How Real‑Person Visuals Boost User Engagement in Local Service Platforms

Introduction

After completing an operations project, designers often feel the visual presentation does not match the business attributes but lack a clear solution. This article shares the designer's thought process for addressing that mismatch.

Business Background

58 Local Services is a platform that helps users discover nearby merchants, providing convenient, comprehensive merchant information and free promotion channels for offline merchants.

When taking over 58 Local Services, the first two projects used traditional illustration styles. Post‑mortem analysis raised the question: Are illustrations suitable for a high‑frequency, low‑decision‑making business? Could illustration effectively resonate with users?

Business Analysis Phase

User : The directory’s users are primarily white‑collar professionals aged 30‑40, who have direct purchasing needs during busy workdays. Visuals must efficiently convey service content so users can quickly grasp the service category.

Business Perspective : Local services operate as an O2O model, offering online convenience and offline authenticity. They focus on a ten‑kilometer radius around merchants, requiring visuals that convey realism and a sense of service.

Operational Activities : B‑side merchants must purchase a membership to participate in promotions, while C‑side users buy services that meet their needs and receive discounts. Therefore, the visual design should incorporate appropriate promotional atmosphere.

Analysis of these three aspects concluded that illustration’s light, youthful feel does not align with the business attributes; the design must instead convey realism, service orientation, and promotional cues.

Experimentation Phase

Based on the analysis, the redesign goal was to convey realism, service feeling, and promotional impact through visuals. The design approach employed real people, authentic scenes, and atmospheric elements to create simple, easily understandable visuals, reducing user cognitive load.

Real‑person and scene‑composite style allows elements, people, and backgrounds to be flexibly combined, greatly enhancing visual usability.

After setting the main visual direction, the landing page structure was optimized by adding real‑time preview of online purchase numbers and a category carousel. The preview creates purchase pressure, while the carousel pre‑shows multiple categories, enhancing emotional engagement and overall user experience.

Validation and Optimization Phase

Design Questionnaire : Design quality is judged by how well it solves user problems. Using the CES (Customer Effort Score) framework, a five‑point Likert scale questionnaire was created, focusing on design aspects such as character selection, background, copy direction, and merchant details.

CES, introduced in 2010 by Harvard Business Review, measures the effort users expend to obtain a service.

Effective Feedback : Over 40 days, the campaign attracted 20,000+ clicks and collected 300+ valid questionnaires. Findings included a preference for direct copy, young attractive female characters, and scene‑rich backgrounds that enhance immersion.

Visual Noise Reduction : Incorporating user feedback and design principles, the visual design was refined to reduce e‑commerce‑like noise, increase realism, and achieve a more restrained aesthetic.

Conclusion

Design decisions must consider both design rationale and business context. Even after redesign, continuous validation from the user perspective is essential to gain deeper insights. This small case study is shared for discussion and learning.