve supplier trust in Wayfair's billing accuracy.

Cash Flow Improvements: Supplier trust and billing accuracy should accelerate payment cycles, reducing the $100+ million outstanding balance problem.

Prevented Negative User Experience: By invalidating the wallet mixing approach early, we avoided implementing a feature that would have created problems for supplier marketing and accounting teams.

Project Outcome

Unfortunately, I was laid off before implementation and couldn't measure the actual impact of these invoice improvements. However, the research successfully:

1. Prevented a problematic feature that users actively didn't want
2. Transformed the team's roadmap from tactical payment features to fundamental process improvements
3. Identified the real causes of supplier payment delays and outstanding balances

The discovery framework and invoice detail specifications became the foundation for the team's work moving forward, representing a complete strategic pivot based on user research findings that both prevented negative user impact and uncovered much more valuable opportunities.