Muskan Bhargava

Designing for Behaviour Change

Designing for Behaviour change

+166% WAU • 2× Reveal & Save Conversion •
+70% Contacts Revealed • Self-serve ≈20% of Revenue

Client

ContactOut

Timeline

Q4 2022- Q2 2023

Platform

Website and Mobile

TL;DR 🏃‍♂️

ContactOut’s Chrome Extension drove 85% of usage but was overly dependent on LinkedIn and couldn’t scale. The Search Portal was designed to fix this but saw low adoption.

I led the UX + visual redesign end-to-end, ensuring clarity in typography, layout hierarchy, and accessibility…
I also codified new visual patterns (type scale, colour tokens, 8pt grid) into the design system, ensuring accessibility and consistency across web and mobile.

Result: WAU grew 15% → 40% (+166%), reveal/save conversions doubled, and portal-first self-serve users now drive ~20% of company revenue.

ContactOut’s Chrome Extension drove 85% of usage but was overly dependent on LinkedIn and couldn’t scale. The Search Portal was designed to fix this but saw low adoption.

Result: WAU grew 15% → 40% (+166%), reveal/save conversions doubled, and portal-first self-serve users now drive ~20% of company revenue.

Context & Problem 🚩

Dependence: 85% of usage came from the Chrome Extension → risky and constrained by LinkedIn.
Adoption gap: Recruiters defaulted to the extension even when the portal could unlock faster workflows.

Portal underused: Of 15.2K monthly visitors, only 64% searched, 1.3% saved, and almost nobody reached power features like export or mail merge.

Dependence: 85% of usage came from the Chrome Extension → risky and constrained by LinkedIn.
Adoption gap: Recruiters defaulted to the extension even when the portal could unlock faster workflows.

Portal underused: Of 15.2K monthly visitors, only 64% searched, 1.3% saved, and almost nobody reached power features like export or mail merge.

Design challenge: Move users to the Portal by making value clear, workflows intuitive, and bulk features central, without disrupting recruiter habits, while ensuring the visual design felt familiar, accessible, and scalable across platforms.

My Role 👩🏻‍💻

Product Designer leading research, ideation, design, validation, and phased delivery.

Took on semi-PM responsibilities to unblock progress:
- Ran weekly funnel reviews & triage with Growth and Engineering.
- Sequenced a 3-phase rollout plan to de-risk conversion.
- Defined success metrics & “release gates.”
- Facilitated cross-team alignment by visualizing trade-offs.

Tools Used:
- Figma (wireframes, prototypes)
- Hotjar + GA4 + Mixpanel (user behaviour)
- Google Sheets (feature matrix, version tracking)
- Maze.co (user testing)s.
- Loom and Slack (async collaboration across global teams)

Product Designer leading research, ideation, design, validation, and phased delivery.

Took on semi-PM responsibilities to unblock progress:
- Ran weekly funnel reviews & triage with Growth and Engineering.
- Sequenced a 3-phase rollout plan to de-risk conversion.
- Defined success metrics & “release gates.”
- Facilitated cross-team alignment by visualizing trade-offs.

Tools Used:
- Figma (wireframes, prototypes)
- Hotjar + GA4 + Mixpanel (user behaviour)
- Google Sheets (feature matrix, version tracking)
- Maze.co (user testing)s.
- Loom and Slack (async collaboration across global teams)

TL;DR 🏃‍♂️

ContactOut’s Chrome Extension drove 85% of usage but was overly dependent on LinkedIn and couldn’t scale. The Search Portal was designed to fix this but saw low adoption.

Result: WAU grew 15% → 40% (+166%), reveal/save conversions doubled, and portal-first self-serve users now drive ~20% of company revenue.

Context & Problem 🚩

Dependence: 85% of usage came from the Chrome Extension → risky and constrained by LinkedIn.
Adoption gap: Recruiters defaulted to the extension even when the portal could unlock faster workflows.

Portal underused: Of 15.2K monthly visitors, only 64% searched, 1.3% saved, and almost nobody reached power features like export or mail merge.

My Role 👩🏻‍💻

Product Designer leading research, ideation, design, validation, and phased delivery.

Took on semi-PM responsibilities to unblock progress:
- Ran weekly funnel reviews & triage with Growth and Engineering.
- Sequenced a 3-phase rollout plan to de-risk conversion.
- Defined success metrics & “release gates.”
- Facilitated cross-team alignment by visualizing trade-offs.

Tools Used:
- Figma (wireframes, prototypes)
- Hotjar + GA4 + Mixpanel (user behaviour)
- Google Sheets (feature matrix, version tracking)
- Maze.co (user testing)s.
- Loom and Slack (async collaboration across global teams)

Research Analysis 🔬

I ran a multi-method research program to uncover why users weren’t adopting the portal and where friction lived. This included:

Accessibility audit → contrast and discoverability issues.
UX audit & analytics review → funnel drop-offs, conversion metrics, session flows
Heatmap analysis → scroll depth, click patterns, ignored features
Competitive analysis → ZoomInfo, Apollo, Lusha, LinkedIn Recruiter
User interviews → external recruiters + SDRs to capture workflows and expectations
Internal interviews → ContactOut’s own recruiting and sales teams (high-frequency users)

Because these inputs were diverse and qualitative-heavy, we built a research synthesis board: a journey-based map where findings from the UX audit, heatmaps, competitor analysis, and interviews were layered onto the user flow.

This allowed us to:

Anchor insights directly to stages of the customer journey.
Spot recurring pain points across different methods.
Translate research quickly into design requirements.

I ran a multi-method research program to uncover why users weren’t adopting the portal and where friction lived. This included:

Accessibility audit → contrast and discoverability issues.
UX audit & analytics review → funnel drop-offs, conversion metrics, session flows
Heatmap analysis → scroll depth, click patterns, ignored features
Competitive analysis → ZoomInfo, Apollo, Lusha, LinkedIn Recruiter
User interviews → external recruiters + SDRs to capture workflows and expectations
Internal interviews → ContactOut’s own recruiting and sales teams (high-frequency users)

This allowed us to:

Anchor insights directly to stages of the customer journey.
Spot recurring pain points across different methods.
Translate research quickly into design requirements.

I ran a multi-method research program to uncover why users weren’t adopting the portal and where friction lived. This included:

Accessibility audit → contrast and discoverability issues.
UX audit & analytics review → funnel drop-offs, conversion metrics, session flows
Heatmap analysis → scroll depth, click patterns, ignored features
Competitive analysis → ZoomInfo, Apollo, Lusha, LinkedIn Recruiter
User interviews → external recruiters + SDRs to capture workflows and expectations
Internal interviews → ContactOut’s own recruiting and sales teams (high-frequency users)

This allowed us to:

Anchor insights directly to stages of the customer journey.
Spot recurring pain points across different methods.
Translate research quickly into design requirements.

Key Findings & Implementation Ideas 💡

Stages

Research Findings

Implementation Ideas

Landing &
First Interaction

40% of users landed on the portal but didn’t run a search → “Where do I start?”

#Analytics review

Heatmaps showed users scrolling past filters without engaging

#UX audit #Heatmap analysis

Competitors (ZoomInfo, Apollo) highlighted immediate value above the fold

#Competitive analysis

Add starter queries + onboarding video to guide first action

#Analytics review

Optimize viewport to show both results and filters above the fold

#UX audit #Heatmap analysis

#Analytics review

Use familiar labels & layouts (mirroring LinkedIn Recruiter, Sales Navigator)

#Competitive analysis

#Analytics review

Landing &
First
Interaction

Search &
Results Exploration

Recruiters wanted bulk reveal/export but didn’t see the entry points

#User interviews

Users lacked confidence in total lead volume → they hunted for overall counts

#Observation + survey

Personas diverged: Recruiters (bulk, high-frequency) vs. SDRs (single leads)

#Interview synthesis

Introduce a persistent bulk action bar, visible even pre-selection

#Analytics review

#User interviews

Move pagination & total count to top as a trust signal

#UX audit #Heatmap analysis

#Analytics review

#User interviews

Add inline quick actions (save, add to folder) on cards to reduce SDR friction

#Competitive analysis

#User interviews

Search &

Results
Exploration

Search &

Results
Exploration

Reveal & Save Flow

Only 1.3% of visitors saved leads → biggest drop-off at post-reveal

#Funnel analytics

Users were confused by unclear CTAs — didn’t know the next step

#Usability testing #Interviews

Recruiters framed saving/exporting as a “progress signal”

#Qualitative interviews

Redesign post-reveal state with one clear, primary CTA

#Analytics review

#User interviews

Provide consistent interaction states for both single and bulk actions

#UX audit #Heatmap analysis

#Analytics review

#User interviews

Use motion/state feedback to reinforce reliability

#Competitive analysis

#Analytics review

#User interviews

Reveal &
Save Flow

Longer-Term
Engagement

Recruiters asked for folders, lists, exports to mirror existing workflows

#Interviews #Survey

SDRs wanted lighter, one-off actions without being overwhelmed

#Interview synthesis

Analytics showed minimal use of advanced filters → over-engineered

#Usage analytics

Keep MVP modular (bulk + folders first; defer advanced filters)

#Analytics review

#User interviews

Mirror extension workflows to ease migration

#Analytics review

#UX audit #Heatmap analysis

#User interviews

Sequence releases (filters → bulk actions → onboarding nudges) for adoption at scale

#Competitive analysis

#Analytics review

Longer-Term
Engagement

Synthesis & Requirements ✍️

From research, we crystallized three requirements:

Guide the first action → users must know how to start immediately.
Surface power early → bulk workflows and totals visible upfront.
Reduce re-learning → flows must mirror familiar recruiter tools.

These became our design principles and success metrics for rollout.

From research, we crystallized three requirements:

Guide the first action → users must know how to start immediately.
Surface power early → bulk workflows and totals visible upfront.
Reduce re-learning → flows must mirror familiar recruiter tools.

These became our design principles and success metrics for rollout.

From research, we crystallized three requirements:

Guide the first action → users must know how to start immediately.
Surface power early → bulk workflows and totals visible upfront.
Reduce re-learning → flows must mirror familiar recruiter tools.

These became our design principles and success metrics for rollout.

What Changed ✨ (Design Solutions)

1. Guided First Steps

Smart starter queries based on most popular search criteria + short onboarding video.

✅ +23% increase in users running their first search.

1. Guided First Steps

Smart starter queries based on most popular search criteria + short onboarding video.

✅ +23% increase in users running their first search.

1. Guided First Steps

Smart starter queries based on most popular search criteria + short onboarding video.

✅ +23% increase in users running their first search.

2. Bulk Workflows Upfront

Persistent bulk action bar visible before selection.

Pagination and total profile count moved above the fold.
✅ Bulk adoption surged; reveal & save conversions doubled.

2. Bulk Workflows Upfront

Persistent bulk action bar visible before selection.

Pagination and total profile count moved above the fold.
✅ Bulk adoption surged; reveal & save conversions doubled.

2. Bulk Workflows Upfront

Persistent bulk action bar visible before selection.

Pagination and total profile count moved above the fold.
✅ Bulk adoption surged; reveal & save conversions doubled.

3. Familiar Mental Models

Aligned interaction patterns with LinkedIn Recruiter / Chrome Extension.
✅ Faster adoption curve; reduced user training needs.

3. Familiar Mental Models

Aligned interaction patterns with LinkedIn Recruiter / Chrome Extension.
✅ Faster adoption curve; reduced user training needs.

3. Familiar Mental Models

Aligned interaction patterns with LinkedIn Recruiter / Chrome Extension.
✅ Faster adoption curve; reduced user training needs.

4. Interaction States for Scale

Inline quick actions (save, add to folder) on profile cards.
Consistent feedback for both single and bulk states.
✅ Users trusted the UI for large-volume tasks.

4. Interaction States for Scale

Inline quick actions (save, add to folder) on profile cards.
Consistent feedback for both single and bulk states.
✅ Users trusted the UI for large-volume tasks.

4. Interaction States for Scale

Inline quick actions (save, add to folder) on profile cards.
Consistent feedback for both single and bulk states.
✅ Users trusted the UI for large-volume tasks.

Rollout & Ops 🛠️

We shipped the redesign in three phases: filters → bulk actions → onboarding nudges, to reduce risk and gather iterative feedback.
Each phase had success gates and was validated through usability testing, with weekly dashboards tracking adoption and surfacing issues for rapid triage.
After stabilizing desktop, we extended to mobile and added onboarding/empty-state nudges to accelerate new-user activation.

Learnings 💭

A strong UX is clarity of purpose. For the Search Portal, I learned that even a feature-rich product can underperform if users don’t know where to start or what value they’re getting.
Strong visual hierarchy (typography, layout, color) was as critical as UX logic in driving adoption.
System-first thinking (grids, tokens, modularity) ensured scalability.
Clear entry points, content hierarchy, and guided flows matter just as much as functionality.
The most valuable time spent was facilitating alignment across teams. By visualizing trade-offs, showing multiple directions, and anchoring decisions in user research, I helped the team move with clarity.
Designing for scale meant leaning on modularity and not over-optimizing for edge cases. The winning approach was the one that was flexible enough to evolve with the product and clear enough to serve the core use case.
And finally, the portal’s success came from treating search as the starting point, not the destination. Every click after that had to be obvious, useful, and measurable.

Future 🔮

Following the success of the redesign, next, we’re focusing on:
- Enhancing the Lists and Email Campaign features to streamline outreach within the portal
- Continuing to analyze evolving user behaviour to guide data-informed optimizations
- Exploring new data points and interaction models to improve personalization and conversion

The long-term goal is to make the portal the default, standalone workspace for sourcing- faster, smarter, and fully independent from LinkedIn.

Recognition ☀️

This project not only improved product metrics but also shaped how we approach research at ContactOut.
This research was featured by the CEO in his “How to Start a Startup” course as a model for UX-led product discovery.
The course has over 3M+ views and helps founders connect research to real business outcomes.

👉 Watch the video here (timestamped)