Target Returns via Shipt Delivery Service
Industry
Delivery
Company
Shipt
Facilitate the return of goods to Target's facilities.
Target partnered with Shipt to introduce at-home returns, allowing customers to schedule returns pick-ups directly from their doorsteps. While the feature had strong business potential, the initial returns workflow was inefficient: it relied on manual processes and fragmented steps that frustrated both Shipt shoppers and Target’s customer service team, leading to errors and delayed refunds.
Challenge
As the lead product designer, my goal was to streamline the returns processing workflow to make the experience seamless for customers, while reducing operational friction for Shipt shoppers and backend teams. We aimed to improve clarity, reduce manual errors, and elevate overall customer satisfaction with the new service.
Process
I partnered closely with operations, customer service, and engineering to map the full returns journey from scheduling to refund, pinpointing critical failure points. My key contributions included: ✔️ Redesigning the returns scheduling flow to clarify eligibility, item preparation steps, and refund expectations. ✔️ Creating a simplified in-app workflow for Shipt shoppers, providing clear pickup instructions, photo verification steps, and automated issue reporting to cut down on manual entry errors. ✔️ Introducing status tracking and proactive notifications for customers, reducing anxiety and inbound support requests. ✔️ Collaborating with engineers to ensure robust error handling and a smooth handoff between Shipt and Target’s backend systems. We conducted usability testing with both customers and shoppers, refining flows to minimize confusion and edge cases.
Launch, test and iterate
✅ The pilot was successfully launched in 20 metros to start gathering feedback from drivers where Shipt was going to learn how effective this process is. More metros to come as adoption becomes higher.
