DollarGeneral

Background

In 2021, I began working with Dollar General, one of North America’s largest discount retail chains, to improve its digital customer experience. My role as a UX researcher has allowed me to deeply engage with the company’s digital properties, including the website and mobile app, to ensure they meet customers' evolving needs. As Dollar General grows, the company has relied on my team and me to deliver quick, data-driven insights that help guide design decisions while keeping the customer front and center.

Timeline

2021 - 2025

Team

Digital Product Department

My role

Consultant

UX Research

UX Design

UI Design

Copywriter

Tools

Slack

Usertesting.com

Airtable

AWS

Proto.io

Jira

Figma

MS Office

Miro

Monday.com

Adobe Target

DALL-E

Gather.town

Dollar General Digital Products

For four years, I had the pleasure of helping Dollar General optimize and enhance its digital platforms. Dollar General tasked my team with UX research, delivering actionable insights quickly to keep pace with the competition. Our goal was always to ensure that the company's digital products remain intuitive, functional, and aligned with customer needs and expectations.

Customer Advocate

Serving as the lead UX researcher at Dollar General was a rewarding experience. I led user interviews, usability testing, and data analysis to understand customer needs, behaviors to improve digital experiences. One key project was creating a centralized customer insights database, now used across departments to guide strategy.

I also supported UX design, creating user flows, building and testing prototypes in Figma and Proto.io for web, mobile, and app. Collaborating with cross-functional teams helped break silos and deliver seamless, user-friendly solutions. I’m proud to contribute to work that improves everyday shopping for millions of users and helps Dollar General grow through customer-centered innovation.

Context & Problem

The Challenge

Dollar General has a diverse customer base with varying levels of digital familiarity. The mobile app, website, and in-store UX needed to better support quick deal finding, coupon application, and shopping efficiency—especially for value-driven shoppers.

Goal

Understand customer behaviors at scale and redesign experiences to reduce friction, increase confidence, and improve checkout success across all digital touchpoints.

Impact Focus

Reduce friction in deal discovery and coupon application
Increase user confidence across multi-channel experiences
Improve checkout success rates and shopping efficiency

Research at Scale

I led a four-year, multi-method research program to deeply understand customer needs, behaivors, and consistently validate design decisions across digital products.

100+

User Interviews

800+

Usability Tests

100+

Prototypes Built

Compititor Audits

Benchmark Studies

Research Surveys

100+

NPS & SUS
Scores

Adobe Target
Tests

100+

Time of Task
Tests

Multivariate & A/B Tests

User Personas

Centralized Research System

I built a comprehensive database capturing insights, artifacts, and outcomes to accelerate design iteration and improve cross-team alignment.

Research Database

Centralized Knowledge Hub

Test Parameters

Documented epics, methodologies, and success criteria

Observed Behaviors

Key user behaviors, pain points, and opportunity areas

Research Artifacts

Prototypes, recordings, transcripts, and supporting materials

Next Steps

Actionable recommendations and design iteration plans

Improved Product Development Process

Faster Iteration

Quick access to historical insights

Team Alignment

Shared clarity across functions

Strategic Direction

Data-driven decision making

Influence on Product Development

How my work guided product direction improved cross-functional delivery

Insight-Led Decisions

Research insights directly inform product roadmap priorities and design decisions

100+ validated design iterations

Cross-Functional Alignment

Shared understanding between UX, Product, Engineering, and Leadership

8 teams actively using research

Engineering Clarity

Documented user flows and component specs accelerate development

~30% faster implementation

Continuous Validation

Ongoing measurement of NPS, SUS, and task success rates

160 benchmark cycles completed

Strategic Direction

Long-term vision informed by customer needs and behavioral patterns

4-year research program

Accelerated Iteration

Historical insights reduce redundant research and speed up design cycles

50% reduction in duplicate studies

Product Strategy

By systematizing research operations and creating a centralized knowledge repository, we transformed how Dollar General approaches product development. Teams now make decisions based on validated customer insights rather than assumptions, leading to better experiences and measurable business impact.

Research Operations Excellence

Data-Driven Design

Customer-Centric Product Strategy

Impact and Results

Validated improvements across key user experience and business metrics

+14%

Coupon Clip Success

Improved discoverability and clearer CTAs

-18%

Time-on-Task

Streamlined navigation and reduced friction

-12%

Checkout Errors

Improved conversion and reduced churn

+9%

Repeat App Use

Increased engagement and satisfaction

~30%

Design/Dev Efficiency

Component library and research database

Four-Year Research Program Impact

Through continuous research and iterative design, we transformed the Dollar General digital experience, making it easier for value-driven shoppers to find deals, apply coupons, and complete purchases with confidence. The centralized research database accelerated decision-making across product, design, and engineering teams.

Dollargeneral.com