BeenVerified Report Optimization
As the design lead, I spearheaded the optimization of BeenVerified’s core report experience to increase user retention and drive platform engagement. This work addressed usability issues that hindered value perception, resulting in a $3.2M increase in retention revenue and a 33% lift in user interactions.
There are 6 main report types and these report types can share points of information: for instance, a phone number can be found in a person, phone, email and social media report. The reports are made up of around 50 informational categories that appear in multiple report types.
At the project's outset, there were numerous inconsistencies in reports, components, functionality, and messaging, which led to user friction and introduced significant engineering challenges.
Technical details
There are 6 main report types and these report types can share points of information: for instance, a phone number can be found in a person, phone, email and social media report. The reports are made up of around 50 informational categories that appear in multiple report types.At the project's outset, there were numerous inconsistencies in reports, components, functionality, and messaging, which led to user friction and introduced significant engineering challenges.
Customer service was inundated with complaints from users who often felt lost on the site. There was widespread confusion about why the same piece of information—such as John Smith’s phone number—would appear differently on a personal report versus a related property report. Meanwhile, developers struggled to maintain momentum, finding it difficult to build efficiently due to inconsistencies in components and the lack of clear design documentation.
Optimize report template design and standardize components—both informed by insights from a design sprint and usability testing—to create a seamless user experience across multiple report types and improve the key KPI: retention rate.
Considering the complex situation and the diverse group of team members and stakeholders involved, I suggested conducting a design sprint. This strategy aims to synchronize perspectives, collect input, and establish a consensus on our approach. It reduces unnecessary back-and-forth communication, centralizes discussions, and addresses potential issues upfront.
Design sprint goals
- Align all team members and stake holders on direction
- Develop design roadmap that informed by priority
- Understand user frustrations
- Identify inconsistencies in the current design
- Explore how competitors were addressing similar challenges
Design sprint takeaways
- Make information consistent across all report types
- Introduce modular components
- Mobile first emphasis
- Optimize for speed to information
- Create more user friendly in report navigation
- Redesign the information architecture for improved hierarchy
I led user research efforts, collaborating with product and data teams to uncover the underlying causes of user friction. By synthesizing interview findings and usage patterns, we identified clarity, trust, and actionability as key drivers of user retention.
The focus on a key factor: speed to information. We understand users seek to quickly find information, with delays potentially causing frustration or loss of subscribers. To tackle this, I conducted unmoderated usability tests on Maze.co, comparing data tables that are used across all report types to find those that provide quicker information access and fewer errors.
Striped vs not striped table rows
2 column vs 1 column layout
One of the core challenges was inconsistency across BeenVerified’s various reports (People, Phone, Address, Email, and Social Media)—each had unique layouts, information hierarchies, and interaction patterns, creating friction for users navigating across report types.Recognizing the need for a more scalable, user-friendly approach, I developed a flexible template system that:
- Unified the structure across all reports, creating a predictable, intuitive experience.
- Simplified the customer journey, enabling users to more easily find key information regardless of the report type.
- Reduced design and development complexity, establishing a scalable foundation for future report features and data integrations.
This template approach became a foundational UX pattern, improving user comprehension, reducing task completion time, and contributing to the overall retention and engagement gains observed post-launch.
Designs prioritized surfacing high-value data upfront while reducing cognitive load, enabling users to quickly find and act on key information with confidence. Usability testing validated that clearer data presentation and more intuitive pathways improved user trust and overall report utility.
To support a seamless experience across multiple report types, we developed a system of standardized, modular components. This approach ensured visual and functional consistency, accelerated time-to-information, and provided the flexibility to accommodate diverse data sets. Additionally, these reusable components helped mitigate future tech debt, streamlining development and ensuring scalability as the product evolved.
BeenVerified is centered around providing its customers with vast amounts of data. To help users absorb information more efficiently, infographics were introduced to break down complex data into simple, visually digestible elements. The layout of these infographic components to improve data comprehension, quick scanning, and hierarchy. These enhancements allow users to easily scan and understand the information, focusing on a clear, straightforward presentation that enhances the user experience without overwhelming them with complexity.
To aid a faster user experience we introduced a streamlined and logical navigational codification for reports. This more straight forward and logical presentation of information reduces cognitive load for the user. We also introduced new modular functional elements that are sticky quick actions that are sticky to the top of the report which allow users to save, monitor, download a pdf and more at any point while scrolling.
Prior to implementing our designs into production, a critical validation phase was conducted with actual users to ensure the effectiveness of our design solutions.
Quantifying the results with A/B testing
Increase user retention
Avg. time spent on page
Overall interactions
By concentrating on the user's needs and aligning all stakeholders the project delivered significant lifts in key performance indicators, most notably:
• $2,000,000 increase in retention rate
• 1:20 increase on average time spent on page
• 33% increase in overall interactions.
