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Mirelo.ai

Date: July 2025

B2C, SaaS, AI, Onboarding

UX Optimization, Iterative Design, User Testing, Prototyping

Mirelo: From Confusion to Confidence

A case study in onboarding redesign for Mirelo, a powerful video-to-sound editor, and how reframing the real problem turned first time user confusion into confident, long term engagement.

A case study in onboarding redesign for Mirelo, a powerful video-to-sound editor, and how reframing the real problem turned first time user confusion into confident, long term engagement.

A case study in onboarding redesign for Mirelo, a powerful video-to-sound editor, and how reframing the real problem turned first time user confusion into confident, long term engagement.

A Powerful Product Nobody Could Use

The Business Problem
First-time users arrived at the powerful but complex video-to-sound editor and left without completing their core task — resulting in lost value and potential revenue. The lack of guidance led to user frustration and a surge in support tickets.

Business Goals

  • Reduce initial user dropoff

  • Increase Week 1 retention

  • Decrease onboarding-related support tickets

The Team
Myself (product designer), the founder, and the product lead were all navigating the tension between business needs and user needs.

The Business Problem
First-time users arrived at the powerful but complex video-to-sound editor and left without completing their core task — resulting in lost value and potential revenue. The lack of guidance led to user frustration and a surge in support tickets.

Business Goals

  • Reduce initial user dropoff

  • Increase Week 1 retention

  • Decrease onboarding-related support tickets

The Team
Myself (product designer), the founder, and the product lead were all navigating the tension between business needs and user needs.

The Real Probem Was Hidden

Low user retention and low product trust were causing loss of value and potential revenue. Users were confused, unable to complete tasks, and not returning.

What We Assumed
Users were overwhelmed by the complexity of the product, too many features, too much power.

What We Discovered
Users were actually confused by a lack of contextual orientation, they didn't know where to start.

The strategic win was reframing the problem before a single pixel was designed. This changed what the team should build, not just how.

Low user retention and low product trust were causing loss of value and potential revenue. Users were confused, unable to complete tasks, and not returning.

What We Assumed
Users were overwhelmed by the complexity of the product, too many features, too much power.

What We Discovered
Users were actually confused by a lack of contextual orientation, they didn't know where to start.

The strategic win was reframing the problem before a single pixel was designed. This changed what the team should build, not just how.

End-to-End Ownership

Scope
Owned the full redesign of the onboarding experience from problem definition through to developer handoff.

Scope
Owned the full redesign of the onboarding experience from problem definition through to developer handoff.

Collaborators
Worked closely with the product lead, founder, and a full-stack developer throughout the process.

Collaborators
Worked closely with the product lead, founder, and a full-stack developer throughout the process.

Timeline
3 weeks from discovery to handoff, a fast, focused sprint with high stakes.

Timeline
3 weeks from discovery to handoff, a fast, focused sprint with high stakes.

Design Influence
My process moved beyond a simple "tour", designing an integrated, contextual learning experience instead.

Design Influence
My process moved beyond a simple "tour", designing an integrated, contextual learning experience instead.

Three Onboarding Paradigms

I developed three distinct onboarding directions for low-fidelity prototype testing with new users.

A: Pre-Editor Decisions
A minimal wizard offering options and guiding decisions before the editor opens, pre-populating with chosen results. Engaging but added friction.

B: Guided Within Editor
Heavily guided through the editor interface to generate sounds one by one and choose results in real time. Overwhelmed users with too many options too soon.

C: Auto-Generation
Analyses and auto-generates sounds from the user's media, taking them through results one by one. The clear winner for clarity and speed.

I developed three distinct onboarding directions for low-fidelity prototype testing with new users.

A: Pre-Editor Decisions
A minimal wizard offering options and guiding decisions before the editor opens, pre-populating with chosen results. Engaging but added friction.

B: Guided Within Editor
Heavily guided through the editor interface to generate sounds one by one and choose results in real time. Overwhelmed users with too many options too soon.

C: Auto-Generation
Analyses and auto-generates sounds from the user's media, taking them through results one by one. The clear winner for clarity and speed.

Testing Led to Clarity

What Testing Revealed

  • Option A (Pre-editor wizard) was engaging but introduced unnecessary friction before users saw value

  • Option B (Guided within editor) overwhelmed users too soon with simultaneous choices

  • Option C (Auto-generation) delivered immediate value with minimal cognitive load

The Insight
Users didn't need more control upfront, they needed to experience the product's value first. Auto-generation removed the decision burden and let the product speak for itself.

The Auto-generation flow emerged as the clear winner. I iterated it into high fidelity, refining microcopy and visual cues to ensure the experience felt helpful and empowering but never condescending. The result was an onboarding journey designed to reach the "aha" moment as fast as possible.

Results That Moved the Business

40%

Dropoff Reduction

More first-time users completed a full session, uploading, generating, and downloading directly unlocking revenue.

25%

Week 1 Retention Lift

A strong first experience built confidence and habit, driving significantly higher continued engagement.

65%

Support Ticket Drop

Proactive UI clarity freed up engineering and support resources to focus on more complex user needs.

Support Ticket Drop

Proactive UI clarity freed up engineering and support resources to focus on more complex user needs.

A component-based, annotated design system was delivered for onboarding establishing a scalable, reusable pattern for introducing future complex features.

Mirelo Became Part of the Workflow

Users trust Mirelo to be easy and flexible on their projects. They return again and again as it becomes an essential part of their workflow.

Value Unlocked
By reaching the "aha" moment faster, users experienced the product's core power on session one, converting skeptics into advocates.

Scalable Foundation
The design system delivered enables the engineering team to introduce future complex features with the same clarity and confidence.

The Win Was the Thinking

This project demonstrated that in a deep-tech product, user empowerment is not about simplification, it's about clarity of path. By designing a guided journey to the "aha" moment, we turned initial confusion into confident, long-term engagement.

Strategy Over Execution
The real impact came from reframing the problem before designing anything. I changed what the team should build, not just how to build it.

Strategy Over Execution
The real impact came from reframing the problem before designing anything. I changed what the team should build, not just how to build it.

Seeing the Real Problem First
The insight that users lacked contextual orientation (not that the product was too complex) was the pivotal shift that made every downstream decision correct.

Seeing the Real Problem First
The insight that users lacked contextual orientation (not that the product was too complex) was the pivotal shift that made every downstream decision correct.

Lets collaborate!

hello@jennsketches.com

© JENNSKETCHES
Lets collaborate!
hello@jennsketches.com
© JENNSKETCHES
Lets collaborate!

hello@jennsketches.com

© JENNSKETCHES