Customer acquisition

Every click counts: How I drove 36% user growth through smarter touchpoints

I optimize every touchpoint, from the first scroll to the final booking. Here is how I helped drive user growth add more bookings, while simultaneously cutting marketing costs.

Overview

StyleMap is an online merges offline (OMO) platform that powers automated hair salons. It goes beyond booking, offering customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and consultation tools for stylists.
After refining our customer retention strategy, we doubled down on acquisition, giving us an edge over traditional salons. I helped lead the expansion, merging two brands and opening five new salons in six months.

partners

^CEO^{Hanping Cheng
‍}^CTO^{Peter Jian
‍}^CMO^{Peggy Liao
‍}^COO^{Neako Tsao
‍}^Design^Consultant^{Yiwei Chang}

Year

_2024-now

it starts from a Problem

When ads don’t convert, fix what comes before the click.

Despite heavy ad spend, bookings stayed flat. I redesigned the marketing materials and strengthened key touchpoints like reviews and referrals, to make word-of-mouth more visible and trustworthy. This shift cut ad costs by 90% and brought a 12% increase in new users.

Defining the problem

Viral doesn’t mean valuable: Not all views turn into bookings.

Even top stylists lose 10% of clients regularly, making new customer acquisition essential. But many fall into the trap of chasing trends or making viral content, only to burn out when it doesn’t lead to bookings.

insight

In a noisy market, trust cuts through.

User research revealed two key insights. We made each touchpoint more personal and authentic to match how people really decide.

People trust real stories over ads

In a sea of marketing content, customers have become more discerning. Aesthetics alone aren’t enough, solving a real pain point is what drives decisions.

Right before a customer decides

A well-placed story is more than inspiration, it’s a gentle nudge that matters. While social media builds awareness, many users rely on Google Maps when making decisions, revealing overlooked touchpoints.

WHat did we do?

Trust converts when it’s shown at the right moment

Instead of chasing trends, we focused on what really drives bookings: real customer stories. With solid retention system already in place, we made those stories visible at key decision points, where people pause, compare, or decide. By sharing honest feedback in the right place, we turned trust into action and made word-of-mouth our strongest growth tool.

key decision point

I made Google maps reviews do the talking

I analyzed how people search: younger users scroll Instagram for inspiration, while others trust Google to find reliable salons. So I treated each listing like a mini storefront, tailored visuals and real, thoughtful reviews based on each salon’s audience.

Trendy salons

Demonstrable the hairdressers' aesthetic, techniques and ability for customization, representing standout sense of beauty.

Neighborhood salons

Dedicated to building strong relationships, featuring warm, detailed reviews. Focused on customization and addressing client pain points.

reaching new customers

Make the first second count: How I turned scrolls into sales

New customers didn’t just find us, we found them too. On social media, I led a redesign of our ad creatives to capture attention in the first second. By making visuals more clear, relevant, and emotionally engaging, we turned scrolls into clicks, and clicks into bookings.

Proof in progress

Growth you can feel and measure

The turning point was shifting our messaging from selling to trustworthy.
Once clients saw reviews they could relate to, conversion rates soared.

300%

higher customer acquisition rate compared to the average salon

12%

increase in Quarter-on-Quarter bookings

512%

rise in page views

50%

boost in scroll rate

72%

increase in passer-by customers

70%

lower marketing costs

36%

user growth

4

new salons merged

What I learned

Clarity and consistency build trust across every touchpoint.

This project reminded me that conversion isn’t about more exposure, it’s about better experience. When every click, scroll, and review works together to reduce doubt and reinforce trust, growth becomes natural. And sometimes, the smartest marketing isn’t louder, it’s more human.