Work/PromoPages

Marketing,
made simple.

A lightweight, auto-provisioned landing page builder that helps small businesses promote themselves — without needing a website.

PromoPages — guided font selection step in the page builder

Year

2019

Role

UX Designer

Client

Hostopia

Platform

Web · auto-provisioned

About the client

Hostopia provides white-label web services and business communication tools that enable service providers to drive revenue and customer retention.

End-to-end UX

Research, UX design, and prototyping of the PromoPages experience — focused on simplifying the user flow and making the product accessible to a broad demographic.

Telecom partners — bundled with core services
Overview — 01

PromoPages is a value-add product for small businesses purchasing core services — phone, internet — through Hostopia's partners. Many already had websites, but lacked simple tools to promote, capture leads, or share updates. PromoPages introduced a guided, form-based experience that quickly generates a branded, goal-driven landing page — turning passive customers into active marketers.

Summary — 02

Where the friction was, and what we set out to remove.

Key pain points

  • Small businesses lacked simple marketing tools
  • Existing solutions were too complex or time-consuming
  • Users needed guidance, not customization freedom
  • Older users struggled with accessibility and usability
  • No built-in pathway for promotion or engagement

Result: low engagement in marketing tools, missed opportunities for both customers and service providers, and little to no online presence.

The problem

Customers didn't need another website — they needed a simple way to promote their business. Existing tools assumed too much technical knowledge, creating friction and low adoption across a wide demographic.

My role

UX Designer — end-to-end experience. Research, UX design, and prototyping of the PromoPages flow, focused on simplifying the experience and making the product accessible to a broad audience.

Objective

Help small businesses create a promotional landing page in minutes, market themselves without technical expertise, and increase engagement with Hostopia partner services.

Instead of asking "how do we give users more customization?" we asked "how do we guide users to create something valuable — quickly?"

PromoPages — partner sign-in / login experience
Features — 03

Three moves: personalize,
promote, upsell.

F · 01

Personalize — guided customization

Pain point

Small business users needed branding but lacked the skills and time to design a website from scratch.

Solution

A simplified, guided builder for customizing key elements — colors, fonts, logo, imagery — within structured templates. New-in customers complete a dynamic, interactive webform and walk away with a branded landing page in a few simple steps.

↑ Completion rate of page creation · ↓ time to launch a branded page · ↑ perceived value through brand alignment
Customize — type
Customize — color
Customize — font
Customize — branding
Customize — contact info
01 / 05
F · 02

Promote — goal-based page types

Pain point

Users didn't know what kind of page to create, or how to effectively promote their business.

Solution

Five goal-based page types — promote a discount, share a menu / PDF, build an email list, share news, or a general landing page — guiding users toward a clear outcome instead of open-ended creation.

↑ Clarity in user intent · ↑ relevance of pages created · ↓ decision paralysis during setup
Personalize — create a landing page
Personalize — share a PDF document (menu)
Personalize — promote a discount
Personalize — build your email list
Personalize — share news
01 / 05
F · 03

Upsell — path to advanced solutions

Pain point

Basic templates met initial needs but limited long-term growth and monetization opportunities for partners.

Solution

Positioned PromoPages as an entry point — auto-provisioned at sign-up, bundled with partner core services as a value-add and retention play, then designed to upsell users into more advanced, fully customized website solutions through the partner sales channel.

↑ Conversion opportunities for partners · ↑ revenue potential from existing customers · ↑ product lifecycle value
Upsell step 1
Upsell step 2
01 / 02
PromoPages — research artifacts and customer journey map
04 · Process

A lean, iterative process.

01 — Discovery

User interviews and competitor analysis to understand how small businesses approached online promotion and where existing tools fell short.

02 — Synthesis

A key pattern surfaced: users didn't need more flexibility — they needed guidance. Simplified the experience around clear goals and minimal decision-making.

03 — Prototyping

Wireframes and flows centered around a guided webform, reducing complexity while maintaining meaningful customization.

04 — Validation

UserTesting sessions captured real interactions, feedback, and usability gaps — especially across different age groups.

Research & discovery

Promotion, not full website creation, was the real need.

Initial research showed users were overwhelmed by traditional website builders and many lacked the time or technical knowledge to use them. UserTesting revealed a clear divide: younger users moved quickly through the flow, while older users struggled with readability and accessibility.

Design & prototyping

Predefined goals over open-ended creation.

The experience was designed around a guided, step-by-step webform with structured customization instead of full control — reducing friction while still letting users feel ownership over their page.

User testing feedback

Speed and simplicity over flexibility.

Testing validated that the guided approach significantly improved ease of use, that users preferred simplicity over flexibility, and that accessibility improvements were critical for broader adoption.

05 · Challenges

Key challenges and solutions.

CH · 01

Designing for a wide demographic

Users ranged from tech-savvy entrepreneurs to older, less digital-native individuals.

→ Simplified interactions and reduced decision points to support all users.
CH · 02

Balancing simplicity with value

Too much flexibility would overwhelm users; too little would reduce usefulness.

→ Structured customization within predefined templates.
CH · 03

Accessibility gaps across age groups

Early testing revealed usability issues for older users — low contrast, small targets, dense copy.

→ Improved contrast, readability, and interaction clarity based on feedback.
CH · 04

White-label scalability

The product needed to work across multiple partner brands and use cases.

→ A flexible system that adapts visually while maintaining consistent UX.
PromoPages — finished customized landing page
06 · Results & impact

What shipped, and what moved.

MVP scope

Guided webform, goal-based templates, basic personalization, auto-provisioning.

Upon sign-up with their service provider, new-in customers receive an auto-provisioned PromoPage. They follow a link, complete a few simple steps in the dynamic webform, and land on a branded promotional page they can use right away.

Rollout

Bundled as a value-add & retention program.

PromoPages shipped bundled with partner core services — business phone and internet plans — as a value-add and retention program, with an upsell path into more advanced website solutions through the partner sales channel.

↑
Adoption among new-in customers
↑
Engagement with partner services
↑
Ease of use across technical skill levels
✓
Validated through usability testing & iteration
07 · Learnings

What I'm taking with me.

Learning · 01

Guidance > flexibility.

Users completed tasks faster when the system guided them to an outcome. Reducing choice was the unlock — not adding more controls.

Learning · 02

Simplicity drives adoption.

Reducing decisions had a direct, measurable impact on usability and engagement. Every removed step paid off in completion rate.

Learning · 03

Designing for edge users improves the core.

Accessibility improvements benefited all users — not just those who needed them most. Contrast, target size, and readability moved the needle for everyone.

Learning · 04

Business and UX goals can align.

A simple, entry-level product can create a strong pathway for upsell and long-term value — value-add and revenue aren't opposites.

Next steps

Where this goes.

Introduce analytics to track engagement and conversion · expand customization options without increasing complexity · continue testing across broader demographics · refine upsell pathways into more advanced website solutions.