Web Platform Growth Strategy
Transforming a stagnant platform into a growth engine through strategic leadership, organizational change, and data-driven execution.
The Situation
When I joined Vivid Seats, the web platform—the company's primary revenue channel—was underperforming. Conversion lagged behind competitors, the design organization operated as an isolated agency, and there was widespread skepticism about design's ability to drive business outcomes.
The business relied heavily on paid acquisition with limited organic growth strategies. Leadership needed proof that investing in user experience could deliver measurable ROI.
Key Challenges
Three interconnected challenges required strategic intervention.
Organizational Misalignment
Design team operating as an in-house agency, disconnected from business outcomes and product strategy.
No Experimentation Culture
Features shipped without analytics or testing, making it impossible to measure design impact or iterate based on data.
Leadership Skepticism
Historical lack of measured results created skepticism about design ROI, limiting investment and influence.
My Approach
As Head of User Experience reporting to the CPO, I implemented a multi-pronged strategy to transform the organization and deliver measurable results.
- 01Org Restructure: Transitioned from agency model to embedded squads aligned to business OKRs
- 02Experimentation Infrastructure: Stood up Optimizely and Fullstory, establishing testing protocols
- 03Quick Wins: Prioritized high-impact, low-effort experiments to build credibility and buy-in
- 04Cross-functional Partnership: Built strong relationships with Product, Engineering, and Data to influence roadmaps
- 05Team Development: Hired, coached, and mentored team of 10+ designers and researchers
Strategic Initiatives
Five key initiatives that delivered billion-dollar impact through strategic product leadership.
Proving Design ROI
Launched first controlled A/B test to demonstrate measurable business impact. This early win was critical for building executive buy-in and securing resources for larger initiatives.
First A/B test results presentation to leadership
High-Traffic Page Optimization
Led cross-functional team to redesign the performer page—our highest-traffic entry point. Prioritized based on traffic data and conversion potential.
Checkout Transformation
Identified checkout as highest-impact bottleneck. Led iterative optimization through simplified forms, trust signals, and urgency messaging.
Friction Elimination
Analytics revealed 80% drop-off at mandatory account creation. Championed guest checkout despite initial resistance, building business case with data.
Payment Innovation
Identified opportunity to reduce checkout steps from 5-10 to one-click. Partnered with engineering to implement Apple Pay directly on production pages.
Business Outcome
Measurable impact that transformed how leadership views product investment.
Leadership Lessons
Start with credibility, then scale
Quick wins with measurable outcomes built the trust needed for larger strategic initiatives.
Org design is product strategy
Restructuring from agency to embedded model was as important as any feature shipped.
Data enables design influence
Experimentation infrastructure gave design a seat at the strategy table for the first time.