Jesse Van Mouwerik

Issuu · 2021–2023 · Senior, then Lead UX Designer

Increasing user activation, retention, and revenue

Role
Lead UX Designer overseeing the full design process
Users
Creators, businesses and public institutions publishing interactive documents
Methods
Interviews, archetypes, journey maps, A/B tests
Outcome
+27% activation from preview before sign-up

Transforming static files into interactive e-books.

Issuu is a digital publishing platform. People upload a PDF, and Issuu turns it into a flipbook, articles and social posts they can share, embed and sell. Its creators range from independent magazines to brands, schools and nonprofits. It runs on a freemium model: free to start, with paid plans that unlock more documents and features.

An Issuu flipbook open to a two-page spread: create, publish, share and analyze on the left, and integrations with Canva, Adobe InDesign, Google Drive, Dropbox and Mailchimp on the right
A PDF turned into an Issuu flipbook. Image: Issuu.
01

Problem

Users weren’t activating because onboarding steps were unclear.

Too few new users activated. They had to create an account before seeing their file as a flipbook, then landed in a workspace with 17 menu actions competing for attention.

Activation steps.

The four steps of the Issuu journey: create, publish, market and measure
The path to activation: create, publish, market, measure. An activated user has published and shared.

Activation that leads to value.

Outcome for the user See what Issuu does with my file, fast, before committing to anything.
Product output Preview before sign-up, clear steps to publish, and a simplified information architecture in the workspace.
Outcome for the business More new users activate, since activated users are far more likely to upgrade.

How the workflow changed.

Before
  1. Visit the website
  2. Create an account
  3. Upload a file
  4. Only then see the flipbook
  5. Click around dozens of options
  6. Get distracted
  7. Drop out
After
  1. Visit the website
  2. Upload a file
  3. See the flipbook preview
  4. Create an account to publish
  5. Publish and share from a 6-item workspace
Where it broke downWhat changed

Two key UX improvements showed new users the value of Issuu sooner.

A converted PDF shown as a flipbook, with options to preview it as an embed, articles, a GIF or a social post
One-click preview of all offerings, before creating an account Upload without an account and see your file as a flipbook, with every other format one click away.
The workspace menu before and after: 17 menu actions in 2021, 6 in 2023
A simplified workspace with clear onboarding steps and a cleaner information architecture Once signed up, 6 menu actions instead of 17, sharing in one place, and clear steps to publish.

One-click preview of all offerings, before creating an account.

Upload and preview without an account, from 21 clicks to a one-click upload. People see their file as a flipbook first, and only create an account when they want to edit, publish or share. Loading states showed which formats a document would turn into, inspired by Berlin’s BVG.

The logged-out homepage upload area: drag and drop to convert a PDF
1. Upload straight from the homepage, no account needed.
Preview before sign-up: Nice work, have a look, with a burst of confetti over the freshly converted flipbook
2. Nice work, have a look: the preview right after upload.
A converted PDF shown as a flipbook, with options to preview it as an embed, articles, a GIF or a social post
3. From 21 clicks to one: every other format one click away.
A modal over the preview: create an account to continue editing and sharing
4. Editing, publishing or sharing asks for an account, once the value is clear.

A simplified workspace with clear onboarding steps and a cleaner information architecture.

Once signed up, people landed in a workspace with 6 menu actions instead of 17, sharing consolidated into one place, and clear steps to publish. Hints were added, and settings moved from the bottom to the right of the page.

The workspace menu before and after: 17 menu actions in 2021, 6 in 2023
The old left-hand menu (right, 2021) had 17 actions. The new one (left, 2023) has 6, with sharing consolidated into one place.

Clear steps from upload to share.

After upload, a step bar shows where you are: upload, edit, publish, share. The first prompt invites people to add links, and says how many were already detected in their document.

The Issuu workspace after upload: a step bar with upload done and edit active, a success message, the flipbook preview, and an Add links to pages prompt saying one link was automatically detected, with add later and add links buttons
04

Results

Outcome

New users see what Issuu does with their file before signing up, and activation rose 27%.

+27% Activation from preview before sign-up
~2× More likely to upgrade after seeing the preview
21→1 Clicks to upload a file
17→6 Workspace menu actions

Preview before sign-up drove a 27% increase in activation. In A/B testing, people who saw the preview were nearly twice as likely to upgrade to a paid plan.

The Issuu publishing workspace in 2024: a large preview of the publication, a short left menu, and title, availability and settings on the right The core workspace in 2024.

Activation grew by double digits year on year. Use of a key editing feature and a key content type grew by triple digits, and a key sharing feature grew fivefold.

Uploads fell as the company aimed for higher-quality traffic, yet the total number of activated users still rose.

05

Process

The research, decisions and steps behind the result.

Go deeper

Watch the video presentation

Improving user engagement: my video presentation of this projectWatch on Vimeo ↗

More projects