SaaS Platform Revamp
An all-in-one digital management interface for Community Managers to run their organizations intuitively and efficiently
I led a four-week sprint with three others to redesign Shaker’s landing page, and its platform’s onboarding and contact creation flows. The redesigns were delivered to the client as a proposal; subsequent solo rounds of design enhanced the UI further.
The Challenge
Shaker needed a redesign to better convert prospects into paying users. Though the platform offers useful tools, users struggled to see the up-front value and found it difficult to set up their group space.
Community Managers need streamlined onboarding and clear communication of features to feel confident in its value and quickly master its functions.
Community Managers may include:
- Startup / Accelerator Program Managers
- Nonprofit Membership Coordinators
- Professional Association Managers
- Alumni Relations Managers
- Co-working Community Managers
- Cultural / Sports Club and Recreational League Organizers
The Research
Four easily digestible pillars of what Shaker actually does were identified via research, which guided the design process:
Manage
contacts of new and existing communities
Connect,
host, and mentor within communities
Monetize
with paid events, memberships or sponsorships
Integrate
with favorite apps and engage contacts where they are
1) Heuristic Evaluation
We audited Shaker’s landing page, sign-up, dashboard and contacts creation flows against ten usability categories, with recommendations for each.
2) Competitive & Comparative Analysis
SWOT Analysis
- Communicates its key offerings with obvious calls to action, and category-leading contact and help functions.
- Navigation is hard to follow, and the site states neither its differentiators nor its range of uses clearly enough to build confidence in signing up. UI isn’t as sophisticated as it could be.
- Reevaluate the copy and restructure pages for a more intuitive flow with clearer emphasis on key information.
- Competitors win on digestibility and accessibility, with multi-page layouts that are easier to take in.
Plus / Delta Chart
Pluses
- Professional, with a color scheme that establishes hierarchy and a direct path to log in.
Deltas
- Scroll-heavy, with everything on one landing page and sign-in buried at either end.
Pluses
- Free and flexible real-time communication, popular for building communities.
Deltas
- Poor for documents and not built for structured community workflows.
Pluses
- Highly customizable and all-in-one, covering social features, live streams, courses and chat.
Deltas
- Pricy, with the best features behind higher tiers.
Pluses
- Deep administrative tooling, tailored to schools.
Deltas
- Crowded, and its academic scope overwhelms other use cases.
Pluses
- Professional, with social features like portfolio posting.
Deltas
- No pricing page, and no account access without booking a demo.
3) User Interviews
Our research found that users struggled to understand who the platform was for, how to use it, and why they should sign up, while navigation issues made existing features harder to access.
Highlights included:
Sarah T., 34, Chicago
On understanding Shaker's advantages:
“I want the landing page to clearly explain who the platform is meant for, best use cases, and what ‘Turning your contacts into an engaged community’ means.”
James R., 41, Miami
On more guidance during onboarding:
“I need clearer onboarding prompts, loading feedback, and secure login confirmation.”
Chanel M., 35, Brooklyn
On the improvement of intuitive visual cues:
“I was initially confused by the organization: Labels and buttons weren’t clear, I couldn’t easily see the hierarchy between roles, and not being able to invite members in bulk was frustrating.”
The Design
Nine essential, top-level features in the order a new user meets them were prioritized for redesign with a full facelift — including Pricing, FAQ, Sign-up and Changing Roles. The five below are the ones user testing drove. (Additional UI improvements were subsequently added after the sprint as well.)
1. Homepage
What testing showed: Community Organizers didn't immediately know exactly what Shaker was and who it was for. They struggled to see the value from the web copy.
What I changed: The homepage was rebuilt so it reads as a premium product rather than a collection of bland-looking content blocks. Users need to see themselves in it and immediately get it.
2. Demo
What testing showed: The first design attempt learned from our first build featured an automated demo as a video tutorial. It didn't hold up since the format asked prospects to work out for themselves which parts applied to them.
What I changed: The tutorial was completely scrapped for a request form and a scheduled call. In competitive B2B, dedicated time with a prospect is the value; sometimes the better experience is finding where the company should absorb the effort instead. (Not yet user-tested.)
3. Dashboard
What testing showed: When users first signed up, they landed on the contacts page when they should have been going to the main dashboard.
What I changed: The overlay builds anticipation during setup, then clears to fill with their own information, rather than another form.
4. Adding Contacts
What testing showed: Users struggled to navigate the Contacts page and understand what the buttons did.
What I changed: Clearer buttons and affordances were added to make the UI more intuitive, and the flow became a panel over the table rather than a page away from it.
5. Viewing Contacts
What testing showed: The Roles feature was hard to find, and role management wasn't intuitive.
What I changed: Among other UI adjustments, the role filter was folded into the views, so there's one place to change how contacts are grouped instead of two.
Results + Next Steps
During testing, users grasped Shaker’s purpose more quickly, found the landing page to be clear and confidence-building, and navigated onboarding in a smoother way. However, subsequent rounds of testing are needed.
Metrics
Key metrics include conversion rates and user retention over time. Using the following tools would be beneficial to install within Shaker behind-the-scenes, to track how often and deeply users engage with the platform; for example, average events attended per member per mo.
Heatmaps and session recordings identify where new users drop off during onboarding and sign-up.
Tracks A/B test landing page and pricing page variations to optimize demo-to-signup conversion.
Auto-tracks clicks and page views on new features without manual tagging, minimizing dev effort.
Baseline for tracking overall site traffic, user demographics, and engagement patterns. Works alongside the other tools to complete the full analytics picture.
Reflection + Closeout
Shaker’s edge is its all-in-one platform for specific types of professionals. With these updates that clearly communicate its value upfront, it has the potential to serve users across various scales of businesses.
The biggest lesson was resisting the urge to jump into Figma before the research was solid. Keeping the team grounded in research meant our design decisions were defensible and our scope stayed realistic. Completing the MoSCoW and Feature Priority matrices were the turning point, giving both us and the client confidence in what we could actually deliver when it came to prioritizing the features to work on.
