Jodi O'Prandy, VP of Product at 1stDibs, joins host Lihong Hicken on UX Stories to break down what luxury e-commerce and travel booking have in common — and where they diverge.

They discuss how trust factors differ between a $500 flight and a $50,000 piece of fine art, the TripAdvisor filter redesign that failed because it skipped user testing, why hyper-personalization is the future of e-commerce, and what tools like Sprig are doing for modern product teams.

🔑 Topics covered:

Trust signals in high-value vs. commodity purchases

Why cruise shoppers rejected Google Flights-style filters

How AI agents, image search, and natural language are reshaping shopping

The case for moderated user research in the AI era

Rapid fire: go-to testing tools and gathering customer feedback at scale

⏱️ Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro & Jodi's background

1:37 - $500 flight vs. $50K art: How trust differs

3:58 - How long does it take to buy a $50K art piece?

5:52 - Designing for conversion, not just looks

7:00 - How 1stDibs tests new features (focus groups + A/B testing)

7:42 - Why in-person & moderated research still matters

8:42 - The value of body language & behavioral cues

9:57 - Story: The TripAdvisor filter redesign that crashed and burned

13:07 - Lesson learned: Know your users before you build

13:27 - The future of e-commerce: AI agents, image search & personalization

14:48 - Why one-size-fits-all no longer works in e-commerce

16:22 - Image search, AI agents & serving every customer segment

17:02 - Hyper-personalization at 1stDibs

18:03 - Rapid fire: Go-to user testing tool (Sprig)

19:16 - Magic wand: Making feedback gathering easier at scale

🎙️ Guest: Jodi O'Prandy — VP of Product Management at 1stDibs, formerly TripAdvisor & Priceline

🎙️ Host: Lihong Hicken — Co-founder of TheySaid, former UserTesting team (zero to IPO)

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