Decathlon · 2025
Moving product direction from opinion-based to insight-led
Creating an overview of the end-to-end experience to inform roadmap prioritisation.
TL;DR
Role
Senior Product Design Manager, Upper Funnel
OVERVIEW
Decathlon had been through a major web redesign and there was no shared view of how it was performing. Roadmaps were mostly reactive, defined in silo, and teams were getting demotivated.
I set the direction for a global Customer Journey Map for Upper Funnel, delegating to my Senior UX Researcher and working closely with Product, Engineering, Data and Customer Care.
The outcome was a proof of concept where leadership could see key pain points, opportunities and gaps at a glance, whilst product teams could deep dive on specific insights. It became the starting point for roadmaps and prioritisation across the domain.
IMPACT
From 20% to 70% insight-led initiatives in one quarter, increasing experimentation success rate by +50%.
THE background
An inherited ecommerce experience
When I joined Decathlon to lead the Upper Funnel, the company had just been through a major rebrand done by an external agency in a short timeframe. As a result, teams had inherited a newly redesigned ecommerce experience and had no shared view of how it was performing from end to end.
Roadmaps were reactive, in delivery mode, and defined in silos. Across the design team, motivation was low as people were struggling to see how their work connected to the wider customer experience.
OBJECTIVE
Create a global overview of the new experience to inform roadmap and prioritisation.
WHAT I DID
Setting direction and scope
I tasked my senior UX Researcher with creating a customer journey map which needed to cater to both leadership, with a top-level view, and product teams, with the ability to zoom into the details.
As I wanted to ensure momentum for the proof of concept, I decided reduce the complexity by limiting the scope to web.
Over the course of two months, she worked closely with Product, Design, Engineering, Data and Customer Care to gather all known qualitative and quantitative data points to feed into the map.
THE OUTCOME
A global funnel view
The outcome was a global customer journey map, highlighting the main pain points, opportunities and gaps across the whole Upper Funnel. For the first time, leadership could see the overall picture as well as key insights, whilst teams could dive into each relevant insight to find the qualitative and quantitative evidence behind it.
The key once the map was ready was to socialise it, presenting it to leadership to get buy-in, as well as running focused deep-dives with each product team. I also used it as an opportunity to shared the approach and our learnings with Decathlon’s wider design community.
EXAMPLE
Media Gallery A/B Test
One of the initiatives that directly came from the CJM was the Media gallery A/B Test. The data showed that customers were engaging with the large product media gallery, however key product details were being hidden or overlooked.
The team tested a smaller gallery that brought key information, such as price, above the fold. This led to +2% conversion rate, driving €5M in incremental revenue.
Without the CJM, this would not have been prioritised as the media gallery had been a recent and intentional part of the rebrand.
IMPACT
Beyond the roadmap
PRODUCT
Insight-led roadmap initiatives increased from 20% to more than 70% in one quarter, with experimentaiton success rate increasing by +50% YoY.
organisation
Design gained a stronger role in roadmap prioritisation, and the CJM's success inspired multiple domains within Decathlon to create their own.
team
Motivation increased across the team, and my senior UX Researcher increased her visibility within the organisation.
Reflections
NOT EVERY INSIGHT IS INSIGHTFUL
This initiative reminded me that it's not about being exhaustive and having every insight, but about focusing on what will really move the needle.
future-proofinG
In hindsight, I would have defined responsibilities for its maintenance earlier to ensure it remained up to date. Since then, the team has introduced an AI-assisted workflow to remove manual updates and automatically feed in new insights.