Case study with key metrics explanation
Why would the top 1 product seek changes?
Max and Larry, our clients in the dividend tracking niche, came to us with a unique challenge.
Their platform had already secured a top position in the European market, but regional growth had plateaued. Still, the founders had no intention of slowing down.
They recognized the shifting landscape: user expectations were evolving, and competitors were actively developing similar tools, ready to lure users away. Any delay in innovation or product development could mean losing their edge.
With obviously high customer demand and a strong will to expand the product, the team began exploring new opportunities, with North America as the next possible frontier.
Once successful model will not always be good.
Max and Larry’s main request was to redesign their platform for the North American market.
Successfull European experience wasn’t applicable to this new, competitive region.
We began the redesign process with a deep analysis of their current website and feature set.
During Heuristic Evaluation we paid attention to:
- Navigation
- Interface consistency
- Key features accessibility and user action processing
Even without a complete rebuild, we identified clear opportunities to improve user experience and attract more local users.
Some of our recommendations included:
- Restructuring tables and lists for quicker, more intuitive content access
- Adding fast access to filtering and sorting tools
- Organizing all key features into a single, user-friendly control panel
- Creating a design system for components to ensure a consistent look and feel
- Pinning account status and adding a one-click subscription renewal button to improve conversion
We distilled our UX review into a focused set of actionable improvements, fast to implement and directly aligned with their expansion goals:
Competitors – are a shortcut to win the market.
From our experience, we advise against relying on founders’ personal impressions or forum reviews of niche products. Use objective tools that highlight real competitors with active user bases, not just well-known names with random engagement and features.
Avoid guessing what users want. Instead, study live products in your niche—their features are already market-validated and set user expectations. Don’t waste resources on “fancy” features no one actually uses.
When entering a new market, it’s especially important to look at proven solutions and align your product with local expectations.
In the North American dividend tracking niche, we identified two strong players and analyzed them using these key metrics:
- Traffic sources
- User engagement levels
- Presence of referral programs and social media channels
Here is one example of how it works.
One of the clearest insights from our analysis was the importance of the mobile experience.
For both our client and their competitors, at least 50% of traffic comes from mobile devices. Competitors responded by implementing responsive design and launching mobile apps to enhance the user experience.
For our client, optimizing the mobile version became a key opportunity to improve their service and attract new users.
In the North American market, this feature is non-negotiable. Users expect to track dividends on the go. A poor mobile experience or no mobile option at all will drive away most potential users.
Final action plan.
Combining heuristic evaluation and competitor s’ analysis let us develop a clear action plan to strengthen client’s presence in Europe and expand into North America.
We defined minimum requirements to test a new market and a full-scale strategy to outperform the competition.
Without this kind of research, any redesign is just a waste of time and money. If your contractor is ready to jump in without analyzing the market, you may want to reconsider the value of that partnership.
For serious work on your product’s positioning and a competitive redesign – get in touch.
