The moment that matters most
When someone finishes editing a document, a panel asks: What would you like to do? Download, email, send for signature, print, save somewhere. Hundreds of thousands of new users see it every two weeks, and it's where most of them first meet the paywall. Roughly half of new-user revenue comes through sessions that touch it.
Over several years, every new feature had added a tile. Nothing had ever been taken away.
Sections were named after how the product was built: Save As, Collaborate, Send To, More tool. There were no cloud destinations and no way to reach tools like merge or compress.
The layout was choosing for people
I ranked every action twice: by how often people clicked it and by how well those clicks converted. The two lists came out almost reversed.
- Download PDF
- Word
- Share
- …
- Request e-signatures
- Request e-signatures
- Download PDF
- Share
- …
- PowerPoint
The best-converting action in the product was last by clicks. With seventeen equal tiles, people clicked whatever was nearest and most familiar.
What everyone else had figured out
Before proposing anything, I looked at the same moment in seven products: SmallPDF, iLovePDF, PDFCandy, Sejda, Canva, Google Docs and Google Slides. None of them used a flat grid, and all of them did the same things:
- One main Download button, with formats behind it
- Cloud destinations next to download
- A "more tools" shelf for the next step
- Sections named by what the user wants to do
- Rare formats tucked behind "show more"
We were the only flat grid left.
Six decisions, each with a reason
This surface brings in too much revenue for "it looks cleaner" to be an argument. Every change in the spec came with the reason behind it and the behaviour it was supposed to change. That's what got the redesign through review.
Download PDFOne main Download button
Most people came to download. Making that obvious turns hesitation into action.
Formats and cloud in one dropdown
People who need a specific format will look for it. Everyone else doesn't have to read through it. Nothing was removed.
Share
Email
E-sign
PrintSections named by intent
Nobody wants "Email" or "E-sign" for its own sake. They want to get the document where it needs to go, so these sit together.
Ordered by value
The most useful actions come first. The first thing people see also tells them what the product is for.
Rare actions behind "show more"
Fax and USPS mail are still there for the people who need them, without getting in everyone else's way.
A clearer footer for signed-out users
"Create account and save" names what's at stake, and closes a route that let people skip the paywall.
The shipped panel, rebuilt to spec. Hover or tab to a numbered pin to see the reason behind each part.
Two of my proposals didn't ship, and I agree with both calls. An AI section was moved into its own test variant so it wouldn't blur the layout result. Renaming "Collect forms" was held back so it could be decided across the whole product.
The new panel
It's a side panel now instead of a centred modal, so the document stays visible while you decide what to do with it. Nothing was removed. Every action from the old version is still there.
Save as
Formats and cloud destinations in one short list. Fillable fields are kept by default on download.
Do more with it
A row that didn't exist before. Each tool opens with the current document already loaded, so the next step is one click instead of a re-upload.
A/B/C, with layout and AI kept apart
An A/B/C test on desktop with new users who didn't have a plan, over 17 days. The AI-heavy version ran as a separate branch so layout and AI results wouldn't mix. One guardrail: new tools had to add conversions, not take them away from exports.
Every key action converted better
The guardrail held. The tools added conversions rather than taking them from exports.
Relative change against control, per action. Absolute rates and revenue are withheld.
What I'd do differently
- Give the main button to the best converter. I gave it to the most popular action. Next time I'd give it to the action that's worth the most per click, and let download be the calm default it already was.
- Fit the panel to the document. A signed contract, a filled form and a scanned receipt need different next steps. The panel should read the file and suggest what fits.