BACK

Overview

Discovery

Solution

Impact

Reflection

Gallery

OVERVIEW

Powering Growth Through Partnerships

Allstar.gg is a gaming content platform that automatically captures cinematic highlights for players. Our primary growth engine is our integration with partner sites like FACEIT and Leetify. When a player hits a "Double Kill" or an "Ace," Allstar generates a video and directs the user to their profile to view it.

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The existing profile page & clip feed.

The Problem: The "Leaky Bucket"

While acquisition was strong, our Day 1 Churn remained high. Users would arrive from a partner site to watch a highlight, but they treated Allstar as a one-time utility rather than a home.

The existing UI offered no path to ownership: buttons to customize a bio or banner were nowhere to be found on the profile page. This high interaction cost turned self-expression into a chore.

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The journey map of a user arriving at Allstar.gg via our partner sites.

The resulting profile was simply chronological feed of clips that lacked soul and personal investment, giving users zero incentive to return after the first visit.

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Minimal distinction between different user profiles.

The Strategy: Ownership = Retention

I hypothesized that one driver of churn was a lack of sunk cost or personal attachment to the platform. If a user didn't set up shop during their first visit, the likelihood of them returning after 24 hours dropped significantly.


To measure success, we established a new North Star metric: 24-Hour Profile Completion Rate, or the percentage of new users who reached a completed state (defined as having a custom banner, bio, and at least one linked social account) within 24 hours of their first visit.


By front-loading the profile customization experience, I hoped to transform the profile from a passive clip player into a personal gaming resume the moment a user arrived.

I hypothesized that one driver of churn was a lack of sunk cost or personal attachment to the platform. If a user didn't set up shop during their first visit, the likelihood of them returning after 24 hours dropped significantly.


To measure success, we established a new North Star metric: 24-Hour Profile Completion Rate, or the percentage of new users who reached a completed state (defined as having a custom banner, bio, and at least one linked social account) within 24 hours of their first visit.


By front-loading the profile customization experience, I hoped to transform the profile from a passive clip player into a personal gaming resume the moment a user arrived.

DISCOVERY

A Quantitative & Market Based Deep-Dive

Operating in a fast-paced startup without a formal research budget, I combined behavioral data with a competitive audit to diagnose why users were treating Allstar as a one-time utility rather than a personal home.

Funnel Analysis

I discovered that users were hitting the video player buttons but ignoring everything else. The Secondary Action Rate (clicks on bio, social links, or tabs) was below 5%. The profile was effectively a dead end.

Feature Parity

I benchmarked Allstar against direct and indirect competitors to understand the table stakes for gaming profiles.

In the gaming world a profile acts as a social resume, not just a clip folder. By missing basic customization features, we were failing to meet the industry standard for user expression. (custom banners, pinned clips, and social badges)

Heuristic Evaluation

I identified a major violation of Flexibility & Efficiency of Use. Personalization tools were decoupled from the profile itself, creating a mental wall between the user's content and their identity.

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Account settings hidden in the side navigation.

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Editing profile information in a separate page.

SOLUTION

From Storage Receptacle to Curated Gallery

I redesigned the profile to shift the user from a passive viewer to an active curator. The redesign focused directly addressing the identified friction points with the following solutions:

Customizable Banner Image

Users can customize their banner image at the top of the profile. Users can choose from a list of preset banners or select one of their clips.

The Rationale: In gaming, aesthetics are a form of social currency. Giving users control over the most prominent real estate on the page immediately turned the profile into a flex opportunity.

The Rationale: In gaming, aesthetics are a form of social currency. Giving users control over the most prominent real estate on the page immediately turned the profile into a flex opportunity.

Direct-on-Page Editing

I introduced prominent empty states for bios, played games, and connected accounts.

The Rationale: By moving these actions directly onto the profile page instead of a settings tab, I lowered the interaction cost of profile ownership. This leverages the Endowment Effect: the more a user touches their profile, the more they value it.

Grid Layout Option

I transitioned the clip display from a vertical social feed to a multi-column grid view.

The Rationale: A feed implies a scroll and forget consumption pattern. A grid, however, feels like a permanent gallery. It allows users to see the breadth of their career highlights at a glance, encouraging them to curate a collection they are proud of.

Increased System Transparency

I integrated a Match History snapshot and a real-time Processing Status for new clips.

The Rationale: One of the biggest friction points was the clip generation time. Users would leave if they didn't know when a clip was ready. By showing the clip processing in real-time on the profile, we gave users a reason to hang out on the page and watch the system work for them.

The ID Hover Card

I designed a contextual popover card that appears when hovering over a user’s name anywhere on the platform.

The Rationale: To increase profile discoverability, I created a mini-preview containing the user's banner, bio, and top clip. This created an entry point to a user's profile page from anywhere on the site, encouraging users to click through and explore other players' resumes.

IMPACT

Successfully Plugging the "Leaky Bucket"

By shifting the focus from passive viewing to active, high-velocity completion, we successfully plugged the "leaky bucket" in our retention funnel.

+450% Social Account Linking

Moving social integrations inline transformed a buried setting into a key driver of user investment.

+84% 24-Hour Profile Completion Rate

Users were 3x more likely to customize any part of their profile in the first session.

+35% 7-Day Retention Rate

For users with a complete Profile Ownership Score compared to those who left their profiles in the default state.

REFLECTION

What I Learned…

The success of the profile redesign wasn't just in the UI—it was in how we re-engineered user investment. Here are my two key takeaways on balancing speed, brand, and behavior change:

Lessons in Stored Value

This project reinforced the product design principle of Stored Value. Every time a user adds a bio or pins a clip, they are storing value in our platform, making it harder to switch to a competitor. By moving these actions to the forefront of the UI, we turned a utility into a home.

User Freedom vs Platform Constraints

We debated between allowing custom image uploads or curated presets for the hero banner, ultimately choosing a preset library. This ensured a high aesthetic floor, keeping every profile on-brand and professional without the engineering overhead and moderation risks associated with user-generated content.