Fixing iStock’s Download Experience: Reducing Friction +
Support Costs
I led the end-to-end redesign of iStock’s download experience, using qualitative and quantitative research to uncover key issues and drive targeted solutions that reduced confusion and support costs.
iStock, Getty Images' mid-tier brand, offers a complex pricing model that includes credits, subscriptions, and à la carte purchases. While this flexibility worked well for some, it created confusion for others, especially first-time buyers.
The download experience was a major pain point, leading to high customer service contact rates. A chat data analysis revealed that download issues made up a significant portion of support cases. If users weren’t able to successfully download their files, it wasn’t just a usability issue, it was a fundamental failure of the product experience.
Timeline
Q4 2021
Role
Lead product designer | e3 Team
Services
Product Design + Strategy
User Research + Testing
Interactive Prototyping + A/B Testing
Conversion Optimization
Stakeholder Management + Alignment
Challenge
Download issues weren’t just a minor inconvenience, thousands of users struggled to complete one of the most basic functions of the product. These friction points led to increased customer frustration, unnecessary service requests, and lost revenue.
To diagnose the core problems, I conducted a multi-layered analysis mined our chat data, analyzing 60 customer service cases and conducted a heuristic evaluation, assessing user flows from checkout to download to identify inconsistencies and usability flaws.
Our download issues weren’t caused by a single problem but rather a series of friction points, from unclear messaging to poor defaults, that compounded into a broken user experience.
Understanding the root Issues
Key challenges
Purchase process confusion
33% of first-time buyers were unsure if they had purchased a credit or an asset.
File size and format struggles
14% of users downloaded the wrong file sizes or formats.
Difficulty locating downloads
14% of users struggled to find their downloaded files.
Redownload uncertainty
7% of users hesitated to re-download files, fearing they would be charged again.
Dropbox issues
3% of users faced issues adjusting their auto-save settings after choosing Dropbox, making it difficult to manage or retrieve their downloads.
Shaping the redesign
With a clear understanding of the key problem areas, I explored multiple solutions to address purchase confusion and file format struggles. Rather than applying band-aid fixes, my goal was to create a more intuitive and scalable experience that aligned with user expectations while supporting business needs.
Through iterative design, testing, and stakeholder collaboration, I worked to bridge the gap between user behavior, business constraints, and a seamless download experience.
Assessing defaults & decision-making
Are our current defaults guiding users effectively, or are they introducing unnecessary complexity? How might we ensure users can make quick, confident decisions?
Streamlining the download experience
Where do users experience friction in the download flow? What unnecessary steps or unclear interactions slow them down, and how might we simplify the process?
Understanding mental models
How do users expect the download process to work, and where does iStock’s credit system cause confusion? Should we adapt to user expectations or better communicate how it works?
Solution exploration
Reducing purchase process confusion
Hypothesis
First-time buyers believe they’re purchasing an image, not credits. This assumption leads to frustration, incomplete downloads, and the perception that they have been charged for nothing.
Solution
“Buy & Burn" model
Initiating the download immediately upon purchase to match user expectations. While this reinforced a mental model that conflicted with iStock’s credit system, exploring this option helped us identify ways to evolve how credits were handled, improving the user experience without entirely changing the business model.
Reinforcing the credit system
Restructuring content to better align with how credits functioned, ensuring clearer communication and reducing purchase confusion.
Clarifying purchase intent and aligning expectations
Improving file selection
Hypothesis
Users rely on system defaults without realizing it. With poor visibility and limited guidance, users often select the wrong file sizes or formats, leading to unnecessary re-downloads.
Solution
Optimizing defaults and increasing user guidance
Addressing poor defaults
EPS formats were pre-selected for vector content, even though a large number of our users aren’t professional designers and lacked the software to open it. I changed the defaults to better match common use cases.
Providing better guidance
Most users didn’t fully understand resolution, pixel dimensions, or file types. I introduced clearer format descriptions to help users make informed decisions as well as a download guide.
Clarifying the redownload policy
To reduce hesitation, I made redownload messaging clearer, explicitly stating that users would not be charged again for re-downloading previously purchased assets.
Solution exploration
Impact + takeaways
These changes transformed the download experience from a major frustration into a seamless, intuitive process, reducing confusion, increasing successful downloads, and lowering service requests. Through this work, I saw firsthand how small usability gaps can snowball into major business challenges. By eliminating friction and increasing clarity, I turned hesitation into confidence.
Takeaway: A misguided “Quick Fix” that proved the value of UX. Leadership pushed for a seemingly easy fix, automatically providing both JPG and EPS files upon download. The result? A staggering 432.35% increase in same-day re-downloads. Instead of reducing confusion, it created more uncertainty.
This reinforced a core UX truth: More isn’t always better, clarity is.
50%
Drop in all downloading cases.
75%
Drop in re-downloading issues.
90%
Reduction in Dropbox-related issues.
30%
Reduced inability to find downloads.
Next project
iStock
Reversing Declining Purchase Rates: A $3 Million Dollar UX Win