Zapier Transfer

Problem / Opportunity

Zapier's core automation product only processed new data after a Zap was activated, leaving users with no way to move pre-existing or historical records between apps. Support ticket analysis and user interviews revealed this was a recurring pain point — especially for app migrations, backfilling data, and recovering from automation errors. Leadership saw an opportunity to address this gap while launching Zapier's first standalone product, with a high-profile debut at ZapConnect in 6 months.

My Role

Lead Product Designer owning discovery research, journey mapping, design strategy, and cross-functional collaboration.

Research

• Support analysis: Partnered with support team to identify recurring requests around historical data movement

• User interviews: Explored migration, backfilling, and error recovery scenarios

• Journey mapping: Mapped flows for existing Zapier users and new users entering through Transfer

• Competitive analysis: Benchmarked data migration tools to identify differentiation opportunities

• Key insight: Users needed flexibility across three use cases — app migration, backfilling, and error recovery — in an experience approachable for non-technical users

Design

• Entry points: Designed modal within Zap setup flow for seamless transition into Transfer

• Information architecture: Replaced single-screen accordion with step-by-step pages and side navigation to reduce complexity

• UI exploration: Tested three source/destination selection patterns; chose scalable approach minimizing clicks

• Filtering: Evaluated modal, sidebar, and accordion; selected accordion using existing components for faster build

• Engineering collaboration: Led workshops to map technical constraints and identify flexibility for UX improvements