Like Family is a aged care and disability care marketplace that connects people seeking companionship with vetted support workers. New members were struggling to engage with the platform, leading to lower-than-expected job postings, messaging, and bookings.
As the product designer, I led user research and design to improve onboarding, matching and trust-building—resulting in a 43% increase in job postings, 84% increase in messaging, and 31% increase in bookings.
Strategic shift: refocusing on the "Jane" persona
The majority of new users were signing up on behalf of a family member rather than for themselves. These users, primarily parents, were looking for companions who could either provide respite care or help their child gain independence.
As a result, we shifted efforts to focus on our ‘Jane’ persona, a parent looking for support for their child. By redesigning Jane’s first experience—including marketing pages, onboarding, and early engagement flows—we significantly increased job postings and messaging activity.
The timeframe
March - June 2021
Role
User research, interaction design, UI design
The goal
This project aimed to:
Increase the number of activities (jobs) posted by new members in their first week of signing up
Increase the number of messages sent by new members in their first week
Increase the number of new member bookings within the first 3 weeks
Understanding the Problems: Research & Key Insights
I ran user interviews to determine what people were thinking, what caused them to start their search and how they ended up at Like Family or services similar. We used a “jobs to be done” (JTBD) style user interview to uncover what the struggling moment was that brought them to Like Family was and what their needs were.
I interviewed 9 parents. We found a noticeable difference between two groups that informed our solutions. There was also information in the NDIS dataset that informed the users with the most pressing needs that we wanted to focus on.
Key Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) insights
Through user interviews, we identified two key parental motivations:
👶 For parents with children under 17:
➡ "Give myself respite while someone cares for my child."
These parents primarily sought short-term relief, where a companion could step in and provide care while the parent had time to rest.
🧑🎓 For parents with children over 17:
➡ "Find someone who can teach my child skills to become more independent."
These parents were looking for a mentor-like companion—someone who could help their child develop life skills like using public transport, managing tasks, and socializing.
Key insights from research
New members struggled to post activities—many weren’t sure what types of jobs they could create.
Messaging wasn’t intuitive, resulting in lower engagement between members.
Parents wanted a mentor-like companion for their child—someone who could act as an older sibling figure, rather than just a traditional support worker.
Many parents sought companions who could help their child develop independence skills, such as using public transport or handling everyday tasks.
Trust was a major barrier—users hesitated to reach out because they weren’t sure if companions were the right fit or reliable.
Solutions
Simplifying onboarding to reduce drop-offs and encourage job postings
Problem: Many new members didn’t post activities (jobs) in their first week, leading to a lack of engagement with the platform.
Solution:
Reworked onboarding flow to better explain the platform’s purpose and encourage early activity posting.
Guided nudges throughout onboarding to highlight the next best action (e.g., posting an activity).
Pre-filled job templates tailored for the Jane persona, including:
“Looking for a mentor for my child”
“Seeking help with learning independence skills”
“Need respite care for my child”
Activity responses immediately sent to carers’ inboxes upon onboarding completion, encouraging new users to receive faster responses
Improved messaging to boost engagement
Problem: Users weren’t initiating conversations, making it harder to match and build relationships.
Solution:
Redesigned messaging experience to make it more intuitive and frictionless.
Introduced message prompts to encourage users to start conversations (e.g., "Hi, I saw your profile and think you'd be a great mentor for my child!").
Building trust to increase bookings and retention
Problem: Users were hesitant to post jobs, send messages, or book support workers due to uncertainty about trust and compatibility.
Solution:
More detailed profiles showcasing imagery, relevant experience and highlighted shared interests to help parents find companions who fit the "older sibling" role.
Personalized recommendations to highlight positive experiences from past users.
Designed and introduced experience-based badges for carers, awarded based on:
X amount of recommendations
X amount of hours working with a specific user type
X amount of total bookings
The badges provide visible credibility indicators, helping parents quickly assess a carer’s reliability, experience, and reputation.
Impact
✅ 43% increase in activities (jobs) posted by new members in their first week.
✅ 84% increase in messages sent by new members in their first week.
✅ 31% increase in new members making bookings within their first three weeks.
These results demonstrated that UX and product strategy improvements can drive significant user engagement growth in a marketplace model.