Modernizing faceted navigation for care discovery
Evolved an outdated filtering experience into an intuitive faceted search system that improves discoverability, clarity, and trust, enabling members to more confidently find care.
Company:
Zelis
Role:
Senior product designer
Date:
2024-2025
Team:
Design · UXR · Engineering · Product
Where we started
Guided by our north star vision and best in class search practices
and
It enabled us to:
Socialize the issues with faceted navigation and advocate for a redesign at a broader scale
Discuss feasibility and foster alignment with our technical partners
Apply CX continuous improvement practices to our team
While our North star concepts raised awareness, they alone didn’t drive action. Real progress came from combining these concepts with metrics like CSAT and member feedback from the MX Index, an internal measurement tool, along with client data analysis and feedback, and comprehensive user research. This approach demonstrated the impact of UX/UI improvements on user satisfaction and business performance, securing stakeholder buy-in.
Discovery and research
The high volume of member complaints and low engagement reveal key barriers in faceted navigation.
Top 15 UX/UI issues according to members
180
168
142
78
69
63
58
54
49
44
39
33
29
24
19
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
UX/UI Issues
UX/UI / Data Issues
UX/UI / Performance Issues
Client filter usage distrubution
ANP
Distance
Specialty
PCP
People & Places
Other
From research to design iterations
Turning insights into outcomes
To effectively address the challenges captured during the research phase, we adopted Teresa Torres’s Opportunity Solution Tree (OST), an insights aggregator. This framework enabled us to prioritize solutions based on user and client insights, facilitating a shift from a sales-led output-driven mindset to an outcome-focused approach centered on user needs.
From this framework, we identified three core breakdowns in the experience: discoverability, comprehension, and trust. These became the foundation for our design priorities and guided an iterative testing and design phase:
Improve discoverability of filters so users can easily access ways to refine their search
Clarify how filters work to reduce ambiguity and support confident decision-making
Increase transparency in how results are generated to rebuild trust in the system
These priorities directly informed the redesign of faceted navigation as a cohesive, system-level experience. The goal was to move from a fragmented set of controls to a structured framework that supports how users iteratively search, refine, and evaluate care options.
The outcome
Reframing faceted navigation around real search behavior
Building on these priorities I led the redesign of faceted navigation into a system that better aligns with how members actually search: iteratively, across multiple criteria, and requiring clear feedback at every step.
The solution balances these user behaviors within a highly configurable B2B2B2C environment, establishing a more intuitive and flexible filtering framework that improves usability while supporting diverse client needs.
01/ Improve filter discoverability through familiar interaction patterns.
Reorganized faceted navigation with chip-based filters and a consolidated horizontal filter bar, increasing visibility, clarifying the hierarchy, and increasing engagement with filtering.
02/ Enable flexible, multi-criteria refinement aligned with real search behavior
Introduced multi-select interactions with “AND/OR” logic, allowing users to combine filters more naturally and generate more accurate, relevant results.
03/ Reduced cognitive load through structured organization.
Standardized naming conventions, grouped filters into a single dialog, and introduced inline filtering for long attribute lists to simplify navigation in a complex healthcare context.
04/ Build user confidence through clear feedback and system transparency.
Designed clear confirmation and feedback states to increase users’ sense of control and trust in how results are filtered, while also supporting compliance with WCAG AA accessibility standards.
The result
The redesign impact
Faceted navigation is no longer the primary UX/Ui concern with filter-related complaints decreasing, highlighting a reduction in friction and frustration. At the same time, filter adoption has increased despite stable traffic, signaling a shift in user behavior rather than volume.
reduction in member filter-related complaints.
6
th
UX/UI complaint, down from number 1 complaint.
+
9.3
increase in filter adoption from 18.4% to 27.7%, while traffic remained stable.
From design to build
Translating design into scalable implementation
Implementing the redesigned filtering experience required navigating legacy architecture, fragmented data sources, and highly configurable client requirements. To align design, product, and engineering, my product partner and I organized a two-day Filter Evolution Summit that brought together engineers, QA, and configuration teams.
Together, we structured these sessions to surface system constraints, and technical dependencies, and align on a shared path forward, shifting the team from reacting to isolated implementation challenges to aligning around a cohesive system.
Leveraging the design language system
The Design System served as the foundation for building reusable and scalable UI patterns. Existing components enabled rapid assembly of key filtering interactions, including the horizontal filter bar, accelerating development and reinforcing consistency across the experience.
At the same time, the implementation highlighted the limitations of a system that had not evolved at the same pace as product needs, largely due to competing business priorities. Gaps in component structure and flexibility were exposed, requiring additional development and slowing the delivery of the faceted navigation experience at scale.
