Embedding Empathy at Scale: eBay’s “Visits” Ethnographic Program
eBay’s homepage during a time of transformation as the company shifted from auctions to a more retail-like experience, user insights were essential to regaining trust and relevance.
Visiting top sellers in their warehouses revealed workflow challenges and UI gaps that shaped key seller tools and informed improvements to listing efficiency.
In-home sessions with passionate buyers surfaced emotional drivers of purchase behavior and helped inform eBay’s move toward curated, personalized shopping experiences.
Ethnographic fieldwork in real environments enabled cross-functional teams to observe unmet needs firsthand, building empathy and influencing executive decisions at scale.
Focus:
Org-Wide Empathy | Executive Buy-In | Strategic Storytelling
Approach:
Qualitative | Generative | Exploratory
Methods:
Field Visits | Competitive Testing | Deep Dive Interviews
Challenge:
As eBay worked to rebuild trust and stay relevant, buyers were moving beyond auctions, sellers were frustrated, and teams were disconnected from real users. There was no structured way for employees, or executives to observe behavior firsthand. The challenge: embed empathy at scale and ensure decisions reflected the real needs of buyers and sellers.
Process:
I launched eBay’s first ethnographic program, Visits, to connect employees with real buyers and sellers. Over hundreds of sessions across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, I led in-home and in-business visits and trained cross-functional teams on observational research and best practices.
To scale impact, I ran onboarding workshops and involved executives including CEO John Donahoe who later made user research participation a company-wide Management by Objectives (MBO) requirement.
Impact:
Visits reshaped how eBay understood and served its users. Field insights drove major shifts, including the launch of Best Match, a move toward “Buy It Now,” and bringing trust & safety in-house to strengthen brand trust. Research with top sellers led to UI improvements that enhanced efficiency and clarity.
As executive participation grew, research became central to decision-making, helping fuel eBay’s turnaround and a stock price increase from $12 to over $30 between 2009 and 2011.