Overview

Cloud NGFW, Palo Alto Networks' managed cloud-native service, is accessible to customers through the AWS and Azure Marketplace. It can be deployed in AWS Virtual Private Clouds (VPC) or VNets, offering core Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) capabilities such as App-ID, URL filtering based on categories and geolocations, and SSL/TLS decryption.

This case study focuses on Simplified Onboarding for Cloud NGFW AWS. Basically this project is to help product to increase the free trial conversion rate and eventually boost the revenue by simplifying the subscription workflow and streamlining the firewall creation process.

My Role:

I am the Sole Designer Leading end to end design of this product from 0 to 1

Teams:

I collaborated with cross functional teams including Go-to-Market team, Sales, Product Managers, Software Engineers, QA and Technical Documentation team.

Timeline:

This project took over 8 months

‍

‍

Discovering the Core Problem

What are the problems

This project was initiated to boost revenue for Cloud NGFW AWS. Cloud NGFW Azure currently has nearly double the customers and revenue compared to its AWS counterpart. 

Our marketing team conducted the end to end analysis.

• 74% drop-off rate for customers who reached the configuration page and attempted to start a free trial.
• 62% drop-off rate for customers who are trying to create their first firewall.

These significant user experience breakpoints ware a critical leak in our acquisition funnel

‍

‍

What cause these problems

To find out what causes this problem. I worked with our user research team to conduct the user interviews with 3 customers and 4 Sale engineers 

Here are the three key findings:

• Too many permissions required: As a Netsec admin, I need to go forth and back from different console to complete the permission setup
• Confusing tenant setup: lacking of the information and inconsistant branding lead to the confusion
• Complicated Firewall Creation: This complexity arises from both the large number of configurations and the necessity for cross-account permissions

I was surprised by the complexity of firewall creation, which was understandable given the feedback. This complexity arises from both the large number of configurations and the necessity for cross-account permissions. The latter requires users to switch between different consoles, significantly complicating the firewall creation process.

‍

Constraints

After understanding the problems, I discussed constraints with cross-functional teams.

Here are some known constraints:

• We cannot change the AWS marketplace workflow, meaning we do not control the pages on the AWS side.
• We cannot remove the Palo Alto Networks SSO activation workflow (Palo Alto Networks account creation workflow). As part of the company's ecosystem, all new users must create an account first.
• AWS infrastructure makes integration almost impossible. The AWS infrastructure does not allow us to do something similar to Azure, which is seamlessly integrated with the Microsoft Azure Portal. Users can directly create and manage CNGFW in the Azure portal without jumping across different UIs.

Another significant challenge was the timeline. To meet the target revenue number by the end of the fiscal year, and given that the changes involve infrastructure revamping, it was crucial to finalize the design as soon as possible to provide more flexibility to the engineering team.

‍

Goal for this project

The overall goal of this project is to increase the free trial conversion rate and eventually boost the conversion from free trial to purchase (Pay-As-You-Go). 

Here are the key metrics:

• Reduce Drop Off Rate from 74% to 50%
• Double the Free Trial Completion from 3.7% to 7.4%

‍

Crafting a Solution

Based on the research, I focused on addressing two key areas:

• Simplifying the subscription workflow, with a particular emphasis on the tenant creation process.
• Streamlining the firewall creation workflow by eliminating cross-account permissions and simplifying the overall process.

Let's explore the details of how these problems were solved.

‍

Simplifying the subscription workflow

According to the feedback from interviews, we found the confusing wording and visual inconsistencies are impacting the user experience. 

Due to the technical constraints, we can not change the workflow on AWS side. We can only manage the workflow after users clicked the log in or create an account button. 

"What is the 'tenant'? This screen just gives me a bunch of blank boxes and looks nothing like the page I was just on. The UI is so inconsistent, I'm not even sure I'm still on the right process."

Before diving into the design, I analyzed the account creation and login pages of 15 SaaS company websites on the AWS marketplace. My key findings revealed common characteristics:

• Descriptive Content: All sites provided clear, descriptive content to guide users through the process and highlight the value proposition, building confidence to complete the workflow.
• Consistent Branding: Consistent branding was observed across all sites, fostering user trust.

However, completely simplifying the subscription process requires our backend team to eliminate the cross-account permission constraint. Rather than waiting for the backend to finish their work, I proposed a two-phase solution which quickly get approved from leadership teams (marketing, PM and engineering team):

• Phase 1: Upgrade the visual and content elements with scalability as a priority.
• Phase 2: Once the constraint is removed, adjust the design with minimal UI changes.

I obtained buy-in from cross-functional teams. This improvement was achieved by implementing the changes from phase 1. resulting we reduced the drop off rate from 74% to 50% for customers who reached the configuration page and attempted to start a free trial by releasing the phase 1 changes

‍

Streamlining the firewall creation workflow

We streamlined the firewall creation workflow by eliminating cross-account permissions and simplifying the overall process.

‍

Driving the innovation

Innovation begins with a concept. By integrating with Strata Cloud Manager, we streamlined the free trial and tenant creation process. Users can now directly create their first firewall, simplifying the procedure. This integration enables a 30-day free trial and tenant setup simultaneously, enhancing user experience and onboarding efficiency. Check Workflow Recording Here

‍

The Impact & Key Learnings

Impacts

• Reduced Task completion time from 1 hour to 15 mins
• Reduce drop off rate between clicking the subscribe button and tenant creation from 74% to 48.5%
• Reduce drop off rate before the first FW creation from 62% to 17%
• Achieve a 300% increase in the free trial conversion rate
• Year-over-year revenue surged from $6.6 million to $15 million

‍

Key Learnings

• Embrace a Lean Methodology: Instead of exhaustive research, focus on rapid, targeted user feedback. Conduct quick, unmoderated usability tests or A/B tests to validate a single, high-impact assumption, then iterate quickly.
• Storytelling and Data are Your Allies: To get buy-in from diverse stakeholders, present design concepts and user research findings using storytelling techniques and data-driven insights. This helps them understand the "why" behind your decisions, making it easier to secure project approval and prioritization.

‍

‍

‍

‍