Navi

In-house Webflow done right: usable, findable, scalable

Mockup of the website shown in a Mac desktop screen

Overview

Since March 2024, I’ve worked full-time as Navi’s in-house Webflow developer and site manager, taking ownership of a contractor-built site and shaping it into a fast, scalable, and measurable platform.

Navi is a consumer tech startup that helps people compare phone plans and devices to find the best deal. The site aggregates daily pricing data from carriers and retailers, offering tools like coverage maps, price trend charts, and trade-in calculators. With thousands of users relying on the site to make purchase decisions, performance, SEO, and conversion optimization are central to Navi’s growth.

In my role as Webflow Site Manager, I act as the connective tissue between content, design, product, and engineering, moving Webflow projects forward from kickoff to launch.

I use my background in design, dev, and content to contribute many way from performance and SEO improvements, to measurement and experimentation, to UX and conversion wins, to content systems and team enablement, all of which I expand on below.


Jump to a section:

Mockup of Bantam Marketing website shown in a desktop screen

Challenge

Mockup of Bantam Marketing website shown in a desktop screen

Solution

feature
Before
After
Screenshot of the new home page
feature
No items found.
highlight
Mockup of the website shown in a MacBook Pro screen
highlight
No items found.

Results

review starreview starreview starreview statreview star
Screenshot of the website's home page
Navi

In-house Webflow done right: usable, findable, scalable

Mockup of the website shown in a Mac desktop screen

Overview

Since March 2024, I’ve worked full-time as Navi’s in-house Webflow developer and site manager, taking ownership of a contractor-built site and shaping it into a fast, scalable, and measurable platform.

Navi is a consumer tech startup that helps people compare phone plans and devices to find the best deal. The site aggregates daily pricing data from carriers and retailers, offering tools like coverage maps, price trend charts, and trade-in calculators. With thousands of users relying on the site to make purchase decisions, performance, SEO, and conversion optimization are central to Navi’s growth.

In my role as Webflow Site Manager, I act as the connective tissue between content, design, product, and engineering, moving Webflow projects forward from kickoff to launch.

I use my background in design, dev, and content to contribute many way from performance and SEO improvements, to measurement and experimentation, to UX and conversion wins, to content systems and team enablement, all of which I expand on below.


Jump to a section:

🛠️ Technical performance & SEO

Make it Fast. Make it Findable.

As the in-house Webflow developer, I’m responsible for site performance and technical SEO. Navi’s site carries a heavy load of scripts and assets that can threaten speed and visibility. I focus on streamlining resources, cleaning up code, and keeping Core Web Vitals in the green.

I removed unused code, swapped heavy custom JavaScript for lighter native Webflow solutions, and minified what remained. Where possible, I deferred script execution and set non-hero images to lazy load. I used WebPageTest waterfall charts and Lighthouse to identify bottlenecks and validate improvements.

Challenge

Prior to my arrival, the site had accumulated a heavy load of third-party code: analytics tags, A/B testing platforms, and even our own widget embed, which is technically a separate service. Each script added execution time and together they pushed key metrics like LCP and INP into the “Needs improvement” range.

On top of that, many images were oversized and unoptimized, and the codebase contained bloated or unused snippets. Pages felt slower on mobile and SEO visibility was at risk.

Solution

I focused on reducing weight and streamlining how resources loaded. I optimized images by shrinking file sizes and upload dimensions so mobile devices weren’t forced to render 6000-pixel-wide assets.

Result (April '24–June ’24)

Pages flagged as “Needs improvement” fell from about 70% to 0%. Mobile pages marked as “Good” in CrUX rose from around 30% to 100%. The turnaround proved the site could achieve green scores when we enforced performance budgets and resource loading discipline.

Pages flagged as “Needs improvement” fell from about 70% to 0%. Mobile pages marked as “Good” in CrUX rose from around 30% to 100%. The turnaround proved the site could achieve green scores when we enforced performance budgets and resource loading discipline.

Challenge

Before joining, I ran a full SEO audit and found structural gaps that limited growth. Headings and metadata were inconsistent, schema was thin, alt text was missing, and pages had redirect chains.

The most damaging problem turned out to be a subtle one: Google was showing the wrong dates in SERPs. Each page had two date elements in the DOM, only one visible to users, so Googlebot often picked the older, hidden date.

For a site that currates and publishes new cell phone deals daily, freshness is everything. If Google thinks a “daily deals” page is a month old, we lose clicks and trust.

Solution

After I joined, I standardized titles and descriptions, corrected heading levels, implemented schema where it was missing, added alt text where needed, and cleaned up redirect logic.

For publish dates, I removed the duplicate element and ensured only the correct, visible publish date was exposed. I also refined the “last modified” approach across templates to send clear freshness signals.

Results

Date fix published on April 13, resulting in a ~20% increase in daily organic search sessions. (Source: Google Analytics)

SERPs reflected accurate dates, which restored perceived freshness and click-through. Combined with the structural fixes, organic Google traffic rose about 20% over three months, rankings on priority pages stabilized, and we saw richer, more accurate search snippets.

🔬 Measurement & experimentation

Decisions From Data, Not Hunches

Analytics and testing didn’t always keep pace with launches, so I step in outside my core Webflow role to close the gaps. I build funnels, dashboards, and heatmaps, giving the team a stronger measurement framework and faster feedback loops.

Challenge

Our team lacked an adequate picture of how users were interacting with key pages and conversion funnels.

As a lean startup, we often moved fast with limited bandwidth, which meant analytics execution didn’t always keep pace. Projects sometimes launched without defined KPIs or measurement plans, leaving us with an incomplete view of funnels, drop-offs, and which pages or articles truly drove conversions.

Solution

I leaned in to bring more energy and focus to measurement. I taught myself Amplitude and began building funnels and dashboards that tracked both existing templates and new launches.

I expanded our use of Hotjar by setting up heatmaps, running session recordings, and analyzing user journeys to understand where visitors came from, how they engaged, and where they dropped off. I used these insights to highlight friction in the widget funnel, spot opportunities to strengthen internal linking, and separate high-converting to low-converting content.

Result

The work shifted us toward a more data-driven culture. We gained a clearer view of which articles and CTAs actually produced conversions and where users were getting stuck on desktop and mobile. For example, scroll-depth analysis showed modules that were never being seen, and some CTAs went virtually untouched.

With that visibility, we could brainstorm targeted fixes—like pre-populating the first step of our widget with device-specific CTAs (e.g., “iPhone 16 Pro”)—and then track their impact. These kinds of changes made the funnel smoother and more effective.

Example of a dashboard created in Amplitude for our site's conversion funnels. This dashboard shows the performance of our phone and widget on our home page.

Challenge

For the first nine months at Navi, we had no way to test variants on our site. Meetings often turned into endless debates about what color or layout would convert better, with no data to settle them.

Webflow had just launched its own Optimize product, but the price was more than $20k per year, about the same as our entire enterprise hosting plan. Testing felt out of reach, and decisions kept defaulting to opinions rather than users.

Solution

I researched alternatives and found OptiBase, a tool that cost only about $900 annually for our traffic level. Using my existing Webflow skills, I could spin up A/B and multivariate tests directly in Webflow in as little as 15 to 30 minutes.

We tested everything from site-wide navigation redesigns, to button copy and colors, to entire CTA layouts like drop-down selectors, carousels, and button grids. Beyond settling debates, these experiments revealed how context mattered. The CTA that performed best on one page might underperform on another.

Result

The ability to test quickly and cheaply transformed our process. Instead of the loudest voice in the room deciding, users did. We built a faster learning loop, made design decisions with confidence, and gained real insight into how visitors digest content and interact with CTAs.

The solution was also highly cost-effective. We pay $900 per year for testing at 25–30k monthly users, and smaller businesses could achieve the same power for only a few hundred dollars. For clients, this means I can not only build a site that looks good but also help them continuously optimize it for conversions.

Example of an A/B test created in Optibase. This test measured the impact of text within a CTA button had on the click rate of that button.

📈 UX & conversion improvements

From Landing to Action, Smoother

Our most important conversion surfaces like navigation, deal pages, and CTAs require continual refinement. I work across design, SEO, and content to re-architect flows, add filters, and build reusable components — improving user journeys and make conversions easier to capture.

Challenge

The old navigation crammed nearly 80% of our site’s content into a single “Resources” dropdown, creating high click depth and poor discoverability. Key monetization pages like phone deals and coverage maps were buried, and even utility links like “Phone Finder” and “Plan Finder” blended into the nav instead of standing out. Both users and search crawlers struggled to reach our most valuable content quickly.

Old desktop navigation

Solution

From the time of my initial site audit, I pushed for a major navigation overhaul. Working with design, SEO, and content, I helped scope and shape the new structure. I gave technical input on what was feasible in Webflow (including a multi-level mobile menu that required custom code) and then implemented the build.

The redesign replaced the “junk drawer” Resources menu with structured mega menus for Phones, Plans, and Articles, added a utility row for account and company links, and elevated “Phone Finder” and “Plan Finder” into prominent CTA buttons.

Result

The new navigation surfaced our full content library in a logical, user-friendly way. Internal traffic to high-converting pages increased, evergreen content became easier to find, and the site now reflects the true breadth of what we offer.

It was a group effort across teams, but one I had been advocating for since before I officially joined, and I ensured it became both technically feasible and successfully implemented.

See a comparison of our old vs. new navigation below.

New navigation with "Phones" dropdown open
New navigation with "Plans" dropdown open
New navigation with "Articles" dropdown open

Challenge

Our dynamic phone deal pages aggregate the best daily offers from across the web. They are some of our highest-converting surfaces because they provide users with a true comparison shopping experience.

Yet these critical pages were originally structured like long-form articles, with H2 sections such as “Best iPhone 16 deals for Verizon customers” preceding each deal block. Users had to scroll endlessly to find what they needed, especially on mobile, making the experience clunky and difficult to engage with.

Solution

As an interim fix, I added a table of contents with anchor links so users could jump directly to the device or deal type they cared about. Later, I helped drive a complete rebuild that restructured the pages into a modern, app-like experience. Instead of scrolling through article sections, users now see a short intro followed by intuitive filters: choose a device series or exact model, then refine by “switch” or “stay” deals.

To achieve this in Webflow, I extended its native capabilities by using FinSuite Attributes to filter a 300+ item CMS collection down to a clean set of eight deal cards per view. This allowed us to create a responsive, dynamic experience without custom engineering. While backend data still flows into the CMS via API, my role was to make the data usable and engaging in Webflow.

Result

The rebuild transformed our most important conversion pages into a cleaner, faster, and more modern experience. Users now engage longer and interact with deal content more purposefully, and early signals point to improved conversions.

Just as importantly, the new structure gives us a scalable foundation to keep optimizing these high-value pages going forward.

Challenge

Some of our SEO-driven articles attracted high traffic but fewer than 1% of readers converted through our generic CTAs placed toward the end of articles. We needed to explore ways to convert more users coming to these articles.

Solution

I built a more intentional, scalable CTA system using FinSuite Attributes. I created reusable components that could be injected anywhere into a rich text article with a simple shortcode, giving the content team control without needing developer help.

On device-focused articles, CTAs pre-populated the widget with a specific iPhone model; on plan-focused articles, carrier-specific buttons launched the plan widget with the right carrier already selected.

We also tested different CTA formats—dropdowns, carousels, and button grids—to learn which designs resonated best with users.

Result

This system turned high-traffic but low-converting articles into reliable entry points for our funnel. Click-through rates into the widget increased, overall conversions rose, and the user journey became more seamless.

Just as importantly, the approach gave our content team flexibility to place relevant CTAs where they made the most sense, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all strategy.

Example of reusable CTA component injected into rich text articles in Webflow. Clicking the phone tile opens a CTA form with the correspending device pre-selected
Example of resusable CTA component injected into rich text articles in Webflow.
📶 Scale: content systems & team enablement

Ship More, Break Less

As Navi scales, manual workflows can slow content velocity and put pressure on a small team. I build CMS templates, automate publishing, and create training guides for the marketing team. This multiplies output and reduces bottlenecks beyond a single developer.

Challenge

Navi had a wealth of data originally collected for B2B clients, but we needed to translate that into content consumers would actually find useful.

What would resonate? Trends in phone pricing, real trade-in values, or carrier coverage comparisons. Each idea required figuring out how to present backend data in a way that was clear, engaging, and technically feasible for our small team.

Solution

I helped quarterback these rollouts by coordinating across engineering, design, marketing, and content. Drawing on my background in editorial, design, development, and SEO, I acted as connective tissue to make sure every detail was covered.

On the Webflow side, I built CMS Collection templates for price trends and coverage maps, developed the trade-in experience, and standardized UI blocks so new verticals could inherit proven patterns.

Result

We successfully launched three new consumer-facing verticals that turned B2B data into engaging features for everyday users. Each shipped with a consistent UX, search-optimized structure, and a scalable foundation that can evolve as new data flows in.

Example of a page in Navi's coverage map CMS page template.
Example of a page in Navi's phone price trend CMS page template.
Screenshot of Navi's home page for phone trade-in values. Users select their device in the mint block and  are then taken to a page showing them the trade-in value of their device.

Challenge

Our business depends on daily phone deal refreshes. Before, the content team had to manually republish every dynamic deal page in Webflow to push new data live. It was repetitive, error-prone, and a poor use of limited bandwidth.

Solution

I set up automation in Webflow so collections updated and published automatically each day when fresh data for our 300+ deals flowed in through the backend.

Result

Daily updates now go live reliably without developer or content intervention. The automation reduced operational overhead, eliminated a major source of errors, and freed the team to focus on higher-value work.

Challenge

As our team grew, most new hires had little or no Webflow experience. Workflows were inconsistent, and too much day-to-day content work funneled through development.

Solution

I trained teammates on Webflow basics and our specific patterns, wrote Confluence guides and checklists, and built plug-and-play solutions for common needs.

Examples included an HTML table template for articles, a toggle system to swap header images for videos, and dynamic schema workarounds (including FAQ schema). These solutions let non-technical teammates publish richer content without needing custom dev help.

Result

The team became more autonomous and productive. Writers could add comparison tables or schema on their own, PMs could run smoother launches with standardized checklists, and designers could see their work implemented faster. My role shifted from gatekeeper to enabler, multiplying output across the team.

feature
Before
After
Screenshot of the new home page
feature
No items found.
highlight
Mockup of the website shown in a MacBook Pro screen
highlight
No items found.

Results

review starreview starreview starreview statreview star
Screenshot of the website's home page