- +106%
- SKU entry usage
- +90%
- Online entry usage
PayPay · Coupon · Product Strategy & Information Architecture
Coupon Navigation: Using A/B Testing to Guide Future Coupon Growth
Aligning product strategy, platform constraints, and information architecture across teams.
- Product strategy
- Cross-team alignment
- Four-group A/B test
Related project: Coupon Redesign: Shifting from Claims to Redemption.
01 Design Brief
One Glance
High-potential coupon types were difficult to discover.
Project Background
During the wider Coupon Redesign, merchant exposure requirements meant that we could not place the proposed My Coupons widget in the First View. We still needed to keep clear access to coupon discovery and claimed coupons.
At the same time, Coupon Corner already supported many coupon types. Based on our product strategy and upcoming business requirements, SKU coupons—product-specific coupons—and online coupons were expected to create important opportunities in the next stage of Coupon growth.
Both coupon types were positioned below the First View, where engagement and usage were very low. Our hypothesis was that discoverability, rather than a lack of potential demand, was limiting their contribution.
Project Goal
Make strategic coupon types easier to discover while preserving high-performing content, clear access to core features, and consistency with PayPay’s existing product framework.
My Role
I was the lead designer responsible for connecting product strategy, business requirements, Design System guidance, and Information Architecture constraints. I translated these different perspectives into comparable navigation directions, facilitated alignment across teams, and worked with the product team to validate the final decision through A/B testing.
02 Design Constraints
Business & Layout
The First View was already occupied by content with different kinds of value:
- The merchant banner provided exposure that supported merchant relationships and future sales negotiations.
- Popular Brands and Coupons for You generated strong claims and redemptions.
- My Coupons and Search still needed clear entry points.
Adding another full widget would push important content below the First View, so the problem could not be solved by simply adding more modules.
Platform Framework
PayPay supported two different service models:
- Internal Services, such as Coupons, Gift Vouchers, and Stamp Cards, followed PayPay’s existing service flow.
- Partner Mini Apps, such as external shopping, mobility, or food-delivery services, could support discovery through payment inside their own experience and used a different navigation framework.
Our first proposals applied a Mini App-style bottom navigation bar to Coupon Corner. The Information Architecture and Design System teams raised an important concern: using that pattern directly could make an Internal Service behave like a Mini App and require a major change to the existing framework.
Information Architecture
Moving every destination into the existing top navigation created a different problem. SKU Coupons, Online Coupons, and Nearby Coupons were coupon types, while Search and My Coupons were product features and user actions. Placing all of them at the same level mixed different kinds of information.
03 Cross-team Alignment
I aligned four teams around a navigation direction that could support future growth without breaking the existing service framework.
- Product team: Defined the future growth opportunity and what the experiment needed to validate.
- Business team: Brought upcoming requirements for SKU and online coupons, as well as the merchant exposure commitments that the design needed to preserve.
- Design System team: Evaluated how a new navigation pattern could affect consistency across PayPay Internal Services.
- Information Architecture team: Helped clarify the difference between coupon types, product features, and user actions.
My role was to turn these perspectives into one decision-making process. Instead of treating each constraint separately, I used them to define the navigation models we could realistically test.
04 What I Explored
I explored how to separate coupon types from user actions while protecting the limited space in the First View.
Bottom Navigation
I first explored placing the main Coupon Corner destinations in a bottom navigation bar similar to other app experiences. This made the destinations easy to reach, but it conflicted with the navigation framework used by PayPay Internal Services.
Top Navigation
I then explored extending the existing top tabs. This preserved a familiar position for My Coupons, but placing coupon types, Search, and My Coupons together made the structure less clear.
Hybrid Navigation
The hybrid direction used the top navigation for coupon types and a compact bottom navigation for user actions. Moving Search closer to the bottom also followed emerging mobile search patterns and saved vertical space for high-performing content.
- Top: All Coupons, SKU Coupons, Online Coupons, and either Nearby Coupons or My Coupons
- Bottom: Search and either My Coupons or Nearby Coupons
The Main Decision
Keeping My Coupons at the top would match the existing Discover and My Coupons tab structure and reduce learning effort. Moving it to the bottom with Search would create a clearer information architecture by grouping coupon types at the top and user actions at the bottom.
Both directions had reasonable advantages, so we decided to test them instead of choosing based only on design judgment.
05 A/B Test
We tested four navigation structures over two months to decide where coupon types and core user actions should live.
Four Test Groups
- Group A · Control: Kept the existing Find Coupons and My Coupons tabs, with Search and Nearby in the page content.
- Group B: Placed All, SKU, Online, and My Coupons at the top, with Search and Nearby at the bottom.
- Group C: Placed All, SKU, Online, and Nearby at the top, with Search and My Coupons at the bottom.
- Group D: Placed All, SKU, Online, and My Coupons at the top, while keeping Search and Nearby in the page content.
Result
After two months of testing, Group C was the winning variation. We selected it as the final direction and launched it.
The result supported a clearer separation between coupon types and user actions: coupon types stayed together at the top, while Search and My Coupons remained easy to reach from the bottom.
06 Shipped Solution
Group C brought strategic coupon types into the First View and kept Search and My Coupons within easy reach.
- Top navigation: All Coupons, SKU Coupons, Online Coupons, and Nearby Coupons
- Bottom navigation: Search and My Coupons
- First View: Popular Brands and Coupons for You remained visible instead of being replaced by another full widget.
- Framework: The solution avoided introducing a full Mini App navigation model while still improving access to key destinations.
07 Outcome
The launch shifted discovery toward strategic coupon types and created stronger downstream usage for Online Coupons.
- +40%
- Online Coupon claims
- +58%
- Online Coupon redemptions
Tradeoff and Learning
The navigation successfully redirected attention toward strategic coupon types, but this shift came with tradeoffs. Search entry usage decreased by 7%, while My Coupons decreased by 14%. Overall claims and redemptions remained broadly neutral, showing that the launch primarily redistributed traffic rather than creating immediate net growth.
These results gave the team a clear next step: continue growing strategic coupon types while improving the visibility of Search and My Coupons.
Directional post-launch results based on a traffic-normalized comparison of the 28 days before and after launch. No concurrent control group was available, so the results show association rather than direct causation.