Introduction
What does Civic Champs do?
Civic Champs helps nonprofits recruit, engage, and manage volunteers and events.
What is the problem?
Why admins don’t use the waiver feature
The main question we set out to answer was why retention on the waiver feature remained low despite three rounds of redesigns. As a key step in the nonprofit management process, the waiver was too important to be overlooked.
Feature audit
Barriers to usability: closed loops and inconsistent feedback
Before engaging customers (and considering the limited resources of a startup) our first step was to evaluate the current waiver feature’s usability and review its existing flow. Task flow analysis uncovered several closed-ended functionalities.
The most common heuristic violations were:
Visibility of system status : 29 issues
Consistency and standards : 18 issues
User control and freedom : 18 issues
Secondary research
Identifying key drop-off moments in the user journey
I explored three areas to uncover early signals of why admins weren’t adopting the waiver feature: Analytics Deep Dive (Drop-off points, User paths, Error patterns, Success flows), Review Analysis (App store feedback, Product reviews, Social mentions, Forum discussions (limited data available)), Customer support tickets (Noting pattern words, Common issues tracking, Document user language)
Support tickets revealed recurring confusion around terminology, while analytics showed that 67% of admins used the feature only two to three times before abandoning it, and 45% did not complete waiver collection in the app.
User interviews
Barriers to Returning: Customization, Feedback, and Usability
After speaking with 8 users, we found that the biggest blockers to returning were the lack of customization in waiver creation, weak feedback signals on progress and completion, and a process that felt unintuitive. These insights pointed to a need for greater flexibility, clearer status updates, and a more user-friendly flow that simplified waiver creation.
Mental model
Creating a flow that feels familiar
Based on user feedback, we redesigned the waiver feature flow from the ground up. Since admins relied on workarounds, we aligned the new flow with their mental models for ease of adoption. Insights were clustered into themes, which shaped the mental model guiding the redesign.
Conceptual map
Turning mental models into a clear feature framework
We translated the mental model into a conceptual map from the admin’s perspective. This map formed the foundation of the waiver framework and guided the information architecture. It ensured the design aligned with how users expected to create, send, and track waivers.
Prioritizations matrix
What Should We Build First?
Our cross-functional team used an Effort–Impact Matrix to prioritize ideas addressing key retention barriers. This process focused us on high-impact, low-effort solutions.
Final UI design
Making waivers easier to complete with a single-step process
We redesigned the waiver form by streamlining the two-page process into a single step, replacing the “I Agree” button with a clear checkbox, restructuring the interface for easier navigation, and creating two tailored versions, one for one-time volunteers and another for those signing up through the app.
Before
After
Ensuring volunteers review external waivers before submitting
When admins used external waiver links, volunteers often skipped them. We solved this with a two-step flow: directing volunteers to the link, then requiring confirmation. This ensured waivers were actually reviewed before submission.
Before
After
Improved admin interface with more customization options
I redesigned the admin interface to make creating waivers easier and more flexible. Through multiple iterations, we added new customization options and revised the text to be more user friendly and easier to understand.
Before
After
Smarter waiver management with tracking and upload options
I redesigned the details page to improve management of signed and unsigned waivers, added version tracking, and provided options for both manual and digital uploads. We also simplified navigation by redesigning the filter, volunteer, and customization tabs.
Before
After
May Mallahzadeh ⏤ 2025
Impact
From Drop-Offs to Ongoing Use
By streamlining the waiver flow, clarifying feedback signals, and giving admins more control, we turned a feature that users abandoned after a few tries into one they continued returning to, improving retention by 34% and and reducing waiver related drop-offs by nearly half.
21%
34%
54%
Before redesign
After redesign
Retention
73%
41%
32%
Before redesign
After redesign
Drop-offs