Crowdbotics stands out as a unique organization because it operates as both a platform and a service. Unlike many competitors that rely on a traditional agency model, Crowdbotics democratizes the web and app development process, making it more accessible and scalable. This hybrid approach allows clients to benefit from a streamlined development experience while maintaining flexibility in execution. However, this positioning also presents challenges.
While the Crowdbotics service simplifies the development process, this ease of use can sometimes lead to misconceptions about the underlying power of the platform. Some members of the target audience mistakenly perceive it as “too simple”.
Crowdbotics does compete with cheaper, less robust low-end solutions. But it also targets some of the same enterprises as higher-end agencies providing fully customized development services. Navigating this competitive landscape requires clear differentiation and a concise value proposition.
Crowdbotics sells itself as an ideal balance of cost-efficiency, speed, and power. Part of the new messaging included the development of a more mature brand identity and the launch of a new website. To accomplish this incrementally, efforts were prioritized based on business impact—starting with a short-term triage of the most critical issues such as data collection and user flow. Longer-term goals included a full website redesign aimed at improving conversion and positioning. The objective was to deliver a more robust, flexible web ecosystem—one that not only showcases the platform’s capabilities but also serves as a strategic launchpad for gathering insights and enabling smarter sales and marketing actions.
The client already had analytics and CRM data that clearly showed a fractured user experience and a general lack of user engagement across the board. Anecdotal data from customers consistently indicated that the nature of the brand itself and how it was manifested through design was off-putting and generally considered too simplistic. Stakeholder interviews suggested that this influenced how the target audience saw Crowdbotics and its capabilities. After all, how could a company with an unappealing website experience possibly provide viable app development solutions for enterprise? Luckily, Crowdbotics had also undergone a complete overhaul of its brand, as well. Having totally redesigned its visual and copy platforms, they were excited to roll the improvements into a better online experience.
Digging deeper into what wasn’t working with the user experience was a natural place to start. To accomplish this, we conducted an end-to-end audit of the entire Crowdbotics website experience – including the code marketplace and CRM. We carefully reviewed every aspect of the site itself and assigned a score to each area. We looked at positives and negatives, and made recommendations based on a scoring system that flagged what was most important, along with how much effort was involved in fixing each issue. We presented our findings to the client, framing the work in broader insights about how user biases are established and the way mental models are successfully built.
Three critical problems consistently surfaced in our research. First was the navigation, which was confusing due to redundant parent items. One example of this was the use of “Technology”, “API” and “Platform”; which seemed indistinguishable from each other from a practical standpoint. The lack of polish in the design language was another overarching theme. Third – and perhaps most critical – was the absence of continuity between different content blocks and pages.
At the heart of this project was a deep focus on understanding our users. To guide design decisions, we developed a diverse set of personas representing the full spectrum of potential Crowdbotics customers — from early-stage founders and solo developers to enterprise product managers and technical executives. These personas weren’t created in isolation: they were built through a mix of market research, stakeholder interviews, and behavioral analysis of existing platform users.
By combining demographic insights with attitudinal markers, we mapped out how different user types approach product building, what motivates their decisions, and where their pain points converge. This process allowed us to capture not just surface-level traits, but the deeper goals and behaviors that define their journey with Crowdbotics. The result was a portfolio of personas that grounded our design strategy and ensured the solutions we delivered resonated across multiple audiences.
| Persona | Description | Avg Visit Duration | Most Visited Page | Top Pain Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naysayer | Skeptical visitors seeking alternatives. Often IT professionals or developers aiming to validate their doubts or compare other tools. | 00:00:48 | Platform (parent) | Internal dissent, need for solid proof |
| First Timer | New, curious users from search or ads. They’re unsure of what they need but open to options that improve their workflows. | 00:00:39 | Use Cases (parent) | Uncertainty, lack of guidance |
| Guru | Tech-savvy power users already using CB. Deeply interested in documentation, advanced features, and modular components. | 00:05:07 | Post Archive (parent) | Performance, pricing, prestige |
| Advance Team | Project validators comparing CB to competitors. Typically gathering data for vendor selection, ROI, and feasibility. | 00:02:46 | Industry Solutions (parent) | Capabilities, convenience, cost |
| Gatekeeper | High-level decision-makers from IT, Legal, or Compliance. Final approvers for vendor adoption. Often follow Advance Team. | 00:02:51 | Industry Solutions (parent) | Capabilities, convenience, cost |
As an exercise to guide our overall decision-making, we translated user insights into the visual language of the new Crowdbotics brand. Each persona informed choices in color and imagery — ensuring the look and feel spoke directly to their motivations and mindset. These were reflected in dynamic, high-contrast black and white visuals that suggested practicality, conviction and a confident, authoritative voice. By mapping persona attributes to design elements, we built consistency between research and creative execution. Photography styles — candid and energetic yet polished and professional; were intended to meet users where they are. Crowdbotics’ refreshed identity now felt both cohesive and adaptable, resonating better with the audience due to its authenticity and insight into their motivations and how they saw themselves.
Users were discouraged by the lack of common relationships between different pieces of visual and copy content.
The result was a series of broken user flows and a lack of traffic from one area of the site to the next. User behavior likewise revealed clear friction across the Crowdbotics site. The homepage had a substantial bounce rate — higher than any other landing page — pointing to a failure in first impressions. Heatmaps and analytics showed that users struggled with the navigation, often confused by repetitive labels and links that lacked context or clarity.
Surveys and testing confirmed this: most users felt ambivalent or negative about the site’s design and branding. 51% still didn’t understand what Crowdbotics did, even after browsing. Long, clunky forms — especially on mobile — were another pain point, described as “mind-numbing” and “sloppy.” While users expressed interest in industry-specific content, they didn’t engage deeply. The site failed to guide them naturally from one piece of content to the next, resulting in low on-page clicks and short session depths.
| Stage | Touchpoint | User Motivation | User Action | User Thought |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Google search / Ad / LinkedIn | Looking for faster dev alternatives | Searches for tools, clicks Crowdbotics link | What does this platform actually do? |
| Homepage | Homepage | Understand value proposition quickly | Scans hero section, checks nav and trust indicators | Is this platform relevant for me? |
| Explore Use Cases / Platform | Use Cases / Platform Pages | Learn how the platform works and who it’s for | Reads platform architecture, browses use cases | Can this scale? Do I need to code? |
| Validation | Case Studies / Testimonials / Blog | Reduce risk, see industry proof | Looks at case studies and customer stories | Are their customers like us? |
| Conversion | Signup / Contact Form / CTA | Talk to sales or try the platform | Fills form or bounces due to complexity | Will someone respond? What’s the cost? |
| Post-Visit | Ad Retargeting / Email / Revisit | Reconsider after team discussion | Returns via ad or shared link | Should we give this another look? |
To strengthen the user journey and drive higher engagement, we restructured Crowdbotics’ site content using a taxonomic classification system. By defining categories and relationships at a structural level, we were able to connect individual pieces of content to one another — ensuring that related articles, case studies, and resources surfaced contextually across the site.
The most visible expression of this work came through content blades — dynamic sections that surfaced “like-to-like” relationships. A visitor reading a case study, for example, would encounter blades featuring additional case studies, blog posts, or product resources relevant to the same category. This approach not only encouraged deeper exploration but also increased the likelihood of conversions by continually presenting users with next steps tailored to their intent.
To determine where these blades would have the greatest impact, we analyzed legacy site data, including heatmaps and traffic depth. This revealed high-interest zones and content types where users were most likely to click further. By strategically placing blades in those areas, we maximized visibility, guided exploration, and optimized the site for engagement and conversion without disrupting the overall experience.
One of the key challenges in optimizing Crowdbotics’ conversion flow was the amount of information required to generate a meaningful CRM estimate. Rather than overwhelm users with long forms, we introduced progressive form design — breaking the process into smaller, digestible steps. On mobile, where attention is more fragile, we paired this with tweening animations that created a sense of continuity and momentum, reducing friction and making the experience feel lighter and more interactive.
Analytics showed a clear pattern: users tended to research the platform on desktop, but they were far more likely to convert on mobile. To address this, we carefully tuned the form flow for handheld devices, ensuring each step felt easy to complete in the moment of decision. The final hook was the offer of a free AI-driven project estimate, which both justified the data request and showcased the intelligence of the platform itself. This not only encouraged users to share their information but also gave them an immediate sense of the value Crowdbotics could deliver.
Given the constraints of a limited budget, we focused our user testing efforts on wireframes only, allowing us to validate core flows and interactions before investing in high-fidelity design. To maximize learning, we used a hybrid approach: automated testing for quick quantitative insights and moderated sessions for deeper qualitative feedback.
Participants included a mix of current customers, prospective users, and internal subject matter experts, ensuring we captured a well-rounded perspective on usability and expectations. This combination allowed us to rapidly identify friction points, validate navigation patterns, and refine content hierarchy — all while staying lean with time and resources.
To accelerate collaboration and reduce ambiguity, we relied on rapid prototyping as our primary design tool. This approach allowed us to quickly illustrate how the most critical content blades would function, making it easy for stakeholders to see not just what content appeared, but how it linked together and supported conversion. Prototypes gave the team a shared language for evaluating flows and refining decisions without slowing momentum.
We also introduced a library of flexible design blocks that could be repurposed across the site, ensuring consistency while reducing production time. To bring these components to life, we layered in subtle animations — adding visual interest, reinforcing interactions, and aligning with the platform’s updated design paradigm.
Throughout the process, we stayed true to the no-nonsense, outcome-focused ethos of the refreshed Crowdbotics brand. Content was structured and presented with clarity, putting solutions and results front and center. The result was a streamlined, scalable system that not only elevated the user experience but also embodied the direct, practical spirit of the brand.
Continuous improvement gave us a framework for developing and refining the experience based on the available metrics from visual testing, beginning early with detailed data collection, and integrating this into the design work on an ongoing basis. We restructured the site around focused parent pages, using further zone mapping to organize additional content without overwhelming users.
Since most visitors were on desktop and held decision-making roles, optimizations to those layouts and designs had a substantial effect. Navigation appeared to better reflect user goals, with key paths surfacing more early. Short, step-by-step form flows with visual feedback reduced friction during the conversion process and brought more testers to the bottom of the funnel. However, while industry pages drew initial interest, engagement quickly dropped thereafter due to lack of content depth. And despite improvements, about 30% of users still felt that they didn’t gain a concrete understanding of what Crowdbotics actually offered—pointing to a deeper messaging issue beyond layout or flow.
Because the client was to assume the ultimate responsibility for developing the CMS, our efforts to create a better experience could only go so far. Eventually, the pages and animations developed by our team were contingent on the in-house team’s ability to deliver a working final build.
Unfortunately, these problems were exacerbated by a lack of cohesive content strategy, which became increasingly apparent during rollout. Notably, conversion blades were absent from related content areas—especially in the codeshare and online marketplace sections, both potential sources of supplemental revenue. Currently, the greatest need is fresh, topical content at the top of the funnel – followed by more substantial set of page templates. In the end, the client was only able to partially realize their goals due to their limited in-house development capabilities – a situation that could eventually be remedied by agency intervention.
© 2023 Jon Gifford