Case study
Increasing a resume business’s conversions 108% without design
CRO
Wireframes
Messaging
Intro
Resumeble is an ATS-compliant resume writing business. The owner recognised that there was a major opportunity to increase conversions on her site, so she brought me in as a CRO consultant.
This project is special to me. Resumeble was unfairly losing out to less reputable competitors (many businesses in this space have pages of complaints on ‘Better Business Bureau’). But Resumeble has an amazing track record, and I’m proud to say my efforts increased their conversions by 108% within weeks of launching our changes.
Problem
Resumeble spent years focused on their SEO strategy, and this left many extraneous pages and a cluttered navigation. Once people landed on the site, few engaged with the intended buyer’s journey. So I knew we had to restructure the sitemap and Information Architecture to better align with users’ mental models.
Solution
Based on user research, I created new wireframes for the website, restructured pages, and rewrote content. Early on, I realised the site didn’t need a redesign but clearer market positioning, a clearer offer, and a more logical display of content. We increased conversions by 108% without changing the branding.
01. Discovery/Research 🎯
To start planning research, I booked in a call with the owner.
Stakeholder Interviews:
In my initial conversations with the client, “usability” kept coming up as an issue. However, I suspected that the real problem might be the content structure. So, I decided to focus my research on figuring out if that was true. I wanted to remain agnostic and tackle anything that could improve conversions - whether that was usability OR content.
Research planning:
Because of time constraints, I didn’t have an opportunity to interview users. So, instead, I decided to pick more quantitative research methods (taking a page from ‘Lean UX’). This meant using broad insights to validate assumptions, instead of rigorous usability tests and interviews.
Primary Research:
I used a mix of surveys and sentiment analysis on existing testimonials to build a picture of our users. One thing stood out: speed. Users really valued getting their resumes written quickly, and while Resumeble was one of the fastest services around, this wasn’t clear on the site.
Another big issue was the clarity of Resumeble's offers. Users apparently visited the pricing page yet still didn’t understand what they were getting. Many weren’t reading the smaller feature pages and missed out on the fact that Resumeble offers specialised services like military career writing and IT specialist writing.
Secondary Research:
Contrary to my initial assumption, usability was indeed an issue, particularly on mobile devices. I discovered this while trying to validate some of our user research findings in Google Analytics 4.
The conversion rate for desktop users was 4.4%, compared to just 1.0% for mobile users. This indicated significant technical and informational problems on mobile.
I also noticed a sharp drop-off for mobile users on the price page - almost 95% left at this step, compared to 85% of desktop users. This suggested the page didn’t emphasise the value proposition enough or contained too much irrelevant information.
Heuristic Analysis:
Given the disparity between desktop and mobile conversions, I conducted intensive heuristic analysis following Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics. I discovered that layout issues on mobile were concealing key CTAs, and the pricing page lacked mobile-friendly features like progressive disclosure (accordions). This suggested that too much irrelevant content was visible, leading to cognitive overload and confusion.
Research synthesis:
I compiled all the research and shared it in a 50-page CRO document. This document covered all the collected data, grouping it by topics and highlighting key insights. It served as a detailed reference, pointing out the most important findings that would guide our next steps.
Competitor Analysis:
At this stage, I wanted to understand Resumeble’s competitors, including their navigation, sitemaps, offers, order processes, and dashboards. We analysed TopResume, ZipJob, and TopStack Resume. I found that all competitors followed a nearly identical order process, especially since ZipJob and TopResume are owned by the same company. They all placed upsells during the order process, simplified their offers down to three packages, and had very streamlined navigation.
User Personas:
After discussions with the owner of Resumeble, studying customers, and analysing our research, we created archetypal user personas. We identified two core user groups: IT professionals looking to climb the career ladder into management, and job seekers with a career gap. These groups historically had the highest conversion rates and were the most common in our user research.
By creating these personas, we could tailor the website content, layout, and user flow to better meet their needs. For example, the homepage and landing pages could be designed to quickly address the main concerns of each persona, with targeted messages and CTAs. The pricing page could also be restructured to highlight the most relevant offer features for each group, making it easier for users to understand their options and feel confident in their choices.
Affinity Diagramming:
To identify stronger overarching themes, I conducted an affinity diagramming session with the client. We broke down all the research into core topics to find patterns. The main topics identified were:
Simplify Offers
Career Suitability Messaging
Improve Navigation
Simplify User Dashboard
02. Define/Synthesise 🧠
By this stage, we had a mountain of raw data and some interesting ideas. In order to narrow our focus, I wanted to define our core problems.
Problem statements:
We identified key issues through root-cause analysis: the pricing page offers don’t match user needs, the sitemap is overly complex, the homepage lacks visibility for the "free resume review" service, the site’s language doesn’t align with customer terminology, and the dashboard fails to clearly show order processing status.
How Might We:
To turn the identified problems into design opportunities, we reframed them as "How Might We" questions:
How might we reframe the offers to better meet user needs?
How might we simplify the sitemap and navigation for easier information access?
How might we better showcase the "free resume review" service on the homepage?
How might we align site language with how customers talk about their challenges?
How might we redesign the dashboard to clearly show order status and progress?
03. Develop/Ideate 🧠
This step is crucial as it transforms identified problems and opportunities into actionable solutions. By developing concrete ideas and strategies, we ensure that our efforts are focused on creating impactful changes that directly address user needs and business goals.
Ideation Workshop:
I ran a brainstorming session with the client, using our "How Might We" questions as a starting point for generating solutions. We then organised the ideas into a prioritisation grid to rank changes by feasibility and impact, aiming to keep the work manageable.
We identified that simplifying the offer would have the greatest impact on conversions and require the least effort. This involved reframing existing offers and updating the messaging. Additionally, we decided to simplify the sitemap and navigation. We introduced a “How it works” dropdown to allow users to navigate directly to relevant content, and an “About us” dropdown to clearly separate concerns and keep the navigation minimal.
Service Blueprinting:
I created a new user journey map and service blueprint that incorporated the new offers and streamlined steps between landing and converting. I decided to use “progressive onboarding” to engage users by asking for smaller actions at the start and delaying extra details until after purchase. This keeps engagement up and reduces friction.
Sitemap and messaging:
I developed a new sitemap to simplify the user journey and wrote copy with a consistent voice and tone based on user research. The new value proposition, “Get a winning resume in 4 days,” aligned perfectly with the way customers talked about their problems and desires. I also utilised UX writing to guide users through the new journey, funnelling them towards either the pricing page or the “free resume review” service based on their stage of awareness.
Low-fidelity wireframes:
I created low-fidelity wireframes that laid out all the topics from user research clearly. Low-fidelity wireframes are beneficial because they allow for quick iteration and feedback without investing significant time and resources. They help in visualising the layout and flow, ensuring that the structure aligns with user needs and expectations before moving on to high-fidelity designs.
04. Deliver / Implement 🧭
I understand how crucial the delivery phase is, so I work extra hard to keep clients' optimisation efforts moving forward even after I finish a project. I also aim to make things as easy as possible for their development teams.
Handoff:
I had a sit-down with the development team to describe our goals. We wanted to maintain the current branding but emphasise key CTAs. I drafted a document outlining which usability issues to prioritise and where new features were needed. Although this wasn’t a redesign project, I created mockups to show the team exactly how content should be structured, adding some visual flair in the process.
Analytics and Feedback:
Using web analytics tools, we tracked how the new designs performed post-launch. Within a few weeks, site conversions increased by 108%, with more consistency and a higher conversion rate among our target client type (IT workers). The image below shows the immediate impact of launching the week after.
Iterate:
Post-launch, I reconnected with the client to identify further improvements. We noticed that the offer page didn’t fully capture the UVP, so I suggested changing the headline to match the homepage more closely and adding more detailed information. This continuous feedback loop ensured that the site remained optimised and aligned with user needs.