Project Overview
- Company: Suzy (formerly Crowdtap)
- Industry: Consumer Insights, Market Research, SaaS
- Project Type: UX Strategy, Product Enhancement, Agile Sprint Support
- Timeframe: February 2018 – January 2019
Project Context
Crowdtap had built a reputation as a gamified survey platform, connecting brands with real consumers to gather fast, actionable insights. As the company pivoted to the Suzy brand, they needed to redefine their user experience to align with their new vision.
- Suzy was evolving from a basic survey platform to a full-fledged consumer insights SaaS product, requiring a UX strategy that supported a more sophisticated user journey.
- The product team was moving fast, and they needed additional UX expertise to ensure that new features were both usable and valuable to end users.
- Keeping engagement high was critical, especially for their millennial audience, who expected an experience that felt fun, rewarding, and effortless.
I was brought in to support Suzy’s UX efforts during critical sprint cycles, ensuring that:
- New features were intuitive and engaging, reinforcing the platform’s mission of making consumer research easier and more enjoyable.
- User retention remained strong, leveraging gamification principles and usability best practices.
- The UX team had a structured approach to testing and iteration, allowing for continuous improvement based on user feedback.
This wasn’t just about polishing a product—it was about helping Suzy refine its user experience as it transitioned into a more advanced insights platform.
The Challenge / Opportunity
The Problem
Suzy was experiencing growing pains as it evolved beyond its Crowdtap roots:
- The existing UX felt more like a survey tool than a consumer insights platform, limiting its appeal to enterprise users.
- New features were being developed rapidly, but they lacked consistent UX patterns and usability testing.
- User engagement relied heavily on gamification, but the platform needed more sophisticated mechanics to sustain retention.
The Opportunity
Rather than just tweaking the interface, I worked with Suzy’s team to elevate the overall user experience, ensuring:
- A more intuitive interface for both consumers and enterprise users, making insights more actionable.
- Stronger engagement loops, refining gamification elements to keep users participating in surveys.
- A UX process that integrated more testing and iteration, ensuring that each new feature was validated before launch.
This wasn’t just about designing new screens—it was about helping Suzy evolve into a best-in-class consumer insights platform.
My Role & Team
Role: UX Support & Product Enhancement Lead
I was responsible for:
- Providing UX expertise during key sprint cycles, ensuring new features met usability and engagement goals.
- Refining gamification elements, ensuring that user incentives were structured effectively to sustain long-term participation.
- Creating UX documentation and recommendations, helping Suzy’s product team standardize their approach to user testing.
- Collaborating with design and development teams, ensuring that UX improvements were implemented efficiently.
This project required a blend of rapid execution, strategic thinking, and an understanding of behavioral psychology, ensuring that Suzy’s product remained intuitive, rewarding, and scalable.
Strategic UX Enhancements & User Needs
Suzy’s users fell into two key groups:
- Survey Participants (Consumers) – They needed an engaging experience that felt fast, easy, and rewarding.
- Enterprise Users (Brands & Researchers) – They needed a structured, professional interface that made insights accessible and actionable.
To ensure the UX supported both audiences, I worked with the team to:
- Refine gamification mechanics, ensuring incentives kept users engaged without feeling forced.
- Standardize UI patterns, reducing friction and ensuring a seamless experience across new features.
- Improve the insights delivery process, making data more digestible for enterprise users.
This strategic work helped Suzy strengthen its positioning as a research platform that was both powerful and fun to use.
UX Execution & Agile Sprint Support
Gamification Enhancements for Sustained Engagement
- Evaluated existing incentive mechanics, ensuring that rewards felt meaningful and motivating.
- Introduced new engagement loops, reinforcing participation through psychologically rewarding interactions.
- Recommended progressive incentives, ensuring that users felt a sense of achievement as they continued participating.
Improving UX Consistency Across New Features
- Identified UI inconsistencies that could create friction for users.
- Developed UX guidelines, ensuring that all new features followed a cohesive design language.
- Created a library of common interaction patterns, reducing design and development time in future releases.
Integrating UX Testing & Iteration into Development
- Provided structured recommendations for usability testing, ensuring new features were validated before launch.
- Helped the product team establish feedback loops, incorporating user insights into ongoing iterations.
Solutions & Deliverables
Enhanced Suzy’s Gamification Strategy
- Introduced smarter incentive structures, balancing user motivation with platform goals.
- Recommended progress-based engagement mechanics, ensuring users remained active over time.
Created UX Documentation & Interaction Guidelines
- Defined consistent UI patterns, ensuring that the platform felt unified as it evolved.
- Developed a UX testing framework, helping the team identify friction points before release.
Optimized the Experience for Both Consumers & Enterprise Users
- Streamlined the survey experience, reducing friction and improving engagement.
- Improved how insights were presented, ensuring enterprise users could easily analyze and act on data.
Results & Impact
- Refined Suzy’s gamification mechanics, improving long-term user retention strategies.
- Standardized UX patterns, ensuring a more cohesive experience across the platform.
- Integrated user testing recommendations, allowing the product team to validate features more effectively.
- Helped Suzy scale its UX approach, ensuring that future updates followed a structured usability framework.
This wasn’t just about making Suzy look better—it was about building a smarter, more engaging, and user-friendly research platform.
Key Learnings & Takeaways
- Gamification must feel natural, not forced – Users respond best to meaningful, well-balanced incentives.
- Standardizing UX patterns accelerates growth – A strong design system reduces development inefficiencies.
- Testing should be embedded into sprints – A UX feedback loop ensures continuous improvement rather than reactive fixes.
- Enterprise UX requires clarity – Making insights digestible improves how businesses act on consumer research.
Final Thoughts
This project wasn’t just about enhancing a product—it was about helping Suzy evolve into a more sophisticated, scalable, and engaging research platform.
By combining gamification, UX consistency, and structured testing methodologies, we ensured that Suzy was ready to grow while maintaining its core value of making consumer research easy and engaging.