How continuous optimization helped evolve WAEPA's digital experience into a stronger platform for education, engagement, lead generation, and customer acquisition.
Led continuous website optimization across product pages, UX, and content strategy over five years.
Timeline
Website and member portal launch 2020 · continuous improvement 2020–2025.
scope
Microsoft Clarity · Google Analytics · On-site search data.
Results
+383% total users +264% Clicks-to-App +1,359% annual website leads
When I joined WAEPA, the organization was already developing a new public website and member portal. My initial role involved helping support the transition, launch the new experiences, and manage the significant cleanup and enhancement work that followed.
But the launch was only the beginning.
Over the next five years, I treated the website as an evolving growth asset rather than a finished project. I continuously evaluated how prospects interacted with the site, identified information gaps and points of friction, and worked across teams to improve the customer experience.
01 the challenge
The decision to build a new website and member portal had been made before I joined WAEPA, and development was already underway.
After joining, I became heavily involved in:
Supporting the website transition and launch
Managing post-launch cleanup and enhancements
Identifying issues and opportunities for improvement
Helping evolve the site beyond its initial launch
The new platform provided a stronger foundation, but launching a website did not automatically create an optimized customer experience.
key challenge
How do you turn a newly launched website into an experience that continuously improves as customer needs, user behavior, and business priorities change?
02 the opportunity
The opportunity was to move beyond treating the website as a one-time redesign project.
Instead, I could use multiple sources of insight to identify opportunities for improvement:
insight sources
Customer Research
Understand what prospects wanted to know.
Analytics
Identify trends in traffic, engagement, and conversions.
user behavior
Use tools such as Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors interacted with key pages
on-site search
Identify information and navigation gaps based on what users were actively looking for.
The Continuous Improvement Loop
Research
Observe
Identify Gaps
Improve
Learn
Repeat
03 strategy & Approach
The approach centered on three practices.
01
Continuously Improve High-Intent Experiences
Rather than treating product pages as finished after launch, I revisited them as customer needs, technology, and UX expectations evolved.
02
Use Behavioral Data to Identify Friction
I used behavioral tools and analytics to understand how users interacted with pages, where they were looking for information, and where the experience could be simplified.
03
make important information easier to find
I examined what prospects and members were searching for and identified gaps in content, navigation, and information architecture.
Together, these practices created an ongoing feedback loop that informed website improvements over several years.
04 Putting the Strategy into Action
Evolving High-Intent Product Experiences
The Group Term Life Insurance page launched with the new website in 2020. But rather than treating the launch as the finished product, I continued to evaluate how the experience could better support prospects.
Following customer research, competitor analysis, and my assessment of information gaps, I helped lead several major iterations.
2021
Expanding Information and Building Trust
Clearer explanations of group term life insurance and coverage options
Information about the application process
Guidance to help prospects think about their coverage needs
New York Life branding and financial-strength ratings
More prominent access to Member Services
2024
modernizing the experience
Modernized design
Improved responsiveness
Better readability and information hierarchy
Improved presentation of key information
Added richer content, including product videos
2025 enhancement
Added Trustpilot rating stars to product pages to introduce third-party social proof and further strengthen trust at a critical decision point.
I applied a similar iterative approach to other high-value experiences, including the launch and later refresh of WAEPA’s Short-Term Disability Insurance product page.
Using Behavioral Insights to Reduce Friction
Using Microsoft Clarity, I observed that users on the Group Term Life page were scrolling to find rate information and then leaving the page to visit a separate Rates page.
Instead of making visitors navigate elsewhere, I applied that insight when developing the Quick Decision experience.
designing around what users wanted
Instead of leading with the product name, the page led with the primary customer benefit:
“Life Insurance Coverage in 30 Minutes”
Key Decisions Included:
Added a prominent jump link in the hero.
Embedded the rate calculator directly on the page.
Used direct, benefit-focused messaging.
Used icons to improve scanability.
Expanded FAQs to answer more questions without requiring users to leave.
Compared with the primary Group Term Life page over a 12-month period, Quick Decision generated more Clicks-to-App despite receiving only about 35% as much traffic.
Most-clicked element: Rate Calculator
Helping Users Find the Information They Need
Making the Application Process Easier to Understand
problem
Applying for life insurance can be confusing.
Response
Added a simplified application-process timeline to product pages
Created a dedicated page with more detailed information
Answering Common Questions
I researched the questions people commonly have about life insurance and helped create a dedicated Life Insurance Questions & Answers resource.
Foundational FAQs
Educational videos
Additional resources
Pathways to related topics
The research also informed improvements to the broader FAQ library.
Using Search Behavior as Customer Research
What are users telling us they’re looking for?
By analyzing on-site searches, I identified missing information and navigation problems.
Example: “Pay bill”
User Behavior
Members repeatedly searched for “pay bill.”
Insight
The information was not sufficiently easy to find.
Action
Added a more prominent link to the main navigation.
I applied similar insights, combined with competitor research, to refine navigation and better align the site’s structure with how users were looking for information.
Search Behavior
Identify Gap
Improve Experience
05 results
The impact of these improvements was cumulative. While no single redesign or enhancement can be credited for all of the site’s performance gains, the website became a significantly larger and more capable part of WAEPA’s digital growth engine over time.
early post-launch
+61%
Website conversions
+36%
Conversion rate
2021 vs 2020
Long-term growth
+383%
Total users
+106%
Organic sessions
2023 vs 2019
High-intent engagement
+264%
Clicks-to-App
20,257 → 73,737 · 2019–2025
Lead generation growth
+1,359%
Annual website leads
843 → 12,303 · 2019–2025
content engagement
+35%
Users downloading gated content
2025 vs 2024
technical performance
100%
Good Core Web Vitals
Mobile + Desktop
Annual Website Leads
Clicks-to-App
06 challenges
challenge 01
Measuring Individual Improvements
Website performance was influenced by traffic acquisition, campaigns, seasonality, product changes, and multiple simultaneous improvements. As a result, individual UX changes could not always be tied to a clean before-and-after result.
Challenge 02
Balancing Different User Needs
Prospects often needed education and reassurance before applying, while returning visitors or members wanted to complete tasks quickly. The challenge was determining:
What information belonged where
How prominently it should appear
When users should be able to explore further
07 lessons learned
01
Launch is the Beginning
A website launch creates the opportunity to begin learning from real user behavior.
02
Optimization is Broader than CRO Testing
Sometimes the best improvement is better information, easier access to a tool, stronger trust signals, or improved navigation.
03
Multiple Sources of Insight Are Stronger Together
Research, analytics, behavioral data, and search behavior can reveal opportunities that no single data source would identify alone.
A launch is a starting line. The value comes from what you learn afterward, and how consistently you act on it.
Over five years, this continuous-improvement mindset helped evolve the website from a newly launched platform into a more effective digital experience supporting discovery, education, engagement, lead generation, and customer acquisition.
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