Emma: The one product to revolutionize the beauty commerce in Chile

At Emma, I led the design of a completely new marketplace for skincare specialists in Chile, built from the ground up together with the people it was made for.

A new kind of marketplace

Skincare specialists recommend products to their clients every day. Those recommendations carry a lot of trust, but the specialist rarely benefits from them once the client leaves the appointment.

Emma set out to change that. The idea was a marketplace that empowers specialists to assist their clients beyond the appointment, and to make extra revenue by creating purchase lists of the products they recommend. The client gets guidance they can act on, and the specialist is rewarded for the expertise they already give.

The best products start from value that already exists and give it a place to grow.

Designing with the specialists

Nothing like it existed, so we could not design from assumptions. I worked closely with specialists from the start, through many user interviews and sessions spent understanding how their work actually happens: how they choose products, how they talk to clients, and where the process breaks down.

We mapped their journeys and pain points in detail. The maps showed us where specialists lost time, where clients lost interest, and where the opportunities for the product really were.

When you build something new, the people you are building for are the only reliable map.

Finding the features that matter

The research gave us more ideas than we could build. The work then became deciding which features were the most valuable for the application, and which could wait.

We kept coming back to the purchase list. It was the moment where the specialist’s knowledge turned into something the client could buy, and where the specialist earned from it. Every other feature was measured by how much it supported that moment.

A product becomes clear when you know which moment it exists for.

Prioritising is the design work. Every feature you leave out makes the important ones stronger.

Leading the design team

As lead product designer, I was responsible for the product’s design and for the designers building it with me. My role moved from doing every screen myself to setting the direction, sharing what we were learning from the specialists, and making sure every designer understood why each decision was made.

Keeping the team close to the research was what kept the product consistent. When everyone knows the specialists’ pain points, the decisions start to align on their own.

A design team moves in the same direction when it shares the same understanding of the user.

Building something new

Emma was a chance to design a product with no template to follow. What made it work was staying close to the specialists the whole way, and letting their needs decide what the product should be.

New products are not invented at a desk. They are found by listening to the people who will use them.