2024
PureSquare
www.puresquare.com/
Background
As the Lead Product Designer at PureVPN, I joined a team committed to revolutionizing digital privacy and security. PureVPN had established itself as a prominent player in the VPN industry, serving millions of users worldwide. However, the platform faced challenges in aligning its user experience with evolving customer expectations and the competitive landscape. My role was to lead the redesign of the product's UX, bridging the gap between user needs and business goals while maintaining the platform's core values of simplicity, reliability, and security.
Core problem
The existing user experience presented several pain points:
Complex Onboarding: Users found setting up and using the service challenging, leading to a high churn rate during the trial period.
Inefficient Navigation: The interface lacked intuitive navigation, causing confusion and reducing engagement.
Inconsistent Design Language: The product's visual and interaction design lacked consistency, impacting brand identity and trust.
Feature Discoverability: Many features, such as split tunnelling and dedicated IP, were underutilized due to poor discoverability.
These issues collectively hindered the user journey and reduced customer satisfaction, affecting retention and conversion rates.
The Approach for PureVPN
Steps Taken
User Research: Conducted extensive user interviews, surveys, and usability testing to identify pain points and gather qualitative insights. This included creating user personas to understand diverse customer needs.
Information Architecture Overhaul: Redesigned the navigation flow based on card sorting exercises and heatmaps, ensuring seamless access to key features.
Onboarding Optimization: Introduced an interactive, guided onboarding process tailored to new and returning users, with contextual tooltips and progress indicators.
Unified Design System: Developed a design system to create a cohesive visual and interaction language across the product, enabling scalability for future updates.
Collaboration with Engineering and Marketing: Worked closely with cross-functional teams to ensure feasibility, alignment with the brand, and timely delivery.
Key Improvements
Simplified Navigation: Implemented a tab-based structure, prioritizing frequently used features while decluttering the interface.
Enhanced Feature Accessibility: Introduced contextual feature highlights, ensuring users discovered and utilized advanced functionalities like kill switch and split tunnelling.
Mobile-First Design: Optimized the mobile app's UX, focusing on responsiveness and gesture-based navigation for seamless operation.
Security Reassurance: Added microscopy and visual cues to reassure users about security protocols during interactions, reinforcing trust.
Results and Impact
The redesign efforts delivered significant positive outcomes:
Increased Retention: User retention improved by 35% within the first three months of deployment.
Higher Conversion Rates: Simplified onboarding and feature discoverability contributed to a 40% increase in trial-to-paid conversions.
User Satisfaction: Post-launch surveys indicated a 25% increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS), reflecting enhanced user satisfaction and loyalty.
Brand Consistency: The unified design system reinforced PureVPN's brand identity, leading to higher customer trust and recognition.
Scalability: Implementing the design system reduced development time for new features by 20%, enabling faster rollouts.
The redesigned experience not only strengthened PureVPN's market position but also redefined how users interacted with VPN solutions, setting a benchmark for the industry.