DaWanda
Native iOS and Android apps for Europe's largest handmade marketplace — and an App Store rating that climbed from 2.6 to 4.8 stars.
DaWanda — later acquired by Etsy — was Europe’s largest marketplace for handmade and customizable goods. I joined the new mobile team building native iOS and Android apps for the marketplace.
The problem
Discovery began with our data, user interviews, and a journey-mapping workshop. The insight: users weren’t engaging because the content felt generic, search wasn’t intuitive, and people misread what made DaWanda special — it wasn’t another Amazon, it hosted creators selling unique, handmade things.
What we shipped
- A new 3-step onboarding that communicated the value propositions, built with brand and marketing.
- A personalized home screen with distinct sections (“What’s new”, “Inspiration”, “DIY”, “Trending”) to speak to different buyer intentions.
- A restructured information architecture — a permanent search/browse tab replacing the underused “DIY” tab, plus clearer, more accessible icons.
Users who went through onboarding spent more time in the app, discovered more, and nearly doubled the products they viewed. Checkout conversion rose ~20%, and support complaints dropped.
The ratings turnaround
Despite happy users, our App Store rating sat at 2.6 stars. Apple had just released the in-app review prompt, so I pushed to implement it immediately — triggered after a first purchase or a third favorite. In one month the rating climbed to 4.8 stars with over 16,000 ratings. Sometimes the best UX fix is simply giving your happy users a voice.
