Dell’s Unified Customer Experience Strategy
Redefining Search and Unifying Dell's Fragmented Digital Experience
Client: Dell Technology
Role : UX/UI Designer
Team : Me & 1 Product Designer, Product Line Manager, End-to-End Experience Lead, PMs, Architect, Other teams.
UI/UX Design - Information Architecture - Design Concepts - Design Flows - Storyboarding - Design System
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Challenge
The Dell customer experience is fragmented due to multiple acquisitions and siloed domains.
The goal was to create a unified search experience as part of a broader initiative to present Dell as a single, cohesive entity, mirroring how customers perceive it, not how it is structured internally.
This required aligning visual language, design patterns, and customer data to deliver a seamless and consistent experience.
Research
To understand the search experience, we explored it from multiple perspectives, engaging both internal teams and external users.
We analyzed key customer segments (Shop, Support, Enterprise, Premiere) across their journey stages to uncover how they used search, what they sought, and their motivations.
Using methods like design research, interviews, focus groups, and surveys, we gained insights into what users say, do, and feel about search.
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Wireframing
Merging four sites meant building a system that serves diverse users from consumers to CIOs—by interpreting search intent to the user.
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“Data storage” = $100 HDD for a consumer vs. $200K NAS for IT.
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“XPS” = 1 laptop vs. fleet management.
Solution
We built a dynamic, modular search engine that adapts content and UX based on user type and query, going beyond e-commerce. Early prototypes showed a flexible, component-based system to deliver personalized search experiences.
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Design
The strategy delivers a scalable, intent-driven experience using Micro Front Ends (MFEs) and flexible content architecture. It personalizes the entire journey content, UI, and interactions based on user intent, not authentication.
Dynamic tabs guide users through learning, discovery, and shopping with relevant MFEs and human-like recommendations, as seen in Nicki’s example.
Result
The final design delivers a next-gen, personalized shopping experience—guiding consumers like Nicki through discovery, education, and smart recommendations, while streamlining business users into data-driven, project-based workflows.
With tools like contextual filters, Product Concierge, and Product Lineage, the experience is fast, intuitive, and aligned with how real users think and shop.
🧑💻 Consumer Experience (Nicki)
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Goal: Find a second monitor compatible with her MacBook.
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MFE-driven product finder (by device, use case).
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Educational content (e.g., USB-C vs HDMI).
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Personalized shopping with contextual refiners.
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Product Concierge gives tailored recommendations with reasoning.
🏢 Business Experience (Premier Shopper)
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Goal: Buy Dell Latitude laptops efficiently.
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Direct Shopping Experience:
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Personalized entry based on purchase history.
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Filters aligned with business workflows (e.g., project-based).
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Advanced Business Tools:
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Product Lineage MFE (evolution & context).
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End-of-life alerts with upgrade paths.
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Impact
This UI approach proved highly effective in concept testing, with users praising the clarity and speed it brought. Instead of sifting through uniform text links, they could instantly recognize content types, saving time and helping them quickly move forward in their journey.
We’re now moving into the next phase partnering with internal teams and external vendors to assess feasibility and begin building proof-of-concept solutions to bring this powerful vision to life.
WELCOME WELCOME MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK MORE WORK WELCOME
