Optimizing Conversion
With growth as a true north goal, I analyzed the user journey from awareness and discovery through registration and use to see where the biggest impact could be made. New user acquisition could move the needle significantly, so we prioritized top of the funnel conversion. We designed and tested a series of above the fold concepts to appeal to a variety of user personas focusing on their different motivations. Through A/B experimentation of headlines, calls to action, and content, conversion increased 241%.
New User Onboarding Completion
Behavioral analysis showed a high abandon rate during first time user onboarding. In this case, metrics couldn't tell the whole story, so contextual inquiry helped us understand the underlying causes. We scheduled video interviews to observe them using our platform and asked probing questions to better understand the user's context and mindset while completing this task. With the problem better defined, we set goals to reduce confusion about the product, simplify the process, create an exclusive atmosphere, and improve the mobile experience. User completion increased by 81%.
Use Case map
Our onboarding process had six use cases mapped to each audience type and varied over a wide variety of user categories.
RESPONSIVE UI
Our platform was built on a flexible grid system and was fully responsive and tested on all devices and platforms.
Customer Engagement & Retention
Analyzing user engagement and one week return rates, we could see that the main factor was how many friends they had on the platform. We hypothesized that helping new users connect with their existing network and encouraging them to invite their contacts would improve user retention and drive adoption. We designed a feature to enable this behavior with KPIs and analytics integrated, and a plan to encourage usage. The number of users invited improved 155%, and 7-day engagement metrics trended upwards.
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
Annotated wireframe for the social connector feature on mobile (happy path).
Email Experience Management
One piece of user feedback that continually surfaced was around communications. Too many emails and inconsistent branding was eroding trust. I conducted an email audit to understand every message sent and identify areas for improvement including mobile optimization, frequency, maintaining consistency in visual design and voice, and ongoing clarification of the product. Every touchpoint affects the customer experience and emotional connection to a brand, and this holistic strategy increased 7-day retention rates by 87%.
Conceptualizing a New Product
User research and feedback for our core product was illuminating a new insight. Founders faced unique challenges in finding advice and support. In-depth interviews provided more context around these founders' pain points and competitor research helped us understand how current options fell short. I began mind-mapping ideas until themes emerged, then refined the concept into something that truly fit this niche: a highly curated community for founders to find authentic professional relationships from a group of elite peers whose perspective they trust.
Crafting a Value Proposition
With this newly defined concept in hand, early wireframes focused on clarifying the value we could offer these customers. A major part of this was engaging storytelling to show our audience that we understand their needs and know how to solve their problem.
Early wires focused on content strategy—grabbing their attention, then communicating value. Tone and voice are essential in establishing a personality that will resonate with the reader. Without distractions from aesthetic choices, we could collaborate on messaging and tighten up the copywriting quickly.
Visual Style Guide
I created mood boards to experiment with color palette, fonts, and imagery that would appeal to a younger, more casual crowd and while feeling professional and upscale. It was important to honor the vision of this new product while staying true to the established brand guidelines.
Front-end Development
Prototyping in HTML/SCSS/JavaScript with Foundation lets me quickly refine designs and specify precise transitions and animations that impact usability. I push production-ready code to make the engineering hand-off smoother and accelerate development.
Project Leadership
From concept to completion, I lead the product vision, champion design best practices, strategize and execute on design and development, manage timelines and resources, and prioritize feature and bug requests to ensure a successful launch.
