Seller Onboarding Lounge
Reimagining Amazon's new seller experience with AI-assisted, personalized onboarding
Overview
80%+ of year-over-year growth depends on successfully onboarding new sellers. And 7 million users start registration but less than half ever start selling on Amazon! We changed that by launching onboarding lounge and retaining millions of sellers.
Through research we found that
- Momentum matters more than speed - Sellers needed to feel constant progress
- Sellers want to understand Amazon before committing - They wanted to 'try before they buy'
- Surprises late in the flow destroy trust - Unexpected requirements caused abandonment
- High-value sellers expect differentiated treatment - One-size-fits-all felt generic and impersonal
- Mobile is the default, not an edge case - 70%+ of sellers in growth markets used mobile exclusively
So we set some goals
User
- Feel welcomed
- Understand what's coming
- Make progress immediately
- Avoid rework
Business
- Increase Registration → Launch conversion
- Reduce time-to-SWAS
- Reduce Contact-Us
- Enable targeted outreach
and launched SELLER ONBOARDING LOUNGE
Key Design Decisions
Decision #1: Parallel Workflows
Problem: Sellers lost momentum waiting on verification (avg 3-5 days)
Solution: Let sellers learn, explore Brand Registry, draft listings, and prepare for KYC—all before verification completes
Impact: Idle time became productive time. Drop-offs during verification decreased by 40%.
Rationale: Psychological momentum matters. Even if verification takes time, sellers feel progress.
Decision #2: AI integration: Amelia (GenAI selling assistant)
- Embedded across the lounge, always accessible
- Answers questions proactively: "What documents do I need for my country?"
- Helps sellers complete steps agentically: "Help me write my product description"
- Bridges education, discovery, and execution
- Shift: From static flow → adaptive guidance
Decision #3: Onboard before you commit
What: Sellers can explore Amazon, visualize listings, understand compliance BEFORE uploading documents or payment
Why: Reduced regret-driven drop-offs
Impact: 30% increase in sellers who complete registration after exploring
Rationale: People need to understand what they're committing to. Let them see inside before asking them to invest.
Early impact signals (from pilot and modeling)
- ✅ Increased completion of onboarding milestones by 35%
- ✅ Reduced drop-offs during verification by 40%
- ✅ Higher engagement with education + Brand Registry (+50%)
- ✅ Lower Contact-Us related to confusion (-30%)
- ✅ Strong qualitative sentiment: "clear," "encouraging," "less scary"