Rethinking Feature Discovery in ModeMagic
Redesigned ModeMagic’s navigation and onboarding from an overloaded panel into a goal-first discovery experience.
Mason (Modemagic)
Mason is an AI-powered commerce platform trusted by 15,000+ Shopify brands. ModeMagic, a SaaS tool that helps merchants automate promotions, run flash sales, and gamify in-store experiences across Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce, without writing code.
Overview
ModeMagic launched with 2 features. As Mason scaled to 20+ across apps, campaigns, and store setup, the product's navigation couldn't keep up — it was a single panel built for a narrow scope, now asked to surface an entire product suite.
This project redesigned how merchants discover, evaluate, and activate features — spanning navigation, a new homepage surface, and a goal-based first-time user experience, across 5 design sprints.
My Role
I owned this project end-to-end across two phases.
In Phase 1 (Sprints 1–2 | ~2 months), I was the sole designer. I led user research, synthesised Hotjar recordings and interview insights, ran a competitive audit across 9 Shopify apps, and designed and tested the first navigation and homepage concepts. I worked directly with the co-founder and PM to reframe the problem from a navigation issue to a product architecture challenge.
In Phase 2 (Sprints 3–5 | ~5 months), I moved into a senior design role, splitting execution with a fellow designer while owning overall direction, A/B testing strategy, stakeholder alignment, and quality. I worked closely with engineering to ship within sprint constraints.
Problem
Nearly 40% of new users uninstalled ModeMagic within days of installation — before activating a single feature. Three signals pointed to the same breakdown: not in the product itself, but in how it was surfaced.
Behavioural
Users landed directly in the editor with no orientation. Drop-offs were high at this step, with merchants scrolling back and forth, unsure what to do next or what the product could do for them.
Qualitative
Research sessions showed merchants couldn't evaluate feature relevance. The navigation listed feature names but merchants think in goals, not tool names. They couldn't answer: "Which feature should I try first?"
Sales / Support
Automation - one of ModeMagic's most powerful capabilities was almost never activated by new users. It wasn't that they rejected it. They simply never found it.
Problem 1 – No discovery layer
ModeMagic was originally built for 2 features. As it scaled to 20+, the navigation never evolved. There was no surface where merchants could browse, compare, or understand what to activate. Only an editor that assumed prior intent they didn't have.
Problem 2 – Wrong entry point
The product dropped users directly into an editing context before they knew what they were editing or why. The model required feature awareness the product never built. No onboarding, no goal-setting, no context. Just the editor.
NDA
This project is under NDA. The goal was to reduce new-user drop-off and improve feature activation through a redesigned navigation system, a new homepage discovery layer, and a goal-based onboarding flow delivered across 5 design sprints.
The solution resulted in 3× higher conversion, 45% longer session duration, and 20% lower bounce rate for new users. I'm happy to walk through the full process, design decisions, and outcomes in a one-on-one conversation.