Overview

CallRail integrates with third-party platforms such as Google Ads and Salesforce. These integrations are critical to customer acquisition, retention, and marketing attribution workflows.

However, the integrations experience was difficult to locate, confusing to activate, and inconsistent in how connection states were communicated. This led to failed connections, user frustration, and a high volume of support calls.

As the lead designer, I led a research-driven transformation of the integrations experience to improve findability, clarify activation state, and restore user confidence.

The goal: increase successful connections while reducing operational support burden.

Problem

The integrations experience failed in three critical areas:

1. Findability

Users could not easily locate the integrations page without using Help documentation.

2. Activation State Clarity

Users received a success alert after authorization, yet integrations remained inactive. The toggle icon appeared interactive but did not behave consistently.

3. Workflow Confidence

Users were unsure whether triggers were saved or integrations were active. Many relied on trial-and-error.

The issue was not functionality.

It was ambiguity in state communication and workflow continuity.

My Role & Contribution

Role: Lead product designer
Responsibility: End-to-end experience transformation

I led:

• Problem framing

• Usability research design

• State communication strategy

• Structural IA changes

• Interaction redesign

• Post-launch monitoring

Strategic Constraint:
Do not expand features.
Fix clarity and activation reliability first.

Research & Validation Strategy

Usability Testing Objectives

Observe users attempting to:

• Locate integrations

• Authorize Salesforce

• Confirm active state

• Add triggers

• Identify pending integrations

Key Findings

Discoverability Failure

• Random clicking under “Manage Account”

• Hard to know which apps are intergrated

• No information hierarchy on apps store

• Low navigational clarity

Activation Confusion

• Success message without activation

• Toggle icon appeared interactive but wasn’t

• Yellow corner indicator unclear

Trigger Workflow Breakdown

• Users believed they were on subpages

• Used browser back

• Misapplied triggers

Confidence was the primary failure.

 End-to-End Experience Redesign

I redesigned the integrations experience across the full workflow — from discovery to activation to ongoing configuration.

1. Discoverability

• Moved Integrations into primary navigation

• Removed reliance on Help documentation

• Improved information architecture and grouping

Result: Users could find integrations immediately without search.

2. Activation State Clarity

• Removed ambiguous toggle control

• Eliminated misleading success messaging

• Removed required second “Update” action

• Introduced clear green “Active” status pill

• Surfaced connected account details prominently

• Strengthened visual state indicators

Result: Users confidently knew when an integration was truly active.

3. Trigger & Configuration Workflow

• Restructured trigger configuration layout

• Improved section labeling and hierarchy

• Reduced reliance on browser back navigation

• Made conversion settings visible and directly editable

• Removed vague microcopy

• Improved spacing and logical clustering

Result: Task completion time reduced from 30+ minutes to under 15 minutes.

4. Cognitive Load Reduction

• Simplified interface density

• Reduced ambiguous controls

• Strengthened feedback loops

• Improved content clarity and scannability

Result: Increased workflow confidence and reduced trial-and-error behavior.

1. Improve Discoverability

• Moved integrations into primary navigation

• Removed dependency on Help search

Result: Immediate findability in follow-up testing.

2. Replace Toggle with Explicit Status

Removed ambiguous toggle.
Introduced clear green “Active” status pill.
Displayed connected account details prominently.

User quote:
“Active is green. My account information is visible, which is telling me I’m connected.”

Clarity replaced guesswork.

3. Clarify Trigger Workflow

Clear section labeling

• Stronger grouping

• Explicit edit controls

• Reduced reliance on browser back

Users configured triggers in under 3 minutes.

4. Remove Micro-Friction

• “Select your delay” → “Immediate”

• Removed vague “Click here”

• Made conversion settings visible

• Improved spacing and hierarchy

Small clarity improvements removed cumulative cognitive load.

 Solution Validation

We re-ran the original usability script on redesigned prototypes.

Results:

• Integrations found without assistance

• Google Ads activated successfully

• Active state confirmed confidently

• Triggers configured without confusion

Before: 15+ minutes
After: < 8 minutes

Efficiency doubled. Confidence restored.

Impact

After launch:

↓ 23% reduction in integration-related support tickets
↑ 14% increase in successful connections
2× faster task completion

This reduced operational cost and improved adoption of a revenue-critical workflow.

What Was Intentionally Not Addressed

Advanced automation workflows

• Deep customization

• Feature expansion

Post-Launch Monitoring

• QA + bug tracking

• FullStory behavioral analysis

• Zendesk ticket monitoring

• Ongoing customer interviews

What I Would Improve

• Introduce integration health monitoring beyond binary “Active” state

• Create a centralized overview for managing multiple integrations

• Add guided setup with smarter defaults to reduce cognitive load

• Surface business impact metrics directly within integration views