Growth Group 2.0
Boosting Host Confidence and Community Engagement for Online Member Meetup
OVERVIEW
Growthday is a personal development app that offers life coaching, habit building tools and a large community, empowering individuals to integrate self-improvement into their daily lives.
The Growth Group feature, a core part of this platform, enables members to host and participate in video chat. After a year of launching the 1.0, despite many positive feedback from the users, some business metrics weren't met, wish lead to a redesign.
Growth Group 2.0 solved many problems that has manifested in the past year. It aimed to lower the barrier to hosting groups and enhance the person-to-person connection.
Timeline
12 months
Team
Andrew Phuong (UX researcher), Lauren Wiswall (Project manager)
My role
Lead UX design
UX research
Project management
Usability testing
Platform
IOS, Android, desktop
How it started...
Back in 2021, we identified an opportunity: Members want to build a deeper connection with like-minded people who are also into personal development.
However, since there are few ways to do so inside GrowthDay app, many resorted to external solutions such as email chains and Facebook groups.
This insight led to the initiative of “Growth Group,” an online video chat tool designed to facilitate these connections. Members can schedule meeting rooms where others can join to engage in live discussions on topics related to personal development, fostering a sense of community and encouraging meaningful connections.
I led the end-to-end design process from MVP through subsequent iterations across mobile and desktop experiences.
From MVP to 2.0
Aug 2022
Beta Launch
Sep 2023
Comprehensive User Research
Conducted extensive user research covering a broad spectrum of app usage with a focus on the Growth Group. This research was pivotal in understanding user behaviors and preferences in-depth, informing subsequent design decisions.
Jan 2025
Growth Group 2.0 Launch
We successfully launched Growth Group 2.0 along with an app-wide update. Although we had to prioritize core functionalities and defer some features due to resource constraints, this release laid the groundwork for integrating additional backlogged features in future updates.
Aug 2021
0-1 Initiative of Growth Group
Led the transformation from a vague concept to a tangible product by conducting initial research and stakeholder interviews, mapping out key user flows, crafting MVP and usability testing. Laid the foundational structure for what Growth Group would become
2022-2023
Continuous Iteration on Growth Group 1.0
Added 10+ features including mini player, recurring group, stage control, paid group, agenda template, feedback flow, hosting add-on etc.
Jan 2024
Kickoff App Re-platform & Growth Group Redesign
The company initiated a re-platforming and redesign of the entire app. I took the lead on the Growth Group 2.0 initiatives, steering the project through this major transition to align with the new platform structure and insights gathered from our research.
Present
Manage backlog features
Amidst organizational changes, my role was expanded from UX design to include project management. My focus is on driving the integration of backlogged features by developing detailed product documentation, monitoring metrics and facilitating meetings, which provides our engineering team with the clarity needed to prioritize and execute projects effectively.
Reflecting on 1.0: Insights for Growth Group 2.0
One year after launching Growth Group 1.0, we saw meaningful community engagement:
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17% of total new users were acquired through Growth Group
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589 groups hosted by 127 unique hosts
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18.9k attendees joined sessions
While user feedback was overwhelmingly positive, two key metrics highlighted opportunities for improvement:
🔻 Low Host Conversion:
A small percentage of active users became group hosts, limiting overall engagement.
🔻 Low Attendance Rate:
Only 17% of registered attendees showed up to sessions, significantly lower than our target.
These insights directly informed our strategic redesign for Growth Group 2.0, prioritizing improvements to ease hosting barriers and foster higher participation and commitment among members.
Problem 1
Misleading Placement Creates Mental Barriers to Hosting
Originally, Growth Group was located under the “Learn” tab, beneath high-profile video courses and live events hosted by influential speakers, including our CEO. This placement caused two key issues:
• Intimidation: Users mistakenly assumed that hosting required extensive preparation, discouraging participation.
• Poor Discoverability: The feature was hidden below the fold, requiring extensive scrolling, significantly reducing its visibility.
"Our members need to know they don't need to be Brendon Burchard to host a group"
Sherry, Custom Support
Through 8+ interview with Growth Group Hosts and internal members , we identified 3 primary problems:
In order to talk in the group, attendees need to raise hand, wait for the host to send invite, accept, and appear on the stage. Those extra steps interrupts the conversation flow for both host and attendees
Problem 2
High friction for spontaneous conversation
In order to talk in the group, attendees need to raise hand, wait for the host to send invite, accept, and appear on the stage. Those extra steps interrupts the conversation flow for both host and attendees
Growth Group was originally built for large live events, so we used strict “Attendee” and “Speaker” roles. Everyone joined muted with no video, and hosts had to manually promote people to speak.
But in reality, most member-led groups were small and relied on natural, open conversation. This big-event structure didn’t fit their needs and created unnecessary friction for both hosts and participants.
"Being put on stage often feels like... you are suddenly on the spot, everyone is looking at you, expecting you to talk. That’s why I sometimes decline the invite (to be on stage), I’m unsure if I can organize my thoughts quickly enough."
Tiffany, Growthday member
Problem 3
Lack of communication touchpoints
There is zero communication that participants can have through the app before or after the video session
In Growth Group 1.0, hosts and attendees had no way to communicate before the session started, and the connection ended immediately once the group was over. This created two major problems:
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Hosts couldn’t manage their groups effectively: They had no way to send updates, share materials, or notify attendees about schedule changes.
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Attendees didn’t feel connected or accountable: Without any interaction or sense of relationship before or after the session, many treated the RSVP as low-stakes—leading to low show-up rates.
"How do I let the host know I won't be there?
And how do I get in touch with the host to ask a question?"
Evelyn, Growthday member
There is zero communication that participants can have through the app before or after the video session
Opportunity
How might we make Growth Group more inviting, conversational and engaging?
Goals
We converted our key problems into opportunities to solve for during the redesign.
High barrier → Inviting
The new design should emphasis the social and community nature of Growth Group. Encourage participation with welcoming vibe. It should only show relevant content, easy to find and use.
Lecture → Conversation
The video tool should prioritize interactive conversation during the session, empower people to host without requiring coaching experience, and for people to participate spontaneously.
Low commitment → Engaging
To foster a higher level of commitment and significantly boost show-up rates, our redesign focuses on enhancing user engagement not only during but also before and after the typical 30-60 minute video sessions.
Growth Group 2.0
Landing Page
Relocate Growth Group to “Community” tab to differentiate it from the official live event and emphasize its social nature
It became evident that Growth Group needed a dedicated space to underscore its community-focused and interactive essence. We explored several potential placements for GG within the app’s ecosystem, weighing the benefits of positioning it as a standalone feature versus integrating it with other growth tools.
Ultimately, the decision was made to nest GG within the ‘Community’ tab. This placement not only highlighted the social dynamics of Growth Groups but also aligned with strategic decisions to prioritize a streamlined user experience without overwhelming users with excessive navigational choices
Browse
List view with thumbnail for better browsing
The new design adopts a list view format that provides a clean and organized look, and making it easier for users to browse through different groups.
The inclusion of thumbnails for each group enables hosts to establish a unique identity or branding for their groups. It also adds a visual element that helps users quickly identify topics that interest them, enhancing the overall browsing experience.
Schedule
Schedule with guidence
The redesign of the Growth Group scheduling flow aimed to enhance user experience by making it more inviting and user-friendly. Our focus was to simplify the creation process while providing clear guidance to encourage participation and reduce the barriers to hosting sessions.
Join Group
Simplify the video call experience for spontaneous conversation
Adjusted the platform so that all participants can be speakers, with hosts having the ability to mute or unmute participants as needed.
Streamlined the joining process by removing unnecessary steps.
Engage
Create engagement and accountability before the session through discussion board
The discussion board service as a channel for the host and participants to communicate and bond prior to the actual video session, so that host can make announcement if anything changes and attendees can also participant with comment and questions. The pre-session engagement can increase the commitment and lower the no show rate.
Connect
Mini profile adds human touch for the session
By adding a mini profile, members can get to know who is the host and who else are participating. The level of human touch can not only creates accountability, but also get people the chance to bond via Growth Group.
This approach also sets a foundation for our the future business projective: We want to creates social network effect and allow members to follow each other in the next iteration.
Impact
Due to the broader company-wide app redesign initiative, only part of the Growth Group 2.0 design was implemented initially, and several features—such as the discussion board and mini-profiles—were deferred. Despite these constraints, within just two months of launching the partial redesign, we observed promising early results :
18%
Number of Group Started
23%
Unique Host Amount
28%
RSVP Amount
We anticipate further significant improvements upon fully implementing the planned features, estimating an increase in the show-up rate and further increase in the RSVP amount once the discussion board and mini-profiles are launched.
Reflection
Growth Group was the first true 0→1 product I ever designed, and it became a defining learning experience early in my career. When I joined the company as a junior designer, I focused mainly on completing the tasks in front of me. But through multiple iterations of this product, I learned how to think beyond screens and requirements—how to connect features to the broader ecosystem, balance user needs with business goals, and advocate for design-led initiatives. I also grew more confident in influencing cross-functional decisions, learning how to pitch ideas clearly and bring stakeholders along with a shared vision.
Another milestone in this project was onboarding our first user researcher, Andrew, and Growth Group became our first partnership project. Working with Andrew, I learned how to structure research plans, conduct interviews, and use insights to support bottom-up initiatives.
Looking back, this project not only sharpened my UX craft, but also helped me grow as a strategic thinker, a collaborator, and a product partner. It shaped how I approach complex problems today: with curiosity, evidence, and a deep understanding of how design impacts both users and the business.
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