CASE STUDY · CREATOR ECONOMY SCALE-UP
Uncovering hidden users
At Jellysmack, I led UX Research and Product Management on an internal creator-sourcing tool for TikTok and YouTube — research revealed a user segment nobody knew existed, and drove 100% adoption.
Real-world project in a unicorn scale-up — details anonymized for confidentiality.
+100%
adoption by the newly uncovered user segment
+23%
adoption of new features after launch
-54%
delivery time through research-driven prioritization
Role
UX Researcher · PM · PO · UX Content Writer
Team 1 designer · 1 tech lead · 5 developers
Platform Desktop
Timeline July 2022 – July 2024
TL;DR — THE 30-SECOND VERSION
Problem — a legacy sourcing tool with outdated UX, poor adoption, and data nobody trusted.
Discovery — the assumed users had abandoned the tool; the real sourcing work was done by external contractors with no product access.
Solution — rebuilt filters and flows around both segments, added TikTok and video search, onboarded the hidden segment, rewrote all UX content.
Result — 100% adoption of the new segment, +23% feature adoption, +47% product usage, −54% delivery time.
Overview
Jellysmack's sourcing teams identify high-potential YouTube and TikTok creators for partnerships. Their legacy tool had become outdated, inefficient, and untrustworthy — I led the full rebuild across UX research, product management, and UX writing, while running foundational research toward a possible external SaaS evolution of the product.
Research
End-to-end research over two years — from stakeholder alignment to production, with each method feeding the next.
20+ interviews. Internal employees, external contractors, and stakeholders — workflows, goals, unmet needs.
Mixpanel analysis. Drop-off points and usage patterns — and the first clue the "primary users" had left.
Usability testing. Legacy product, prototype, and post-launch — blockers, pain points, trust issues.
Shadowing. Watched real sourcing sessions to see workflows and workarounds in context.
Surveys. Segmented users, prioritized features, separated essential metrics from noise.
Competitor benchmarking. 12 creator-discovery tools — informed TikTok, filtering, and video search.
Personas & user flows. One per segment (long-format / short-format), mapped from testing and interview data.
Synthesis. Dovetail-tagged interviews → affinity diagrams around pain points, needs, and workflows.
Findings
Hidden user segment. Internal users had abandoned the tool — sourcing was done by external contractors with no product access.
Broken trust. Inaccurate metrics and category tags pushed users to verify everything manually on the platforms.
Wrong metrics. Displayed filters and metrics were irrelevant to real workflows; crucial ones were missing entirely.
Two distinct workflows. Short-form sourcers needed real-time signals; long-form sourcers needed publishing consistency and verified metrics.
No filter control. Missing multi-select and exclusion options limited control over search results — a top request across segments.
Shared needs underneath. Pain points were segment-specific, but everyone needed the same three things: trust, efficiency, clarity.
"I wished there was one centralized tool to manage everything in one place."
— External contractor, unaware the tool she described already existed inside the company
Solutions
Hidden segment → Onboarded contractors. Gave the real users product access and segment-fit workflows — 100% adoption.
Wrong metrics → New relevant metrics and new filter panels. Research-led prioritization, logical grouping, and scanability across YouTube and TikTok search.
Two workflows → TikTok + video search. Platform-specific filters and a Search-by-Video feature — 23% adoption, 100% usage in its target group.
Broken trust → Accurate data display. Corrected channel categories with per-channel counts; restored confidence in the results table.
Confusing UI → UX writing everywhere. Authored every interface element — labels, tooltips, empty and error states.
Filter control → Multi-select / exclude. Designed and validated through research; deprioritized when business goals shifted — documented for the roadmap.
Design process
Research-driven. Insights → user flows, personas, functional specs, and IA decisions (filter taxonomy, labeling, grouping).
Tools & collaboration. Co-ideated with the UX Designer; Dovetail, Mixpanel, Figma, Whimsical, Notion.
Shipped in production. As PM/PO I owned roadmap, backlog, and prioritization — research went live, not into a drawer.
Key learnings
Research with impact.
End-to-end research translated user pain into measurable, business-aligned outcomes.
Adapting to shifts.
Fast-changing goals and tight budgets taught me to reprioritize without losing the thread.
Users and business.
Advocating for users works best through OKRs and job metrics — not just stakeholder conversations.
Product usage grew 47% after research-driven improvements to flow, UI, and data accuracy.
Let's work together
Product usage grew 47% after research-driven improvements to flow, UI, and data accuracy.
Let's work together
CASE STUDY · CREATOR ECONOMY SCALE-UP
Uncovering hidden users
At Jellysmack, I led UX Research and Product Management on an internal creator-sourcing tool for TikTok and YouTube — research revealed a user segment nobody knew existed, and drove 100% adoption.
Real-world project in a unicorn scale-up — details anonymized for confidentiality.
100%
adoption by the newly uncovered user segment
+23%
adoption of new features after launch
−54%
delivery time through research-driven prioritization
Role UX Researcher · PM · PO · UX Content Writer
Platform Desktop
Timeline July 2022 – July 2024
Team 1 designer · 1 tech lead · 5 developers
TL;DR — THE 30-SECOND VERSION
Problem — a legacy sourcing tool with outdated UX, poor adoption, and data nobody trusted.
Discovery — the assumed users had abandoned the tool; the real sourcing work was done by external contractors with no product access.
Solution — rebuilt filters and flows around both segments, added TikTok and video search, onboarded the hidden segment, rewrote all UX content.
Result — 100% adoption of the new segment, +23% feature adoption, +47% product usage, −54% delivery time.
Overview
Jellysmack's sourcing teams identify high-potential YouTube and TikTok creators for partnerships. Their legacy tool had become outdated, inefficient, and untrustworthy — I led the full rebuild across UX research, product management, and UX writing, while running foundational research toward a possible external SaaS evolution of the product.