Business Context

Rapid growth (10K+ paid users, 300K+ listings, 4.7 CSAT) with an opportunity to optimise conversion and user trust

Project Scope

Comprehensive UX audit of marketing website, product experience, and customer journey touchpoints

Research constraints

Worked without user access or internal analytics - relied on observational analysis and secondary research

My Role

Self-initiated UX audit undertaken independently to practice research methodologies and strategic thinking.
‍
It was an exercise in systematic UX thinking - applying frameworks to understand problems and connect user needs to business outcomes.

Trust and transparency barriers

Users hesitated to pay upfront without seeing product value first, and unclear onboarding left them unsure what they'd actually get for their money

Feature friction reducing efficiency

Frequent users got frustrated by manual, repetitive searches - no saved filters, no job history, just starting from scratch every time

Brand credibility issues

Minimal company details and missing success stories made users question if the platform was legitimate and actually delivered results

1. Independent audit

Conducted end-to-end customer journey analysis from discovery to paid conversion, using observational research methods designed for external assessment without internal data access.

2. Framework and analysis

Applied UX research frameworks (heuristic evaluation, customer journey mapping, and jobs-to-be-done analysis) to identify friction points and map user experience across key touchpoints.

3. Synthesis

Prioritised opportunities where design improvements could directly impact trust, clarity, and conversion, connecting user problems to measurable business outcomes.

Focus Area 1: Building Trust Through Brand Strategy

Users hesitated to commit financially due to credibility concerns in a market filled with visa sponsorship scams.

Key Insights

· No visible success stories or proof of real user outcomes
· Missing founder story left users questioning platform legitimacy
· Users needed social proof to build confidence in financial commitment

Validation Methods

Heuristic evaluation, competitive analysis, and user journey mapping

Focus Area 2: Optimising Product Experience & User Retention

Core platform functionality existed but lacked user experience polish needed for daily use and retention.

Key Insights

· Users repeatedly recreated job searches - no saved preferencesNo integrated application tracking - users relied on external spreadsheets
· Users struggled to identify appropriate visa types without expensive consultation
· Limited sorting/filtering made job discovery feel manual and inefficient

Validation Methods

User journey analysis, feature gap analysis, and observational research

Success Metrics

· Conversion rates (trust-building)
· Time to conversion (reduced friction)
· Session duration (user engagement)

Developed design solutions that addressed both immediate conversion barriers and long-term user retention challenges

Each feature was designed to deliver impact and positioned Migrate Mate as a comprehensive platform rather than just another job board

Being resourceful without user access

The observational research approach worked well for spotting obvious UX problems and trust issues, but I definitely missed the deeper "why" behind user behaviours. Having actual user interviews would have made my decision-making more concrete.

Seeing the bigger picture matters

This project showed me how problems are systemic across a whole experience. The trust issues wasn't just about missing stories but were also vague company and confusing onboarding. Fixing one feature wouldn't have solved the core issue.