Customer/Buyer Journeys
Case study at Piano and Uberflip
From Paywalls to Possibilities: Piano in New Verticals
In 2019, I worked at Piano, a SaaS company known for its rules engine that delivers personalized and targeted messaging to specific audiences. Typically, Piano is used by news media organizations to prompt readers to subscribe—if you've encountered a paywall on a popular media site, it was likely powered by Piano.
I had the opportunity to explore new out-of-vertical use cases for Piano, recognizing its potential beyond traditional applications in media consumption and paywalls. This project also provided an opportunity to push the product’s boundaries and further integrate UX into marketing strategies.
Content Marketing World:
Testing the product in at a live event
The idea to testing the product in a different vertical for the very first time was exciting (and nerve-racking), and there was significant investment in making a strong impression at this conference, Content Marketing World (CMW).
This campaign included several elements, such as:
40-foot-long banners and posters placed throughout the conference featuring unique QR codes
On-site triggers based on the conference Wi-Fi IP address (with low cellular signal helping) to demonstrate how Piano can target specific audiences by location (no unique URL or query parameters required)
A carefully crafted journey that told a story centered around CMW, carrying its bright orange theme visually through each step of the experience
A live, at-booth demo of the same campaign running at the conference to showcase how it was executed within the Piano tool
Once someone entered the journey—starting on Piano’s website—they would see one of two specific website banners (with additional variations if they missed or skipped the first), guiding them through a campaign created specifically for this conference
Example of A/B Testing Two Different Banner Designs and Marketing Copy.
Continuing the Journey
Throughout the entire campaign journey, the key visual elements are carried across to create the seamless experience; the visual graphic of the isometric cubes and the orange theme is always present and can be altered depending on the campaign theme.
By also leveraging Piano AI, there were no dead-end journeys. The next related (or curated) article would display at the end of the piece of content while carrying the overall campaign theme. As long as the scripts were on the page, the personalized journey would continue.
Example of an Article with the Next Curated Piece of Content Based on user personas.
Designing Through Complexity: The Uberflip Experience
While freelancing, I had the privilege of collaborating with a dynamic marketing team that consistently launched numerous campaigns. They were a bustling machine. However, the sheer volume of overlapping campaigns led to confusion and issues. To address this, I mapped out the entire user flow, helping everyone visualize the campaign as a cohesive whole.
This particular user flow centered around the main piece of content: the eBook (PDF), along with several supporting assets, including a 4-part "webinine" series (short-form webinars) that aligned with each of the four chapters of the eBook. This was a new and exciting challenge for me. Since users could enter the campaign by either downloading the eBook or watching the first webinine episode, it was crucial to have everything mapped out to ensure seamless progression to the next steps.
The team included a Social Media Marketer, a Senior Content Marketer, and a Demand Marketer, each with their own goals and visions for the user journey.
The Social Media Marketer envisioned social posts and ads with animations and bright colors.
The Content Marketer saw a dark and sophisticated look for the eBook.
The Demand Marketer in charge of the webinine series wanted a fun and playful theme.
Mapping out all the elements helped visualize the entire user journey, enabling us to agree on a cohesive overarching theme that complemented and addressed each marketer’s targets and goals.