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Hootsuite

Solving a $100m cross-product activation challenge

Solving a $100m cross-product activation challenge

Led cross-functional redesign of the product dashboard, increasing feature adoption by 20% and driving 19k clicks into a new acquisition.

Led cross-functional redesign of the product dashboard, increasing feature adoption by 20% and driving 19k clicks into a new acquisition.

Role

Senior Staff Product Designer

Scope

Cross-product activation & entry point redesign

Timeframe

Three weeks

Org reach

5 product teams

Impact summary

Impact summary

Increased trial feature adoption by 20%

Drove 19k visits to the newest AI-based product acquisition

Improved cross-product activation, fixing a revenue gap

Created frameworks, increasing team efficiency and velocity

Hootsuite product dashboard pictured on an iPad and iPhone

“We need more people who are like ‘yeah fuck it let’s have a crack’ at this company. That is my favourite quality of yours.”

“We need more people who are like ‘yeah fuck it let’s have a crack’ at this company. That is my favourite quality of yours.”

–Billy Jones, Chief Marketing Officer – Hootsuite

Hootsuite product dashboard pictured in mobile views

The problem & context

The problem & context

Hootsuite is a social marketing platform serving 22 million global marketing professionals. Rapid growth had created a fragmented product entry experience across multiple tools and acquisitions. High-value features were under-discovered, contributing to a significant cross-product activation gap for new users.

1

New users were not reaching the 'aha' moment, throttling activation

New users were not reaching the 'aha' moment, throttling activation

2

Dashboard was noisy and did not demonstrate immediate value to users

Dashboard was noisy and did not demonstrate immediate value to users

3

The newest acquisition was too complex for users to onboard

The newest acquisition was too complex for users to onboard

User needs

User needs

Data and qualitative feedback demonstrated that the Hootsuite dashboard was cluttered, confusing and did not show immediate value. I was brought in to deliver a simple, action-oriented workflow that met users where they're at.

Business goal

Business goal

We needed to increase activation and feature adoption across a $100M revenue area and FAST. I onboarded quickly, aligned teams around a singular strategy, built an extensible UX and framework to be utilized across the product, and made an analyst-grade tool usable for all user maturities.

Total initiative, including development, was 3 weeks.

User feedback on what the product is missing
User feedback on what the product is missing

Five re-designs in 2 years failed to fix the activation problem

Five re-designs in 2 years failed to fix the activation problem

Previous re-designs of the dashboard that did not perform

Approach

Approach

I matched the process to the problem, not the other way around. Slowed down to reframe and align, then moved fast to validate and ship.

Define (2 days)

Define (2 days)

Reframed the brief around activation, tied user evidence to Jobs to Be Done and business ROI.

Reframed the brief around activation, tied user evidence to Jobs to Be Done and business ROI.

Enterpret AI

Dovetail

NotebookLM

Ideate (90 mins)

Ideate (90 mins)

Brought stakeholders into shared language, ideated wide, prioritized fast.

Brought stakeholders into shared language, ideated wide, prioritized fast.

ChatGPT

FigJam

Design & validate (2 days)

Design & validate (2 days)

Rapid prototypes, real-time user validation, de-risked the build before a line of code was written.

Rapid prototypes, real-time user validation, de-risked the build before a line of code was written.

Figma

FigJam

Usertesting.com

Delivery & support (1 day+)

Delivery & support (1 day+)

Iterated on validation learnings, handed off designs and components to engineering.

Iterated on validation learnings, handed off designs and components to engineering.

ChatGPT

Figma

JIRA

What I would do differently today: With the design system in the front end, I'd use Figma MCP and Claude Code to generate V1 designs directly, cutting the design-to-dev handoff almost entirely.

Moves

Moves

Moves

1

Reframed the problem around activation (not 're-design')

Reframed the problem around activation (not 're-design')

2

Simplified a complex acquisition to align with users's Jobs to Be Done

Simplified a complex acquisition to align with users's Jobs to Be Done

3

Introduced a new framework for rapid, low-fi validation, reducing risk and building confidence

Introduced a new framework for rapid, low-fi validation, reducing risk and building confidence

4

Introduced reward-based gamification, a Hootsuite first

Introduced reward-based gamification, a Hootsuite first

5

Raised the quality bar by delivering the first full re-design using the new design system

Raised the quality bar by delivering the first full re-design using the new design system

6

Introduced modular, scalable patterns for Growth, that worked with entitlements

Introduced modular, scalable patterns for Growth, that worked with entitlements

Creating a clearer activation path that meets users where they're at

Creating a clearer activation path that meets users where they're at

Before

After

A new modular, responsive framework to make growth experimentation easy

A new modular, responsive framework to make growth experimentation easy

A social score widget that appears on the new homepage dashboard

Impact

Impact

Beyond the metrics, this work established a scalable activation framework for Growth, adopted by adjacent teams, and used to guide future onboarding experiments.

20%

Increase in feature discovery

Increase in feature discovery

19k

Clicks into the new acquisition dashboard in the first week

Clicks into the new acquisition dashboard in the first week

+/-

Reduced time-to-value for new users, and increased activation

Reduced time-to-value for new users, and increased activation

Closing insight

Closing insight

Growth isn't a funnel problem, it's a clarity problem. When teams align around frameworks that focus on user value, activation, retention and revenue move with them.

Growth isn't a funnel problem, it's a clarity problem. When teams align around frameworks that focus on user value, activation, retention and revenue move with them.

Get in touch

Get in touch

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