Designing Multi-Service Homepages: Balancing Business Demands & User Efficiency

01

What is a multi‑type service product?

It is a bundle of loosely related services forming a product, common in platform tools such as Alipay, Meituan, 58.com, etc.

02

Design challenge

Using 58.com as an example, the business side has strong tool attributes and low user coupling, meaning users come for specific tools and rarely use unrelated services, demanding high recommendation precision, while any irrelevant information distracts. Meanwhile, many business units want homepage exposure, and diverse formats (video, live, VR) increase information load. The core challenge is the conflict between multiple business exposure needs and precise user connection.

03

How to solve?

Address the “information transmission vs. reception” conflict by analyzing the “person‑scenario‑information” relationship, determining priority and granularity of information for each scenario.

1. User classification

Pre‑installed users: do not download voluntarily, unaware of product functions.

Service‑need users: use relatively fixed services.

Content‑need users: seek local or related service information.

2. Scenario needs per user type

Pre‑installed: build product awareness and retain users.

Service‑need: present targeted services with minimal interference.

Content‑need: display a wider variety of content.

3. Information priority and granularity per scenario

Pre‑installed users: adopt exposure strategy to keep a primary service entry, help product recognition, and expose more content and retention‑oriented functions to improve retention.

Service‑need users: adopt targeted service exposure, keep a primary business entry for easy switching, increase exposure of secondary information to shorten paths, and add dynamic service modules to follow user actions.

Content‑need users: adopt balanced exposure, keep a primary entry and expand content exposure.

04

Design ideas

1. Build an extensible framework: shift to a top‑tab structure, freeing more positioning signals and adding exposure channels. The original middle tab divided the homepage; now the whole homepage is placed under the first tab, with subsequent tabs parallel, providing more independent exposure channels.

2. Use flexible components: “Transformer” (aggregated primary service entry) and waterfall flow.

Transformer aggregates services into categories at the top of the first screen, making the main service clear.

It can also transform flexibly to expose more secondary options for precise user needs.

The waterfall flow supports diverse service connection forms.

3. Rich information containers: cards combining image, text, image‑text, VR, video, aggregated categories, dynamic modules, with instant recommendation, giving the waterfall flow flexibility.

4. Integrate platform operations: create a platform‑level operations center to consolidate all business operation functions, shortening discovery paths and strengthening attraction.

05

Design showcase

By moving from reliance on recommendation algorithms to flexible, scene‑adaptable components, the design seeks a better balance between product demands and user needs.