Using Data-Driven Design to Cut Onboarding Time by 4x and Boost Engagement by 26%

Role

Senior Product Designer

Team

Product Growth

Duration

Jul 2021 – Sep 2022

Due to NDA restrictions, this case study does not include internal UI designs or proprietary assets.

🚀 TL;DR

I joined Aspire as the 4th designer and helped scale the product experience during its Series A to Series B transition.

Working in the growth team, I led major initiatives like onboarding and home screen revamp, bill pay, and the first subscription/pricing rollout—while also improving foundational UX across login, multi-business management, and personalization.

These contributions helped Aspire reduce onboarding time by 4×, increased feature adoption by 26%, and enhanced usability across the platform.

Key projects at Aspire

🧭 Onboarding Revamp

I redesigned Aspire’s onboarding experience—reducing time-to-completion by 4x and easing support load by automating user guidance.

Why It Mattered

Users took up to 1–2 weeks to complete onboarding, especially dropping off at selfie-based KYC steps. The CX team had to follow up manually, slowing down activation time and conversion rate.

What I Did

  • Audited the funnel using analytics + session replays

  • Introduced a modular, step-wise onboarding flow adapted for different business types

  • Added inline guidance, validation, and document help UI

  • Replaced the final dead-end with a live status tracker

Impact

  • Reduced onboarding time from ~2 weeks to 3–4 days

  • Relieved the CX team from frequent manual follow-ups

  • Design foundation reused across Aspire’s other workflows

🏠 Homepage & To-do Lists

Why It Mattered

The homepage wasn’t doing enough. Users felt lost, didn’t know what to do next, and many didn’t discover key features unless told by a CSM. Analytics confirmed this: low homepage interaction, weak scroll depth, and high friction at re-entry.

What I Did

  • Analyzed heatmaps, mouse trails, and top-page behavior to map mental models

  • Introduced a smart To-Do list to surface action items by priority and context

  • Added in-context feature explainers to drive discovery and guide first-time use.

  • Designed homepage modules to adapt based on feature usage and lifecycle stage

  • Partnered with CX and PMs to identify friction points and unmet learning needs

impact

  • Feature adoption rose by 26% post-launch

  • Heatmap replays confirmed better engagement and scroll behavior

  • Explainers reduced support queries and improved onboarding

🧾 Bill Pay

Why It Mattered

Users struggled to manage vendor invoices outside Aspire. Adding Bill Pay allowed Aspire to become a full-service spend platform, increase engagement, and compete with competitor fintech tools.

What I Did

  • Designed end-to-end flows: uploading/forwarding invoices, auto-OCR, payment scheduling

  • Created approval workflows and dynamic email notifications

  • Partnered with backend and compliance teams to define MVP-ready scope

  • Designed responsive UI + fallback states across mobile and web

impact

  • Launched and well-received during pilot rollout

  • Gradual expansion to all users

  • Feature remains live in Aspire’s spend management offering -
    🔗 Product Link →

💰 Pricing Plans

Why It Mattered

Aspire previously charged per-transaction fees, but this wasn’t scalable. With new features like Budgets, Vendor Management, and Bill Pay, it was time to monetize via usage-based pricing—without alienating free-tier users.

What I Did

  • Collaborated with product and leadership to understand business needs

  • Iterated and created multiple pricing approaches and tiers

  • Designed UX for plan comparison, usage limits, upsell flows, trial upgrades

  • Integrated subscription selection into onboarding

  • Handled edge cases: overages, auto-renewals, downgrades

impact

  • Feature launched, iterated based on user feedback

  • Supported Aspire’s revenue shift toward recurring billing

  • UX design handled multiple pricing experiments and adjustments

✨ Micro UX Wins

Why It Mattered

Even small frictions in daily workflows can lead to user frustration and a lack of trust. Fixing these minor, but important, issues was crucial for enhancing the day-to-day product experience and showing our commitment to quality and polish.

What I Did

  • Shipped a multi-business switcher → enabling seamless transitions between business profiles

  • Introduced Preferred Name support → respecting local user identity conventions (e.g., Chan Kong-sang → Jackie Chan)

  • Added granular notification settings → for cleaner alert management by role and context

  • Simplified login and reset password flows → to reduce frustration across sessions and devices

Impact

  • These were fast-moving 1–2 sprint projects that received overwhelmingly positive user feedback.

  • Each enhancement meaningfully improved daily workflows, efficiency, and personalization.

  • These details were key to building long-term user trust and retention, which was reflected in better NPS scores

It’s rare to find someone who blends product thinking, design craft, and business impact the way Uday does. At Aspire, he led several high-impact projects that improved both user experience and engagement. He was also instrumental in shaping our design team culture as we grew from a scrappy few to a well-structured org.

Hammad Jilani, Head of design, aspire

What I learned

⏱️ Speed ≠ shortcuts

Working in lean sprints taught me how to prioritize and align quickly—while still delivering clarity and polish.

💵 Monetization UX = business understanding

Pricing isn’t just UI—it’s value perception, timing, and trust.

🥹 User feedback > Data

Personalization features like Preferred Name stemmed from a user’s frustration when support team members pronounced the name wrongly. Such things can never be identified just from data.