NodeScript
How Strategic Analysis Saved €240k per Year
The NodeScript visual workflow builder in action
NodeScript is UBIO's visual programming platform that powered 300M monthly automations and facilitated $500M in bookings for enterprise clients. After two years of successful internal use, we attempted to commercialise it as a standalone product. I led the investigation that uncovered 98% user churn, revealing a fundamental mismatch between internal success and market needs - ultimately saving €240k/year in misguided investment.
Outcomes
98%
User churn rate discovered through cohort analysis
240k
Annual savings by realigning team focus
Role:
Lead Product Designer
Key responsibilities
Designed visual programming interface for complex automation workflows
Built real-time feedback and debugging systems
Created collaborative features for team development
Owned product metrics analysis and user research
Led strategic investigation into market viability
Drove data-backed recommendations for product direction
30 Second Story
Challenge: Scale a "healthy" product with 231 daily active users
Discovery: 98% of users churned within 7 days
Action: Recommended strategic pause, saved €240k/year
Impact: Resources redirected to profitable products
01.
The Optimistic Beginning: "Let's fix the funnel!"
The Plan
I kicked off the year with classic optimisation thinking - improve the entire user funnel through research, rebrand, and systematic improvements.
User journey mapping: From landing to payment.
Early design work: from visual exploration to a style tile to early UI ideas.
The Grafana dashboard showed a steady stream of new signups.
02.
The Uncomfortable Discovery: "Wait, let me check cohort analysis..."
The Moment
While planning funnel improvements, I remembered reading about cohort analysis. "Let me just check our retention..."
The cohort analyses in Google Analytics. Uhoh.
The Realisation
Our "healthy" metrics were hiding a brutal truth - we had zero product retention.
03.
The Pivot to Activation: "Maybe better onboarding will fix this?"
Snapshot of the workshop I organised to come up with onboarding improvement ideas.
04.
The Reality: "You can't optimise your way out of no product-market fit"
The NodeScript Paradox
✓ Easy to learn (1 day to proficiency)
✓ Powerful capabilities (300M+ invocations monthly)
✓ Beautiful interface
✗ No external traction
We'd perfected a solution to a problem nobody had.
Reflections
The most dangerous metrics are the ones that look healthy. Our 231 activated users hid a 98% churn crisis. I started trying to optimise funnels and ended up discovering there was no funnel to optimise at all.
"The thinking process that Sjors delivered behind all of this adds the most value. Design is identifying the problems that everyone seems to be ignoring, and then think structurally about what can be done about them."
— Boris Okunskiy, CTO, UBIO
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