# Try first, connect later

Qubriux · Skellam – case study by Seemant Shekhar. https://www.seemant.design/work/try-first-connect-later

Qubriux is a mar-tech platform for Shopify merchants that I designed from zero. I redesigned its first run so merchants explored the product while their data loaded, instead of staring at a loader.

- **Role**: Sole product designer
- **Team**: CEO, 1 PM, 3–4 engineers
- **Timeline**: 2021–2022
- **Scope**: Web app + 2 mobile apps
- **Areas of influence**: Onboarding and first run; Objectives home page; First-run states for every feature
- **Highlights**: +25% merchants active after 30 days; The client called out the onboarding by name

## 01. The merchant

**Sitting on data, with no idea what to do with it.**

Small and mid-size Shopify merchants with years of customer and order data, but no analytics team and no marketing playbook. Most arrived through a sales demo.

### Has, lacks, wants

- **Has**: Customer and order data in Shopify.
- **Lacks**: Analytics, time, and a marketing team.
- **Wants**: To re-engage, acquire and win back customers.

## 02. The problem

**The first thing merchants saw was a loading screen.**

After connecting their store, merchants waited while Qubriux imported their data. Every page said "Sit back and relax", right after a demo that promised growth.

### What the data and calls said

- **Where they left**: Analytics showed merchants dropping at this step.
- **Why**: Support and sales calls told us: they didn't understand what they'd get, and had nothing to do while they waited.

- Image: Old Segments page fully blocked by an illustration and the message Preparing your Customer Segments, sit back and relax. Before: every page blocked until the import finished.

## 03. Never block

**Sample data now, real data when it’s ready.**

Pages fill with sample data so merchants can explore every feature, while their real data syncs in the background and replaces it at 100%.

- Image: Qubriux Segments page during onboarding with preset segments, a note that actual data shows once onboarded, and a progress bar at 20 percent. Shipped: Segments is fully explorable while the import runs at 20%.

## 04. Use the wait

**The home page became a list of things to do.**

Objectives gave merchants something useful while the import ran. Version one had three big cards and couldn’t show enough of the platform, so I split it into set up your account and explore the features.

- Image (V1): First Objectives page with three large feature cards and a fetching data bar. v1: three big cards.
- Image (V2): Redesigned Objectives page with set up and explore sections. Redesign: set up first, then explore.

## 05. A first run for every feature

**What it does, how it works, where to start.**

Every section opened with a short explanation and preset templates, so no page started empty.

- Image: Campaigns first-time page with a Create New Campaign button and four steps. Campaigns, first time: pick a template, a trigger, the logic, then schedule.

## 06. The result

**More merchants stayed.**

The client called out the new onboarding and its small details by name.

> **+25%** – more merchants were still active 30 days after signing up, compared with the old onboarding.

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Next case study: [Fix the system, not the designers](https://www.seemant.design/work/fix-the-system-not-the-designers)