The Challenge
Internal data showed that the existing Delivery Pass sign-up experience had low conversion rates of approximately 2–3%.
To subscribe, customers had to leave the checkout journey and visit a separate Delivery Pass experience. This introduced friction at a critical stage of the purchase process, particularly for customers who were already focused on completing their order.
The goal was to explore how customers could start a Delivery Pass free trial directly within checkout, reducing disruption to the purchasing journey while still providing the information and transparency required for a subscription product.
Understanding the Opportunity
Before exploring solutions, I reviewed competitor approaches used by Tesco and Sainsbury’s to understand how similar subscription offers were surfaced during the grocery shopping journey.
I also mapped the existing Ocado checkout experience to identify potential moments where a Delivery Pass offer could be introduced without interrupting the customer’s primary task of placing an order.
Three key considerations emerged:
Customers were already highly task-focused during checkout.
Subscription information needed to be clear and transparent.
Any solution needed to work consistently across app, mobile web and desktop.
Competitor review of how Tesco and Sainsbury’s surface subscription offers across the customer journey
Exploring Different Approaches
Rather than focusing on a single design direction, I explored multiple ways of integrating Delivery Pass into checkout.
The challenge was balancing three competing goals:
Making the offer visible without distracting from checkout
Providing clear and transparent subscription information
Maintaining a consistent experience across app, mobile web and desktop
Each concept attempted to balance visibility, subscription transparency and checkout simplicity.
Iterating Through Feedback
Following design reviews and stakeholder feedback, I continued refining the concepts and evaluating the trade-offs between different approaches.
Discussions focused on how each concept balanced visibility of the Delivery Pass offer with the customer’s primary goal of completing their order. Some approaches increased visibility of the subscription but introduced friction, while others prioritised a more streamlined checkout experience.
Through multiple rounds of exploration, I assessed how each concept supported customer understanding, subscription transparency and overall checkout simplicity.
These discussions helped narrow the direction towards an approach that increased visibility of Delivery Pass while remaining lightweight within the checkout journey.
Preferred Direction
The preferred direction combined a promotional banner with additional Delivery Pass information, surfaced through a bottom sheet on mobile and a modal on desktop.
This approach brought together the strongest elements of the concepts explored, balancing visibility of the offer with access to supporting subscription information. Customers could engage with the free trial without being diverted away from the checkout journey.
Customers could learn more about the free trial, review key subscription details and start a trial directly within checkout, removing the need to navigate to a separate Delivery Pass experience.
The solution also supported retailer-managed promotional content through Contentful, creating flexibility for future campaigns while maintaining a consistent checkout experience across platforms.
Reflections
Balancing visibility with customer intent
Increasing awareness isn’t always about adding more prominence. Within high-intent journeys such as checkout, visibility must be balanced against the customer’s primary goal of completing their task.
Transparency is critical for subscription products
Subscription experiences require a different level of clarity than standard promotions. Surfacing key terms, renewal expectations and benefits at the point of decision helped build trust while supporting business goals.
Exploration creates better decisions
Rather than committing to a single solution early, exploring multiple approaches made it easier to evaluate trade-offs, align stakeholders and identify a direction that balanced customer understanding with commercial objectives.