R3 Strategies
2025
Improved retention with an actionable dashboard for businesses
Problem area
Small teams, big data chaos
Small businesses were drowning in data scattered across tools and spreadsheets. Without clear insights, they made slow and reactive decisions that led to costs and misses opportunities. For us, it led to support to tickets, low adoption, and clients losing trust in the product.
Opportunity 1
Introduce data-driven guidance to reduce confusion and support tickets, helping businesses make decisions faster and stay engaged.
Opportunity 2
Transform static transaction data into clear insights, making it easier to act and improving retention.
Design goals
What I aimed to achieve
Build trust
Design a clear, reliable dashboard that keeps business owners in control.
Drive adoption
Add a test space so business owners explore freely, see wins, and stay engaged.
Design decision 01
Defining KPIs that actually matter
Early interviews showed small business owners care about staying profitable, not vanity metrics. I focused the dashboard on cash flow, overdue invoices and growth. It meant trading depth for clarity, but it helped surface quicker insights that could drive better decisions and improve retention.
Top KPIs selected
Monthly revenue
Tracks business growth at a glance
Cash flow trend
Reveals stability and future risks
Overdue invoices
Flags delayed payments early
Revenue vs target
Keeps goals visible and measurable
Design decision 02
Building trust through a testing mode
Many users dropped off the platform before connecting their data. Instead of forcing onboarding, I introduced a sandbox mode so they could explore the product right away. It lowered the barrier to entry and helped them understand the value before committing.
1. Testing mode indicator
It reassures business owners they can explore the feature safely without being charged.
2. Context message
It reduces business owners anxiety about their real data being used in the feature demo.
3. Upgrade banner
It encourages business owners to activate the full version by giving a clear offer breakdown.
Design decision 03
Choosing clarity over complexity in visualisation
I explored two directions: a chart-rich layout and a minimalist one. I went for simplicity because financial data needs precision and quick scanning. The clean layout made key insights easier to understand and improved trust in the tool, especially important at a time when customers were resigning and product retention was decreasing.
Version 01: What I learned testing with business owners: charts were too complex
Learning 01
Unclear priorities: Competing data made it hard for business owners to see what mattered
Learning 02
Too much noise: charts were hard to read, slowing decisions when businesses needed speed.
Retrospective
Designing for confidence, not data literacy
Impact
Increased retention
Dashboard became central, engagement rose, and support tickets fell significantly.
Increased efficiency
It cut design time from weeks to days, letting the team test, refine, and deliver faster.