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Design Research Product Strategy UX & Content Design Cross-platform Concept Testing

Cross-platform concept testing for Business-AI monetization

Cross-platform concept testing across two markets that pressure-tested a subscription model before launch — driving design changes and shifting the roadmap from rigid subscriptions to flexible, usage-based plans.

My role
Design Researcher (for WhatsApp)
Timeline
~3 months
Platforms
WhatsApp (Mexico) & Messenger (Philippines)
Method / Tools
16 IDIs · Figma · Cursor
What kind of design this was

Design research & product strategy with a content-design payoff

This was evaluative design research and product strategy — testing a business model and its end-to-end user journey — that translated directly into UX and content-design changes. As co-lead, I structured the study around six journey stages, ran cross-platform interviews, and delivered stage-by-stage recommendations that prompted banner redesigns, clearer copy, and a fundamental rethink of the pricing model.

Context & problem

Will businesses understand — and pay for — AI?

Meta was preparing to monetize its Business AI agent, which handles sales and support conversations on behalf of businesses. The team had designed a usage-based subscription model with tiered plans, but needed to validate whether real business users could:

The research had to inform not just UI tweaks, but fundamental business-model decisions: whether to proceed with subscriptions, how to structure tiers, and what the user journey should look like across its key stages.
The challenge

Cross-platform, two languages, fast ramp

My approach

A journey-stage framework

I co-created the discussion guide and stimulus materials, framed the research around three constructs — comprehension, discoverability, and perceived value — and structured the study around six stages of the monetization journey, so findings would be immediately actionable for different stakeholders.

01
Subscription notification
02
Quota limits
03
Pricing plans
04
Billing
05
Conversation metrics
06
Post-subscription metering

A note on confidentiality: due to NDA, I can't show the actual screens or any specifics of the subscription plans and pricing. The journey framework and findings here are shared at a level that protects confidential product details.

Execution & synthesis

  • Conducted 16 in-depth interviews with past program businesses across both markets; navigated stimulus differences without compromising integrity.
  • Distilled cross-cutting findings while preserving platform nuance, and pinpointed specific UX breakdowns at each journey stage: confusion over plan tiers, misunderstanding of rollover for unused conversations, and unclear agent-behavior boundaries.
  • Delivered actionable stage-by-stage recommendations with clear design implications, and provided evidence to de-prioritize the rigid subscription model in favor of flexible, seasonality- and consumption-based plans.
Designing the human–AI interaction

Where humans meet AI value — and cost

Monetizing an agent is itself a human–AI interaction problem: people have to understand what the AI does, what it costs, and what it will and won't do at the limit.

Why it's design, not just pricing: re-sequencing where billing and agent-behavior cues appear in the journey is what moved comprehension — and the evidence reset the business model from rigid subscriptions to flexible plans.
Impact

Research that changed the model, not just the UI

Specific findings that drove design changes: confusion over plan-tier differentiation → clearer tier naming; misunderstanding of rollover mechanics → copy improvements; unclear agent-behavior boundaries → contextual messaging; platform-specific payment expectations → payment flexibility; and a need for earlier billing visibility → repositioning the billing surface in the journey.

My responsibilities & artifacts

What I owned

Responsibilities
  • Co-designed discussion guide & stimulus materials with my Messenger counterpart
  • Framed research around comprehension, discoverability & value
  • Owned the WhatsApp / Mexico study end to end
  • Structured the 6-stage journey framework
  • Ran cross-platform IDIs in two languages (AI-assisted translation)
  • Synthesized cross-cutting + platform-specific recommendations
Artifacts delivered
  • Cross-platform research design & discussion guide
  • Stimulus materials (two platforms, two languages)
  • 6-stage monetization journey map
  • Stage-by-stage design recommendations
  • Cross-platform synthesis & final share-out
  • Evidence base for the business-model decision
Reflection

What I learned

What worked: cross-platform synchronization yielded richer recommendations than isolated studies; AI-assisted translation made me self-sufficient; the journey-stage framework made findings immediately actionable; and evidence-based de-prioritization (showing what not to build) proved as valuable as confirming what to build.

What I'd do differently: push for earlier cross-team alignment on stimulus materials; make the most critical findings more scannable; and invest earlier in understanding a fast-moving domain.

What I learned: how to drive roadmap- and business-model-level influence through research; how to operate cross-platform with aligned methodology but flexible execution; and how to ramp into a complex domain quickly.

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