Role: Lead UX Researcher - generative research, stakeholder management, product strategy, user testing
Team: UX researcher, Consumer Insights Lead, VP of Product and Marketing and ELT
Timeline: June 2025 – September 2025
My research uncovered that our "one-size-fits-all" approach to the provider experience was failing. We weren't designing for one user, but two distinct personas with conflicting needs: The Cautious Newcomer seeking reassurance, and The Professional Strategist demanding efficiency. This discovery reshaped our entire product strategy by revealing that the path to retaining our most valuable providers was to first build trust with our newest ones.
The Problem
Our platform’s job-finding experience for caregivers was a single path, but we saw signs it wasn’t working for everyone. I suspected we weren't just missing features; we were failing to understand the fundamentally different mindsets of our providers at different stages of their careers. This was leading to new user churn and risking the retention of our high-value power users. The core challenge was clear:
“How do we design an experience that evolves with our providers, supporting them when they’re new and empowering them when they’re experts?”
My Research Mindset & Methodology
My goal was to understand the complete provider journey, but I knew a "one-size-fits-all" approach wouldn't work. To truly see the full picture, I made a critical decision to segment my participants into two distinct audiences at opposite ends of the experience spectrum.
I chose a qualitative approach designed for depth, not breadth, and recruited:
While I expected to find different pain points for each group, I didn't go into the study assuming they would have different mental models. It was through the interviews that the core "Aha!" moment of the project emerged.
By the fifth or sixth interview in each group, I began to hear the same frustrations and motivations again and again—a principle known as data saturation. This gave me high confidence that the insights were not just anecdotes, but powerful, representative patterns.
The "Aha!" Moment: Two Different Mental Models
The interviews revealed that our platform needed to serve two different personas across the four journey stages: Discover, Search, Apply, Manage.
. The Cautious Newcomer (Seeking Reassurance)
New providers are on a
“Winding Path of Uncertainty”. They need the app to be a trusted guide. Their biggest frustration is the
“Limbo of Trust”—anxiety from unresponsive applications that was a primary driver of new user churn.
"I would like to know if my application was viewed because even if I wasn't approved, at least it lets me know that they looked at it."
The Professional Strategist (Demanding Efficiency)
Veteran providers are on a
“Highway of Optimization”. They view their work as a business and their primary frustration is the
“Search for Efficiency”—wasting time on generic tools and outdated job listings, which risked alienating our most valuable power users.
"I personally like knowing if a client is active on the site or not. I would hate to go to a job and it be something that expired from like three months ago."
Impact
This research created a new, strategic framework for the product team. The "Cautious Newcomer" and "Professional Strategist" personas became the new language we used to define our roadmap.
This work directly influenced the product strategy to focus on increasing new provider activation and improving long-term retention by designing a dual-track experience that supports caregivers at every stage of their career.
Reflections
What was the biggest challenge?
Recruiting for two highly specific user segments on a tight timeline was a challenge that required close collaboration with our recruiting partners to ensure we found the right participants.
What would I do differently next time?
I would follow up this foundational qualitative study with a quantitative survey to size the two personas and understand their prevalence across our entire user base.
What did I learn?
This project solidified my ability to translate deep user empathy into a clear, strategic framework the business could rally behind. It taught me that sometimes the most powerful insight is not what features to build, but who you are building for.
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