Redesigning Enterprise Search
for a Major German Telecom
From Critical Usability Risk to a Scalable Platform Standard
Role
Product Designer
Head of Design
Impact
+2% CTR
Uplift at Enterprise Scale
Scale
60M+
Customers Served
Longevity
3+ Years
Stable in Production
EXECUTIVE SUMMERY
The Narrative
Problem
Enterprise search was a critical usability risk (SUS 48), driving user errors and high support costs across B2B and B2C platforms.
Action
Led the UX redesign and system standardization, balancing user needs, monetization pressure, and technical constraints to establish a scalable architecture.
Outcome
+2% CTR uplift at scale, stable in production for 3+ years, and adopted as the mandatory enterprise standard.
This was not a visual refresh; it was a platform-level intervention that turned a usability liability into a core business asset.
CONTEXT
Search was a high-frequency interaction across core customer journeys. However, the existing solution:
Business Context
Produced high error rates and frustration
Increased dependency on customer support
Lacked consistent logic across B2B and B2C products
Had no scalable foundation for future growth
A baseline usability assessment confirmed the risk:
Leadership alignment was clear: search needed to become a reliable enterprise capability, not an ongoing operational risk.
PROBLEM DEFINITION
The Core Challenge
The legacy search experience consistently underperformed across usability, comprehension, and system logic. These failures inflated support dependency and diminished content engagement.
Discovery Evidence & Risk Framing Early usability testing (n=8, remote think-aloud) and a heuristic audit exposed critical breakdowns in search behavior, including loss of control in input handling, low result scannability, and poor filter discoverability (SUS 48).
These findings directly informed the architectural and interaction decisions that followed, allowing to address high-risk failure modes upfront and align stakeholders around a system-level solution before delivery.
Loss of Control
Interaction Logic
- Backspace and input actions triggered unexpected navigation
- Multi-functional controls produced unpredictable outcomes
Business Impact
Task failure, repeated attempts, user frustration
Low Scannability
Information Hierarchy
- Flat result lists with no visual prioritization
- Users struggled to assess relevance across large result sets
Business Impact
Low engagement with results, poor discovery
Hidden Refinement
Discoverability
- Filters buried in nested menus
- Users consistently failed to refine results
Business Impact
Irrelevant results, inflated support costs
CONTRIBUTION
My Role & Responsibility
I led the UX track end-to-end, acting as the UX Decision Owner for the duration of the project. My focus was on shifting the design team from a delivery function to a strategic partner.
Experience Strategy
Framed the problem through a business lens, aligning user friction points with operational costs.
Systems Thinking
Defined the core interaction logic and system behaviors that ensured consistency across B2B and B2C platforms.
Cross-functional Leadership
Accountable for high-stakes UX tradeoffs—specifically navigating the balance between monetization (ads) and search utility.
Technical Alignment
Collaborated with Engineering to validate feasibility, proposing a progressive loading strategy to protect system performance.
CONTRIBUTION STRATEGIC DECISION
User Experience vs. Ad Revenue
The Conflict
The business initially planned to inject multiple advertisements directly into search results to increase short-term revenue.
Evidence-Led Assessment
Discovery insights and user testing indicated that this approach would:
Degrade result scannability and slow task completion
Increase abandonment, shifting operational cost to customer support
Undermine long-term engagement despite immediate monetization uplift
Outcome
Core search remained clear, predictable, and task-focused
Monetization was preserved without compromising search utility
The Decision
I recommended relocating ads to a “Related Sections” area outside the primary results flow, preserving search effectiveness while still enabling monetization.
The solution was approved, implemented, and scaled as part of the enterprise standard
This decision established search as a utility-first capability, not a primary advertising surface.
CONTRIBUTION STRATEGIC DECISION
Key Design Decisions & Tradeoffs
Standardized Input Logic
CHANGES MADE
- Removed multi-functional controls
- Defined one action per control
- Established predictable backspace and navigation behavior
Card-Based Result System
CHANGES MADE
- Introduced modular cards with clear visual rhythm
- Applied Gestalt principles to support rapid scanning
- Enabled category-level separation at scale
Persistent Filtering
CHANGES MADE
- Desktop: visible left-side filter panel
- Mobile: clearly surfaced modal with progressive disclosure
DELIVERABLES
Solution Overview
Rebuilt Information Architecture
- Category-first structuring
- Modular, reusable content lanes
- Predictable result patterns across use cases
Interaction & Behavior Standards
- Unified input logic across platforms
- Explicit system responses for edge cases
- Reduced error rates through consistency
Scalable Visual System
- Lightweight, design-system-ready components
- Optimized for large datasets and future extensions
- Designed for cross-product reuse
Final Experience
Mobile screens were designed to support smaller devices (320px width), ensuring accessibility and usability across all customer segments.
RESULT
Impact & Outcomes
Post-launch uplift. At telecom scale, this represents millions of additional successful search interactions annually.
Significant reduction in search-related user errors. Decreased dependency on customer support.
Core friction points eliminated. Search moved from 'unacceptable' to stable, enterprise-grade usability.
Live and stable in production. Successfully scaled from B2B to B2C. Adopted as mandatory standard.
Elevated UX from delivery function to strategic partner. Established a reusable foundation for future growth.