Growth for Buffer
I was the lead designer on a new team exploring growth at Buffer. Some ideas were experiments, and some made it into the product.
Company
Buffer
Role
Lead Product Designer
Skills
UX · UI · Prototyping · Figma · Strategy
A new experimental team
Buffer put together a new team to focus on growth. Some projects were experiments and others made it through to production. I worked as the lead designer across new pricing, better upsells, calls to action and a prototype for a whole new home experience.
There were lots of explorations covering upsells, pricing and onboarding
Exploring new pricing
At the time, we wanted to introduce a new Essentials plan to Buffer. It would sit alongside the current plans so we could see how it resonated. The first challenge was working out the plan itself, then deciding how to introduce it inside the app. I started by exploring different entry points, including the pricing plans page. Using illustrations from our brilliant brand designer, Julia, I wanted the new plan to feel exciting, celebratory and worth clicking.
Seeing if we could introduce a new plan next to our older ones
Discover, not sell
We needed space to explain the plan, but it felt important to keep that inside the app instead of sending people to a marketing page. The idea was to make discovery, learning and upgrading feel quick and simple. I explored a modal that could be triggered from any Essentials notice in the web app. It sat between discovery and upgrade, with just enough information to help customers understand the benefits.
We introduced a modal designed to be engaging and a way to learn about the new plan
Cross-platform
We carried the same idea over to mobile when explaining other new plans, like Team Pack. It felt important to keep that bright, friendly style across platforms. At the time, we were investing heavily in the design system across web and mobile, including brand assets and illustrations as a core part of Buffer's new identity.
We explored bringing over the same ways to learn about plans to mobile
Show what they're missing
As part of the upsell work, I mapped out all the places where we tried to move customers from the free plan to a paid plan. There were plenty of missed opportunities. We looked again at onboarding, blocked paid features and moments where a popup or modal could help. The important thing was to protect the user experience. Lower-tier plans still needed to feel useful, not like a place where people were constantly pushed to upgrade.
A new experimental area called Home that would serve as an onboarding experience for customers
No place like home
Another growth project was a more experimental feature we called Home. It was a cross-platform exploration inspired by the Get Started experience on mobile. At the time, new customers landed in a blank queue when they signed up. We explored useful jump-off points that could help them understand Buffer faster, get more value from the product and find natural reasons to upgrade.