Safeguard Pay
From Buried Feature to Standalone Platform
Transformed a payment protection service buried 4 clicks deep into a standalone platform — increasing conversions by 175% and cutting bounce rate in half in 16 weeks.
Role
Lead Product Designer & UX Strategist
Timeline
16 weeks — Discovery to Launch
Year
2024
Team
- 2 Developers
- 1 Product Manager
- 1 Copywriter
- 3 Stakeholders
The Problem
Why this mattered.
Safeguard Pay had an 89% renewal rate — a product that worked — buried within a cluttered corporate site competing with 12 other services. A 2.1% conversion rate sat against a 5–7% industry average. The product wasn't the problem.
73% of users couldn't locate the service in under 4 clicks. 45% of support tickets were simply people asking how to sign up. The product worked. The access path was broken.
Starting Baseline
2.1% conversion rate · 68% bounce rate · 45% of support tickets from lost users
Discovery
What the research revealed.
5 stakeholder interviews, 8 user interviews (customers + prospects), 2 months of Analytics + Hotjar analysis, competitive analysis of 5 payment protection platforms
Most common prospect feedback: "I didn't know this existed" — discoverability was the failure mode, not the product
Users needed 3–4 minutes just to grasp the value proposition — clarity was broken before trust could form
Mobile users had 2× higher bounce rates — 58% of traffic was mobile with zero mobile optimization
Competitors with dedicated standalone sites showed 3× better conversion — the fix was structural, not cosmetic
Solution
The architecture.
Dedicated standalone platform built on three pillars: Clarity (60% content reduction, single CTA per section), Trust (security certifications, testimonials, transparent pricing), Frictionless Conversion (12 form fields to 5, inline validation, progress indicators).
Dedicated domain — all corporate distractions removed, single product focus
Benefit-led hero — value proposition readable in under 10 seconds
Progressive trust — security proof then social proof before any commitment ask
Streamlined form — 12 fields to 5, inline validation, guest checkout
Mobile-first — 58% of traffic was mobile; desktop scaled from mobile constraints
Design Process
High trust, low friction. Clean visual hierarchy with generous whitespace so the value proposition could breathe.
V1: Feature-led layout
Listed every feature prominently. Rejected — mirrored the corporate site information overload. Didn't build trust.
V2: Benefit-led hero
Led with outcomes, not features. Improved but CTA placement came too late — users dropped before converting.
V3: Progressive trust + CTA density (Final)
FinalStaggered trust signals at each scroll depth with CTAs at every milestone. A/B tested hero — winning variant: +23% click-through. Shipped.
Specifications
5 usability testing rounds with 15 participants. Card sorting with 12 users. Navigation depth reduced from 4 levels to 2. WCAG 2.1 AA throughout.
Constraints & Solutions
Legacy backend required specific form field structure. Solved by abstracting the UI layer — front-end fields mapped to backend via a translation layer invisible to users.
Outcomes
What moved.
| Metric | Before | After | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conversion Rate | 2.1% | 5.8% | ↑175% |
| Bounce Rate | 68% | 33% | ↓52% |
| Qualified Leads | Baseline | +35% | ↑35% |
| Task Completion | Baseline | +40% | ↑40% |
| Support Tickets | Baseline | -20% | ↓20% |
| Time on Page | Baseline | +45% | ↑45% |
Impact
Safeguard Pay became the company's fastest-growing revenue stream. Sales cycles shortened — prospects arrived already informed.