UGG Product Imagery
User Testing | Survey | CollaborationUGG's Product Imagery Formula: Enhancing Visual Confidence on the Product Detail Page (PDP)
UGG's brand is built on warmth, comfort, and iconic style—and its product photography plays a vital role in translating that experience online. But even with beautifully shot assets, something wasn’t clicking for users. They hesitated. They zoomed. They swiped—many times without adding to cart.
The question became clear: Are we showing products the way customers want to see them? To answer that, we turned to users themselves.
The Big Questions
To guide the work, we posed four key questions:
Do the current product images meet user expectations in terms of quality, variety, and context?
Are shoppers able to confidently assess details like texture, fit, and color through imagery alone?
How do users interact with image carousels on mobile vs desktop?
What image types or angles are missing—or are building confidence?
Uncover how customers engage with and perceive product imagery on UGG’s PDP, and use those insights to inform data-backed improvements that:
Increase confidence in product selection
Reduce hesitation and visual uncertainty
Better align imagery with shopper expectations across categories and devices
My Research Approach
I focused on qualitative user feedback to go beyond the numbers and uncover the “why” behind imagery behaviors:
User Testing: Participants explored PDPs while thinking aloud. I observed where imagery supported or disrupted their confidence.
User Survey: Surveyed 200 users on the image angles, order, carousel vs. grid and missing elements.
Competitor analysis and Baymard Best Practice: Compared UGG’s imagery experience to eCommerce best practices across fashion, outdoor, and footwear brands.
On-site Feedback Review: Mined existing voice-of-customer data to spot recurring imagery complaints or feature requests.
Insights revealed that users valued a wide range of angles highlighting specific features of the products such as technical details or cozy elements. Close-ups of stitching and top view of the inside of sheepskin were called out by an overwhelming amount of the users, while many did not like images where the product was at more artful angles or parts of the product were cut off.
Design Requirements & Solutions
1. Include 3-4 flat lay views
Users found the most confidence in the side and top views but conveyed the need for multiple angles in addition.
2. Close-up Details
Close ups of the materials, stitching and features, such as waterproof badging is essential to providing the user with important information about the product.
3. Lifestyle Imagery
Users found the on-model imagery essential in being able to envisioning themselves wearing the product.
3. Image Layout
The lifestyle image was consistently placed last in the order on the desktop grid but more testing is needed to ensure this is the best placement for such a valuable image to users.
By centering the redesign on user expectations and behaviors, we elevated product imagery to do more than just look good—it became a confidence-building tool.
These recommendations ensured that imagery better reflected the real-world experience of UGG products and aligned with customer needs across browsing contexts. Whether a shopper was choosing their first pair of boots or replacing a well-loved classic, they could now do it with far greater visual certainty.