User Pathway Optimization Techniques

Not every user interaction should be treated equally, yet many traditional optimization methods assume they should be. A/B testing, the most commonly used approach for improving user experience, treats every variation as equal, showing them to users in fixed proportions regardless of performance. While this method has been widely used for conversion rate optimization, it is not the most efficient way to determine which design, feature, or interaction works best. A/B testing requires running experiments for a set period, collecting enough data before making a decision. During this time, many users are exposed to options that may not be effective, and teams must wait until statistical significance is reached before making any improvements. In fast-moving environments where user behavior shifts quickly, this delay can mean lost opportunities. What is needed is a more responsive approach, one that adapts as individuals utilize a product and adjusts the experience in real time. Multi-Armed Bandits does exactly that. Instead of waiting until a test is finished before making decisions, this method continuously tests user response and directs more people towards better-performing versions while still allowing exploration. Whether it's testing different UI elements, onboarding flows, or interaction patterns, this approach ensures that more users are exposed to the most optimal experience sooner. At the core of this method is Thompson Sampling, a Bayesian algorithm that helps balance exploration and exploitation. It ensures that while new variations are still tested, the system increasingly prioritizes what is already proving successful. This means conversion rates are optimized dynamically, without waiting for a fixed test period to end. With this approach, conversion optimization becomes a continuous process, not a one-time test. Instead of relying on rigid experiments that waste interactions on ineffective designs, Multi-Armed Bandits create an adaptive system that improves in real time. This makes them a more effective and efficient alternative to A/B testing for optimizing user experience across digital products, services, and interactions.

A user journey is the sequence of steps a user takes within your product. Imagine a photo editing app where users explore the “Image Upscaler” before the “Shape Cropper,” leading to a 20% increase in conversion. The trick is identifying that particular user journey out of all the many permutations a user could follow in using your product. It’s hard to go over all of them, measuring the impact of each. Causal analysis is key to understanding what drives the KPI change and what to do next. Even though you might have identified some impactful user journeys, many companies struggle to translate these journeys into real actions. Let’s take a look at a few examples of what you can do next, drawn from a sample photo editing app: 1️⃣ The “Journey Reduce-Noise-Filter” → “Background Eraser” could increase Conversion by 20%. ✅ Amplify the impact of the journey: >> Highlight Reduce Noise Factor in your UI and marketing. >> Use in-app nudges to encourage and Background Eraser exploration. >>Incorporate this flow into a product Walkthrough, educational video or your onboarding process. 2️⃣ Users that complete “Clean Object” after “Cartoon Effect” are 22% more likely to convert if they complete “Clean Object” after “Glitch Video Effect.” ✅ When to promote a feature: >> Surface Glitch Video Effect earlier and provide guidance. >> Showcase success stories reinforcing this journey. 3️⃣ The Journey “Magic Eraser” followed by “Search“ increases Churn Within 2 Weeks by 15%. ✅ Reduce user churn following a journey: >> Is there a bug in the product or a gap in user expectations >> Was there something they searched for and could not find? 4️⃣ The Journey “Use Template” → “Cartoon” → “Glitch Video Effect” → “Clean Object” increases 30-Day Retention by 38%. ✅ Build winning Activation journeys: >> Guide users gradually through a user journey over the first 7 or 30 days. >> Sequentially promote these features in your onboarding process, in-app prompts, timed marketing campaigns etc. 5️⃣ The journey “Campaign= Fast Track” → “Viewed landing page = /FastTrack-US” increases conversion by 23%. ✅ Leverage the right combination of marketing campaigns and landing pages to maximize KPIs: >> Understand and promote the touchpoints that work >> Direct users through the journey with targeted campaigning, incentives, interactive guidance, and contextual nudges. 👉 Key Takeaway User journeys are gold mines of action-ready insights. 🥇 The real power lies in turning them into strategies and actions that optimize the user experience and drive growth. If you’re using Loops, you have likely uncovered high-impact sequences, both positive and negative, along with hidden user segments. I’d love to hear your story. What’s the most actionable insight you’ve gained through a user journey? 🚀 #CausalML #userjourney #productanalytics

You’re losing customers if you only optimise the last step in the journey. Your conversions are low So, you decide to redesign the checkout flow No bumps, no surprises. Just click and pay. Improved checkout = more sales. Right? In theory, yes But, annoyingly your conversions don't increase Here's why 👇 The user's overall goal is to buy something (i.e the macro-journey) But, the overall goal depends on achieving smaller steps first (i.e the micro-journeys) Every small step is a risk of users leaving A dip in your conversion rate A lost sale Let's look at online clothes shopping. Micro-journeys might include: → Seeing an ad → Creating an account → Finding the right size → Assessing the quality → Reading the returns policy → Signing up for a promocode → Deciding if it will arrive in time → Enter the payment details. Checkout What if customers want to buy, but they can’t? They're excluded. They’re blocked. → No models with representative skin tones/bodies → No financing options to pay later → Website isn’t accessible → The list is endless Microjourneys, behaviours, inclusion, price, performance (+ lots more!) It all affects conversions 👇 Here’s 3 things you can start doing: 1️⃣ Research with a range of customers to understand their different needs Understand if, and who you're excluding Quant data will tell you what they’re doing, but qual data will tell you why they're doing it. 2️⃣ Think in journeys - not isolated features You’ve solved one problem, what’s the next step? 3️⃣ Track macro-conversions and micro-conversions to see the overall picture Where are the drop-offs? What do they interact with? Macro-conversion = purchasing an item Micro-conversions = newsletter sign ups, clicking ads, enter payment details, etc Of course we can’t deliver everything all at once (oh hey prioritisation 😉) But we can: → Uncover how we to help people achieve their goals → Ensure sure we’re focussing on the right thing → Remove barriers Every small step is a risk of users leaving A lost sale. Zoom in to zoom out. ---- P.S Do you track micro-conversions and macro-conversions?

How a mobile cart redesign increased transactions by 3.4% Problem: Checkout drop-off rates were killing mobile revenue. → The cart design was cluttered, unintuitive, and frustrating for users. → Visitors struggled to understand their next steps, leading to high abandonment rates. Solution: We did a deep dive into user behavior with: - Google Analytics: To identify friction points in the funnel. - HotJar heatmaps: To track user interactions and frustrations. - User Testing: To understand why visitors were dropping off. What we found: Visitors needed clearer CTAs, smoother layout, tap-friendly elements. We implemented a mobile-specific cart redesign with these improvements: Larger tap targets for easy navigation. Streamlined layout to reduce decision fatigue. Stronger calls-to-action to guide users through checkout. Testing Process: We A/B tested the revamped cart design against the original. - Audience: Mobile visitors. - Metric: Increase in visits to checkout. - Duration: Conducted over a statistically significant period. Results: The redesign delivered across all key metrics: - +8% lift in visits to checkout. - +3.4% increase in transactions. - $1.39 boost in revenue per visitor (RPV). Here’s how you can use this for your brand: Eliminate friction with clear pathways. Simplify deep-funnel elements for mobile users. Invoke the “Don’t Make Me Think” principle to guide users seamlessly to checkout.

Digital Experience Optimization isn't just about tweaking your website. It's about transforming how users interact with your entire digital ecosystem. Helium 10, a software company for Amazon entrepreneurs, faced a common challenge: their platform offered powerful tools, but prospective users struggled to grasp the core benefits. Through a comprehensive audit and optimization program, The Good uncovered that those prospective users found the homepage too cluttered, tool names unclear, and a pricing structure that left them confused. But identifying problems is only half the battle. The real value comes from strategic solutions. We redesigned the homepage to showcase platform benefits rather than individual features. This simple shift increased free account signups by 4.75% and paid conversions by 5.51%. On the registration page, we added social proof, like quotes from current customers. This seemingly small change boosted paid conversions by 12%. Throughout the site, we improved navigation, clarified tool categorization, and refined pricing communication. Each adjustment was driven by user data and validated through rigorous A/B testing. The results speak for themselves. Helium 10 saw reduced bounce rates, increased registrations, and higher paid conversion rates across the board. Want to uncover insights that drive more signups for your software? By focusing on the user journey and aligning it with business goals, companies can unlock significant growth potential. The key is to approach optimization as an ongoing process, not a one-time project.

Most marketers I talk to still assume the customer journey starts on their homepage. But a campaign we ran at Fibr recently proved otherwise. One client had a strong offer, but conversions just weren’t moving. So, we dug into the real user paths and what we found was eye-opening: 70% of the journey happened before anyone even hit the site. Instagram ads, ChatGPT answers, review sites, texts from friends… By the time people landed, their minds were already made up. That’s when we shifted gears and started optimizing the entire journey, not just the page. The results changed how we think about growth: 1. Ad copy aligned with landing pages: +60% conversions 2. Breaking down data silos: -22% CAC 3. Small tweaks across touchpoints: +30–40% LTV (sometimes more) We pulled all of this into a new whitepaper: “Optimizing the Entire Customer Journey.” If you’re a marketer or growth leader navigating these non-linear paths, it’s worth a read. I’d also love to hear how you’re tackling this in your own work. Download the whitepaper here: https://lnkd.in/gQBxF5Ne

Are you generating enough value for users net of the value to your company? Business value can only be created when you create so much value for users, that you can “tax” that value and take some for yourself as a business. If you don’t create any value for your users, then you can’t create value for your business. Ed Biden explains how to solve this in this week's guest post: Whilst there are many ways to understand what your users will value, two techniques in particular are incredibly valuable, especially if you’re working on a tight timeframe: 1. Jobs To Be Done 2. Customer Journey Mapping 𝟭. 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗧𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲 (𝗝𝗧𝗕𝗗) “People don’t simply buy products or services, they ‘hire’ them to make progress in specific circumstances.”  – Clayton Christensen The core JTBD concept is that rather than buying a product for its features, customers “hire” a product to get a job done for them … and will ”fire” it for a better solution just as quickly. In practice, JTBD provides a series of lenses for understanding what your customers want, what progress looks like, and what they’ll pay for. This is a powerful way of understanding your users, because their needs are stable and it forces you to think from a user-centric point of view. This allows you to think about more radical solutions, and really focus on where you’re creating value. To use Jobs To Be Done to understand your customers, think through five key steps: 1. Use case – what is the outcome that people want? 2. Alternatives – what solutions are people using now? 3. Progress – where are people blocked? What does a better solution look like? 4. Value Proposition – why would they use your product over the alternatives? 5. Price – what would a customer pay for progress against this problem? 𝟮. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 Customer journey mapping is an effective way to visualize your customer’s experience as they try to reach one of their goals. In basic terms, a customer journey map breaks the user journey down into steps, and then for each step describes what touchpoints the customer has with your product, and how this makes them feel. The touch points are any interaction that the customer has with your company as they go through this flow: • Website and app screens • Notifications and emails • Customer service calls • Account management / sales touch points • Physically interacting with goods (e.g. Amazon), services (e.g. Airbnb) or hardware (e.g. Lime) Users’ feelings can be visualized by noting down: • What they like or feel good about at this step • What they dislike, find frustrating or confusing at this step • How they feel overall By mapping the customer’s subjective experience to the nuts and bolts of what’s going on, and then laying this out in a visual way, you can easily see where you can have the most impact, and align stakeholders on the critical problems to solve.

Steal this automated workflow to educate and activate your new signups in HubSpot. Getting new customers to understand why your product is the right fit for them and reach their first “aha” moment is a high-stakes moment in their experience. Using product usage and account data in HubSpot to build an automated sequence for educating new users AND looping in your team when intent is high will help you improve adoption and ultimately reduce time-to-value. Here’s how it works: 1. Trigger the workflow when your critical activate metric has not yet been reached. → In our example: “Projects Created” is less than or equal to 3 2. Send an automated Welcome email using a template that: → reinforces your key value proposition → encourages the first action new users should take → opens a conversation 3. Add an IF/THEN branch that checks the size of the account signing up. → IF > 100 employees we want to loop in our sales-assist team → IF not, keep going with our self-serve sequence until there is upgrade intent 4. IF no upgrade intent we will wait 1 day 5. After the 1 day delay add an IF/THEN branch that checks how many team members have been invited to an account. → IF > 5 team members have been added this account has upgrade intent and we can use “Go to action” to add them to the Sales-Assist Branch → IF not, send our first educational email encouraging action 6. Add a 1-day delay 7. Send our second educational email encouraging action and educating on why solving the problem using our product will make the user's life better than the status quo. 8. Repeat this cycle: → Add a delay → Check if a key product usage threshold has been reached → Send an email or escalate to a human 9. IF an account has upgrade potential, either from account size or product usage then we: → Create a deal in our sales pipeline → Rotate the deal between the sales team → Send a Slack notification for our new potential account Defining how you will engage, educate, and activate new accounts in a workflow helps you to be explicit about the different paths users can take to be successful and avoids mixing automated and personal outreach creating a clumsy customer experience. By focusing your sales and success team's time on the accounts that are already showing intent and most likely to need support... ...you’ll help them build momentum and avoid spending time chasing tire kickers who are unlikely to become successful. #customersuccess #hubspot #hubspottipsandtricks

Great journey maps start from the intersection of user touchpoints. A customer journey map shows a customer's experiences with your organization, from when they identify a need to whether that need is met. Journey maps are often shown as straight lines with touchpoints explaining a user's challenges. start •—------------>• finish At the heart of this approach is the user, assuming that your product or service is the one they choose to use in their journey. While journey maps help explain the conceptual journey, they often give the wrong impression of how users are trying to solve their problems. In reality, users start from different places, have unique ways of understanding their problems, and often have expectations that your service can't fully meet. Our testing and user research over the years has shown how varied these problem-solving approaches can be. Building a great journey map involves identifying a constellation of touchpoints rather than a single, linear path. Users start from different points and follow various paths, making their journeys complex and varied. These paths intersect to form signals, indicating valuable touchpoints. Users interact with your product or service in many different ways. User journeys are not straightforward and involve multiple touchpoints and interactions…many of which have nothing to do with your company. Here’s how you can create valuable journeys: → Using open-ended questions and a product like Helio, identify key touchpoints, pain points, and decision-making moments within each journey. → Determine the most valuable touchpoints based on the intersection frequency and user feedback. → Create structured lists with closed answer sets and retest with multiple-choice questions to get stronger signals. → Represent these intersections as key touchpoints that indicate where users commonly interact with your product or service. → Focus on these touchpoints for further testing and optimization. Generalizing the linear flow can be practical once you have gone through this process. It helps tell the story of where users need the most support or attention, making it a helpful tool for stakeholders. Using these techniques, we’ve seen engagement nearly double on websites we support. #productdesign #productdiscovery #userresearch #uxresearch

After analyzing 104,000+ product signups across 20 companies, I found that companies routing PQLs effectively see 10% higher ACVs and 15% faster close times. If you want to get similar results, here are 4 strategic approaches you’ll need to implement: 1/ Create a detailed PQL process flow chart Companies that excel at routing product signups always map out their entire process before building anything. This visual roadmap includes: • Data sources and how they connect • Tools used at each stage • The complete user journey from signup to sales • Decision points for qualification and routing 2/ Apply the same rigor to both product-led and sales-led motions Many orgs treat their product-led motion as secondary to their sales-led approach, which prevents it from ever taking off the ground. When you launch a PLG motion, make sure it is a company-level priority that has alignment across sales, marketing, product, and engineering. Also, measure and optimize it with the same intensity as your sales-led motion, so you can have a truly effective hybrid GTM motion rather than two competing systems. 3/ Build solid integrations between tools The most effective PQL routing systems connect product usage data, enrichment services, existing CRM records, and marketing automation platforms. To avoid overthinking these connections, use orchestration layers like Default to simplify your tech stack. 4/ Establish clear qualification criteria based on data Reverse-engineer what worked with successful customers to establish what a good PQL looks like. You can do this by documenting and analyzing existing customer conversion patterns and involving sales teams in defining ideal PQL criteria. If you would like to dive deeper into any of these strategies, shoot me a DM. I’d be happy to help.