Role | Product Lead
The Problem
Historically, our magazine product served a single purpose: to host conversion funnels for our PPC clients. The business model was simple: clients paid for traffic, users landed on an article, went through a funnel, and left forever. My vision was to stop renting traffic and start building an audience. I needed to transform the magazine from a simple funnel into an engagement flywheel.
Product Vision
Pillar 1: Rebuilding the Foundation (A Full UX Redesign)
Before we could build an audience, we needed a home they'd want to stay in.
The Strategy: I initiated a full redesign, shifting from a dated article news like grid to a modern, "social feed" interface influenced design. The goal was to create a familiar, intuitive, and "sticky" experience that encourages content discovery and playfulness.
My Role: I led the UX research, defined the new design elements, and worked with developers to implement a faster, more engaging front-end that mirrors the best-in-class social media platforms.
Old Approach
New Approach
Pillar 2: Creating a Retention Engine (Engagement & Community)
To capture the value of our traffic, we needed to give users a reason to return.
The Strategy: I introduced features designed specifically to build long-term relationships.
Newsletters & Subscriptions: I designed and launched a system to capture emails and deliver curated content, converting one-time visitors into a loyal, addressable audience.
Optimized Conversion Tools: I overhauled our chatbot funnels and created a dedicated "playground" page, turning them from simple lead gen into valuable, reusable resources for our users.
My Role: I designed the user flows for signup and onboarding, and worked with SEO and copywriters to define the content strategy for our newsletters.
Pillar 3: Launching New Revenue Streams (AI & Affiliate Marketing)
To create a true flywheel, the platform needed to fund itself.
The Strategy: I launched an initiative to leverage our traffic for a new revenue stream: affiliate marketing. To do this at scale, I implemented a system using AI to generate high-quality articles around affiliate products, reserving our human copywriters for high-value client work.
My Role: I designed the workflow and business rules for the AI content pipeline, from topic generation to affiliate link integration. I acted as the bridge between the SEO team (keyword opportunities), the tech team (AI implementation), and the business goals.
Status, Success Metrics & Roadmap
Key Deliverables Shipped:
The fully redesigned, "social feed" style homepage is in final development.
The newsletter subscription flow and welcome sequence are implemented.
The AI-powered content generation pipeline is operational.
The first batch of affiliate marketing articles has been published.
Success Metrics & Expected Outcomes:
My primary goal is to prove that we can transform this platform into a self-sustaining asset. The success of this initiative will be measured by the following key metrics, which I am actively tracking:
User Engagement:
Target: Increase Pages per Session by 30%.
Target: Increase Average Session Duration by 50%.
Audience Growth (Retention):
Target: Achieve a 5% newsletter subscription rate from new visitors.
Target: Grow organic traffic (from SEO) to represent 20% of all site traffic within 12 months.
Revenue Diversification:
Target: Generate a new, scalable revenue stream from affiliate marketing that covers the operational cost of the platform.
My Immediate Roadmap:
My plan is to continue iterating based on the data we collect from these new features. My next steps are:
Q3 Focus: Optimize Onboarding. Develop a user preference center for newsletter subscribers to improve content relevance and reduce churn.
Q4 Focus: Data-Driven Content. Analyze the performance of the initial AI/affiliate articles and use the insights to refine our content strategy and double down on high-performing categories.
Q1 Focus: Community Features. Explore lightweight community features (e.g., article comments, user ratings) to further increase platform stickiness and defensible value.
Thinking Like a Business Owner: This project taught me to look past the immediate task ("improve this page") and ask strategic questions ("what business are we actually in?"). The biggest value I've added is by challenging the foundational business model.
The Power of a Phased Rollout: By structuring this large-scale transformation into distinct pillars, I was able to manage complexity, demonstrate value at each stage, and build momentum for the long-term vision.
AI as a Business Enabler: I learned how to strategically implement AI not as a gimmick, but as a tool to create a scalable business process that was previously impossible, freeing up valuable human resources for higher-impact work.
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Made by Tomer Miara | 2024