BEAUTYCOUNTER
Behind The Counter App
Led the strategy, research, and design of Beautycounter's mobile consultant platform, transforming a desktop-first CRM into a mobile experience used by thousands of consultants.
IMPACT:
AOV: $119 → $152
Monthly Active Users: 8,400 → 18,000+
App Store Rating: 3.2 → 4.9
Mobile Adoption: 33% of consultant activity shifted from desktop to mobile within 4 months
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Beautycounter's 45,000+ consultant network relied on a desktop CRM to manage customer relationships, orders, and team performance. As consultants increasingly ran their businesses from mobile devices, the existing experience created significant friction and limited engagement.
I partnered with Product and Engineering leadership to define a mobile-first vision for Behind The Counter, redesigning navigation, prioritizing core consultant workflows, and expanding mobile functionality. The resulting experience increased engagement, improved customer satisfaction, and shifted meaningful business activity from desktop to mobile.
BUSINESS IMPACT
Increased Average Order Value
AOV increased from $119 to $152 following improvements to the mobile shopping and consultant selling experience.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
App Store rating improved from 3.2 to 4.9 stars, indicating significantly higher satisfaction with the redesigned experience.
Expanded Mobile Engagement
Monthly active users grew from 8,400 to 18,000+, demonstrating increased adoption of mobile consultant workflows.
Shifted Consultant Workflows to Mobile
The redesign transformed the app from a supplemental tool into a core part of the consultant experience. Within four months of launch, more than one-third of all Behind The Counter activity had moved from desktop to mobile, enabling consultants to manage their businesses wherever they worked.
THE CHALLENGE
When I joined Beautycounter, the CRM supporting its 45,000+ consultant network was desktop-only and increasingly misaligned with how consultants actually worked. While the company was investing in a desktop re-platform, research suggested a larger opportunity: consultants were managing their businesses on the go, yet critical workflows remained inaccessible from mobile devices. This gap created friction across the consultant experience and became the foundation for a mobile-first redesign strategy.
With these challenges in mind, the following product principles came into focus:
Design for multiple consultant archetypes. Create an adaptive experience that supports the diverse needs, goals, and workflows of Beautycounter's 45,000+ consultant network.
Simplify navigation while planning for scale. Ensure core BTC functionality remains accessible within 1–2 taps while creating a framework capable of supporting future product expansion.
Prioritize mobile-native workflows. Bring key BTC capabilities to mobile while rethinking experiences for the realities of on-the-go business management rather than simply recreating desktop interactions.
Build for accessibility from the start. Ensure the experience meets accessibility standards and supports consultants with a broad range of abilities and needs.
Balance utility with delight. Reinforce Beautycounter's mission and brand voice while creating an experience consultants genuinely enjoy using.
MY ROLE
Role: Lead Product Designer
Team: 3 designers, 1 researcher, PM, engineering team
Responsibilities:
Defined product vision and navigation strategy
Led research and usability testing
Directed design execution across core workflows
Aligned executives, product, and engineering stakeholders
Measured success through adoption and engagement metrics
UNDERSTANDING THE EXISTING EXPERIENCE
Before redesigning the platform, I evaluated existing consultant workflows, support feedback, usage patterns, and customer research.
Key challenges included:
Important business tools were difficult to discover and navigate.
Core workflows were optimized for desktop despite increasing mobile usage.
Information architecture had evolved over time, creating inconsistency and cognitive load.
The experience lacked a clear hierarchy, making it difficult for consultants to prioritize daily business activities.
What the data suggested:
High download volume but relatively low engagement
Strong opportunity to improve retention
Mobile usage growing faster than platform capabilities
Consultants increasingly expected mobile-first business tools
Existing Behind The Counter iOS Application
Existing Behind The Counter desktop-only CRM
STRATEGIC APPROACH
To ensure the redesign addressed both consultant needs and business goals, I focused on six priorities:
Validate Existing Workflows
Evaluate the current experience to identify friction points, navigation challenges, and opportunities to improve efficiency for consultants managing their businesses on mobile devices.
Establish a Scalable Navigation Framework
Develop and test multiple navigation concepts to create a structure that could support current workflows while accommodating future platform growth.
Prioritize High-Value Consultant Activities
Redesign core BTC modules based on actual usage patterns, ensuring the most frequently used tools were easier to access and complete.
Adopt an Iterative Research Process
Conduct ongoing usability testing and consultant interviews throughout the project to validate assumptions and guide product decisions.
Create a More Cohesive Cross-Platform Experience
Align mobile and web experiences to reduce friction and create consistency across the Beautycounter ecosystem.
Measure Success Through Product Metrics
Establish engagement, adoption, and satisfaction metrics to evaluate performance post-launch and inform future product improvements.
Proto personas for primary user base
Proto Persona example for ‘New Consultant' user type
EXISTING APP DATA
29k downloads
AOV $119
8,400 MAU
Average rating of 3.2 Stars on Apple App Store
Access to Mixpanel Dashboards and ability to survey in app
What these metrics revealed:
While adoption was healthy, engagement and satisfaction were lagging. Consultants were downloading the app but continuing to rely on desktop tools for many critical workflows.
TRANSLATING STRATEGY INTO PRODUCT DECISIONS
Rather than recreating the desktop experience on mobile, I focused on identifying the consultant tasks that mattered most in mobile contexts and designing around those behaviors. Early explorations focused on helping consultants quickly access the business information they used most frequently while reducing navigation complexity across the platform.
EXPLORING INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Early sketches were used to evaluate navigation structures, prioritize consultant workflows, and align stakeholders before investing in higher-fidelity solutions.
Low fidelity sketches map out early IA decision points
COMMUNICATING DESIGN DECISIONS WITH ENGINEERING TEAMS AND STAKEHOLDERS
Once the strategic priorities were established, I focused on redesigning the consultant experience through a series of workflow explorations, wireflows, and annotated prototypes. These artifacts were used to align stakeholders, validate assumptions, and communicate complex interactions to engineering teams throughout implementation.
DRIVING ALIGNMENT THROUGH VISUAL COMMUNICATION
While not specific to the BTC redesign, this wireflow illustrates how I communicated complex product decisions to executive stakeholders, product managers, engineers, and designers throughout my time at Beautycounter.
For large initiatives, I often used annotated wireflows like this to visualize user journeys, clarify business requirements, surface dependencies, and build alignment before development began. These artifacts helped transform abstract discussions into concrete product decisions and ensured stakeholders shared a common understanding of both the customer experience and implementation approach.
WHAT WE LEARNED
To better understand consultant needs, I conducted interviews with 12 consultants representing a range of experience levels and business sizes. These conversations helped identify the biggest barriers to mobile adoption and informed the strategic priorities for the redesign.
Consultants wanted to manage their businesses on mobile
While all participants had used the app, many did not consider themselves active users because critical business workflows still required desktop access.
Mobile functionality lagged behind consultant needs
Consultants consistently expressed a need for additional BTC functionality within the app so they could manage their businesses while away from their computers.
Content creation and sharing workflows were cumbersome
The existing Tools experience made it difficult to quickly create and share content across the channels consultants used most frequently, including Instagram, Facebook, text messaging, and email.
Team management and reporting were difficult to access
Consultants highlighted downline reporting and team-management capabilities as important workflows that were not adequately supported within the mobile experience.
Research extended beyond interviews
These findings were validated through additional usability testing, platform analysis, and feedback gathered from existing BTC workflows.
VALIDATING THE MOBILE STRATEGY
To ensure the redesigned navigation reflected real consultant behavior, I conducted a series of moderated usability sessions with consultants across different experience levels and business sizes.
The objective wasn't simply to test screens—it was to validate several key assumptions:
Which workflows consultants accessed most frequently
Whether navigation concepts matched mental models
Which BTC modules were most valuable in mobile contexts
How consultants balanced customer management, sales, and team-building activities
Using interactive prototypes and live observation sessions, I gathered feedback that directly influenced navigation hierarchy, module prioritization, and information architecture decisions.
KEY FINDINGS
Consultants consistently prioritized customer management workflows.
Frequently used business tools needed to be accessible within 1–2 taps.
Simplified navigation outperformed feature-dense alternatives.
Mobile experiences were expected to support real business management, not simply act as companion tools.
MOBILE EXPERIENCES WERE EXPECTED TO SUPPORT REAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Consultants wanted more than a companion shopping experience. They expected the app to help them actively manage customers, orders, and business activities while away from their computers.
"Most users did not know how the share tray worked and if they did know how to use it, they were uncertain whether the link shared was attributed to them."
This revealed a lack of trust in existing sharing workflows and highlighted the need for clearer attribution and customer-management tools.
Example moderated usability session used to evaluate navigation concepts and understand consultant workflows.
CHOOSING THE FINAL NAVIGATION DIRECTION
One of the most important decisions in the redesign was determining whether the app should mirror the structure of the desktop BTC platform or be reimagined around mobile consultant behaviors.
Research made the answer clear. Consultants were not asking for every desktop feature to be available on mobile; they were asking for faster access to the tasks that helped them run their businesses every day. Customer management, alerts, notifications, order activity, and team engagement consistently emerged as the highest-priority workflows.
Rather than replicating the complexity of the desktop experience, I recommended a simplified navigation model that prioritized the most valuable consultant activities while maintaining flexibility for future BTC expansion. This approach improved usability, reduced cognitive load, and allowed consultants to complete key business tasks with significantly fewer interactions.
The final navigation framework became the foundation for the broader redesign and informed every subsequent product decision.
THE REDESIGNED EXPERIENCE
1. Simplified Navigation
The redesigned navigation prioritized the workflows consultants used most frequently while reducing cognitive load and making key business tools accessible within one to two taps.
2. Customer Management
Customer management emerged as the highest-priority consultant workflow. The redesign surfaced customer information, alerts, and opportunities directly within the mobile experience, reducing reliance on desktop tools.
3. Alerts & Notifications
Consultants needed faster access to business opportunities and customer activity. Alerts and notifications were redesigned to help users quickly identify and act on important tasks.
4. Mobile Commerce & Sharing:
The mobile shopping experience was redesigned to better support consultant selling behaviors, simplify product sharing, and increase confidence that sales would be properly attributed.
5. Motivation & Engagement
Research revealed that motivation was as important as utility. We introduced experiences that reinforced progress, achievement, and business growth while maintaining alignment with Beautycounter's brand voice.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
The final experience transformed Behind The Counter from a companion shopping application into a mobile business management platform. Customer management, alerts, team activity, orders, and content sharing became accessible within one to two taps, allowing consultants to manage their businesses wherever they worked.
OUTCOMES
The redesign transformed the Beautycounter app from a supplemental consultant tool into a primary business management platform. By focusing on mobile-first workflows, simplified navigation, and the activities consultants relied on most frequently, the experience drove measurable improvements in engagement, satisfaction, and business performance.
Business Outcomes:
Increased Average Order Value
Average order value increased from $119 to $152, driven by improvements to the mobile shopping experience and consultant selling workflows.
Expanded Mobile Engagement
Monthly active users grew from 8,400 to more than 18,000, reflecting increased adoption of mobile experiences across the consultant network.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
App Store ratings improved from 3.2 to 4.9 stars, indicating significantly higher satisfaction with the redesigned experience.
Shifted Consultant Behavior
Within four months of launch, more than one-third of all Behind The Counter activity had moved from desktop to mobile, establishing the app as a preferred platform for day-to-day business management.
Product Outcomes:
Mobile Became a Primary Business Tool
Consultants were able to manage customers, orders, alerts, and team activity directly from their phones, reducing reliance on desktop workflows.
Improved Discoverability
Critical business tools became easier to find and access, helping Consultants complete key tasks with fewer interactions.
Created a Foundation for Growth
The redesigned navigation and information architecture established a scalable framework capable of supporting future BTC expansion and additional consultant tools.
Validated a Mobile-First Strategy
Rather than recreating the desktop experience on a smaller screen, the project demonstrated that designing around mobile Consultant behaviors resulted in stronger engagement and adoption.
KEY TAKEAWAY
The most meaningful outcome wasn't simply launching a redesigned app—it was changing how thousands of Consultants chose to run their businesses. By focusing on real Consultant behaviors instead of replicating desktop workflows, we successfully shifted critical business activities to mobile and established the app as a core part of the Beautycounter Consultant experience.
