2023 Universe
execution, experiments
Tackling user churn through comprehensive data analysis.
problem
phase 1
As a Product Lead at Universe, tackling user churn emerged as a top priority. I had previously set up user flows and funnels in Amplitude, which became invaluable to track issues such as this. I dove into those flows, ran some queries, and identified a critical pattern: more users were abandoning their sites when experimenting with tooling during their first few sessions.
I had also been conducting user research sessions with my marketing partner at this time. During those sessions, we heard repeated feedback from newer users that they didn't necessarily feel safe to experiment with their creativity. This was primarily due to the lack of psychological safety features in the product, such as the ability to undo actions or save drafts.
solution
phase 2
I planned an experiment to address this, collaborating closely with design and engineering teams. We built a scrappy speedbump in our site deletion flow that allowed users to "start over" instead. While building, we also decided to connect this with our Template library and give the user the option to start with more building blocks.
We were able to build this new speedbump flow in less than a sprint, as well as a notification targeted at users who navigated to site deletion, canceled, and did not have a return session. This was done on iOS, our core platform.
impact
phase 3
Post-launch, we witnessed a double-digit increase in conversions from site deletion to creation, effectively mitigating churn and enhancing user engagement.
Doubling down on this hypothesis, I worked closely with engineering to expand on this idea of psychological safety, meticulously planning key backend work to unlock the ever-requested feature of undo/redo.
