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B2B startup

From badges to business impact: a system designed to increase repeat use by 40%

I was brought in by a product agency to support a B2B startup focused on workplace safety training. The initial ask was to design a basic gamification layer, a few badges and an achievement screen. But after analysing the platform’s goals, user types, and long-term potential, I saw an opportunity to transform this into a system that could drive meaningful engagement and deliver value at every level of the product.

Team

  • 1x Product Designer
  • 1x Product Manager
  • 1x Software Engineer

Goals

  • Motivate user engagement, empower managers, and surface usage insights that support product and business growth

Constraints

  • Scoped as a visual-only feature, built under NDA, across four user roles with evolving product infrastructure

MY ROLE

I was the sole Product Designer embedded in a cross-functional team.

I led the strategy, design thinking, and system architecture of a gamification system across four distinct user types.

Strategic Shift

Rather than treat gamification as a visual layer, I proposed a system that would:

  • Motivate employee behaviour through progress visibility
  • Equip managers with team engagement tools
  • Provide business clients with performance insights
  • Turn usage data into business intelligence for the platform owner

Outcome

This evolved into a full engagement system with:

  • A gamification framework with performance metrics, levels, and leaderboards
  • Manager tools to track and motivate team engagement
  • Admin visibility into individual progress
  • A company ranking system for strategic decision-making

Expected Impact

Though the system is still rolling out, similar models show strong expected gains:

  • +40% increase in repeat user engagement
  • +50% increase in manager-led coaching actions
  • +15-20% better client retention through data insights

Retrospective

This project was a strategic pivot, from a visual feature brief to a behavioural engagement system spanning four user roles. My work helped establish a scalable gamification framework that was praised by the client and agency team for its clarity, flexibility, and business alignment.

Key learnings

  • Successfully reframing narrow briefs requires confident communication and clear product thinking
  • Designing cross-role systems deepens adoption and reveals hidden business value
  • Strategic design can (and should) serve users, managers, and platform growth simultaneously