Website Conversion and App Flow Standardization for an Alumni Networking Platform
Building a research-backed set of website and app flow changes so prospective users and community admins can understand value fast, reach pricing plan selection, and complete core setup with less confusion.
Making the path from awareness to activation clear
GradPad is a networking platform for alumni communities. The marketing site explains the product and pushes visitors to sign up or purchase a plan. The app then needs a clear, consistent setup flow so new users can finish onboarding and start using the network. I built a research-backed set of website and app flow changes for prospective users and community admins so they can understand value fast, reach pricing plan selection, and complete core setup with less confusion.
Two distinct users with different activation paths
Most visitors never reached pricing — and those who did couldn't act
Grad Pad wanted to increase sign-ups and plan purchases. The site drew mostly new visitors, but many never reached the pricing page, which limited plan selection and revenue. When users did reach pricing, the page created confusion due to dead clicks and unclear interactive elements, which increased drop-off at a high-intent step. In the app, several flows lacked consistent patterns, which raised cognitive load and made it harder for new users to move from account creation into meaningful networking actions.
"The site did not provide a clean path from 'learning' to 'choose a plan', so most visitors never reached pricing — and when they did, key elements looked tappable but did not respond."
Measuring what matters: reach, friction, and completion
Metrics were set before any work began so each recommendation could be tied to a testable outcome.
- % of sessions that reach /pricing (proxy for intent to pay). Baseline: 12.5%
- Keep onboarding completion working — the full sign-up flow can succeed when users commit
- Do not add steps that slow down page load or increase layout shift
- Pricing dead-click rate (baseline: 42.86%)
- Site-wide dead clicks (baseline: ~11.79–12.09%)
- New vs returning mix (13.57% of sessions were returning)
Visitors read proof but never move to pricing
Using Microsoft Clarity, I analyzed navigation paths, scroll depth, click maps, and dead-click clusters across 280 sessions and 232 unique users (Sep–Oct).
The site did not provide a clean path from 'learning' pages to 'choose a plan', so most visitors never reached pricing. When visitors did reach pricing, key elements looked tappable but did not respond, creating dead clicks and decision friction at the moment of highest intent.
Visitors read proof (Case Studies, About) but often do not move to a plan decision point
Users click things that look interactive but are not — especially on About and Case Studies
Pricing attracts higher-intent users, but the UI there creates the most confusion
Only 12.5% of sessions reached the pricing page — most users never evaluated plans
Clarity as a conversion strategy — not just aesthetics
Rather than a surface-level redesign, the strategy focused on reducing uncertainty at the two most critical drop-off points: getting to pricing, and acting on pricing.
Make next steps obvious
Make clickable things look clickable — and only clickable things look clickable
Reduce decision load on pricing
Keep flows consistent across screens (website and app)
If I add in-line CTAs on Case Studies and About, then more sessions will reach pricing because users get a direct 'proof to plans' path.
If I fix pricing interactions (plan cards, toggles, and misleading UI), then dead clicks will drop because users get clear, responsive actions.
Evaluating three paths to more plan actions
Three options were on the table. The sequencing mattered as much as the selection — fixing the wrong thing first would waste the fix.
Two-part plan: increase reach to pricing from upper-funnel pages, then remove misleading interactions on pricing to reduce dead clicks and improve plan actions. Grouped issues into (1) reach, (2) decision friction, and (3) consistency gaps — prioritized by impact and effort, then turned into clear tickets the team could ship in small releases.
What was in and what was out
Scope was kept tight so each change was testable and reversible.
Discovery and analytics readout (Clarity report)
Flow audits (website + app) and prioritized issue list
Spec and alignment with CEO, PM, and dev team
Handoff package for build planning
Three research methods, one prioritized backlog
Each method was chosen because it revealed something the others couldn't — Clarity showed where, user tests showed why, and flow review showed what to standardize.
Spec, rollout, and risk plan
The handoff was designed so a small team could ship confidently in phases without breaking existing flows.
CTA copy and placement on Case Studies and About that routes to /pricing
Pricing plan cards: make the whole card clickable, add hover state, reduce 'looks clickable but isn't' patterns
Pricing toggle: clarify billing state and show price change clearly
Pricing confidence: 'Cancel anytime,' 'change plan,' 'request demo,' and short FAQs
Share a one-page summary with CEO, PM, and dev: what changed, why, and what to watch.
Ship CTAs on learning pages and measure pricing reach
Ship pricing interaction fixes and measure dead clicks and plan CTA clicks
Track dead clicks and session replays after each change. Roll back any change that lowers sign-up completion or creates new broken states.
Across 4 weeks pre vs post — every primary metric moved
The new 'proof to plans' path increased the share of visitors who reached pricing, and the pricing interaction fixes reduced confusion at the highest-intent moment. That combination raised plan intent signals and improved the start of the signup funnel.
The marketing site and product are one system
This project taught me to treat the marketing site and product UX as one system — friction in either place can block activation and revenue. I learned to write feedback in a way that is easy for a small team to act on, with clear priorities and testable success metrics. Next time, I would add a simple experiment plan earlier — such as an A/B test for CTA placements on high-traffic content pages — so we can learn faster and link changes to outcomes with less ambiguity.
Getting users to pricing is just as important as what happens on the pricing page — and I'd always fix reach before friction.
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