Balancing your intuition
with data-driven insights

I help digital products convert better by removing friction, improving UX, and aligning design with user intent.With 15+ years of experience across industries like iGaming, digital healthcare, fintech, telecoms, and future mobility, I’ve helped scale products and optimise user journeys through data-informed experimentation and research-led design.From fine-tuning funnels to validating product ideas with real users, my work blends CRO strategy with a strong UX foundation, built on real insight, not guesswork.In 2022, I founded The UX Hive, offering freelance CRO & UX consulting, primarily in iGaming, where conversion wins are fast-paced and high-stakes.If you’re looking for someone to uncover what’s really holding users back and turn it into growth, let’s talk!

profile photo of Carl Borg Bartolo

Successful Collaborations


What I do

Research & Analytics

By diving into your web analytics data, I'll help you understand what your core users want and the why behind certain behavior

UX Audits

I can benchmark against competitors and draw on past experiences to spot areas of friction your users encounter

Mockups & Prototyping

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. I can design mockups, prototype them, and even run usability testing for you. If you require design or branding services, be sure to head to tilldawn

A/B Testing

I'll work with your team to increase the confidence in what's being proposed, by setting up an A/B test to measure the impact on key business KPIs before rolling it out to all users


Case Studies

Case study 1

A full front-page audit to increase contact requests for a time-tracking SaaS provider (B2B) hidma.com

Case study 2

Increased registration conversion rate by simplifying the password field

Case study 3

Reduced friction on KYC page and increased ID upload approval rate from 82% to 90%

1/3. A full front-page audit to increase contact requests for a time-tracking SaaS provider (B2B) hidma.com

Problem Statement
Hidma.com founder reached out to us to help him find why his front-page wasn’t converting enough visits into leads.

Research Methods
This was a one-off project that included a full front-page audit against baseline UX standards and main competitors, including analysis of heatmaps & recordings from Hotjar

Findings
Several issues were uncovered including missing trust elements, confusing messaging and unclear pricing tiers.

Results & Impact

Following implementation of several recommendations, the contact form requests started coming in and increased from 1 per month to 4 per month

2/3. Increased registration conversion rate by removing friction on the password field

Problem Statement
An online casino has a 60% drop-off rate of users in step 1, thus not proceeding to step 2

Research Methods
Through session recording analysis, friction was observed when the users tried to type a password that matched all the required criteria for complexity. Furthermore, a quantification exercise was done to look into how many of the 60% of users dropping off, were dropping off because of this friction.

Findings
3 Problematic fields were encountered, but the one with most friction caused was the password field

Results & Impact

A password criteria helper was introduced and rolled out as an A/B test.

- Drop-off was reduced from 60% to 53%
- Successful Registration uplift from 21.07% to 24.23%

3/3. Reduced friction on KYC page and increased ID upload approval rate from 82% to 90%

Problem Statement
Current ID document approval rate stood at 82%, meaning that 18% of documents submitted are rejected due to a number of errors

Research Methods
By speaking to the CS team, i was able to extract the most common types of reasons why documents are rejected

Findings
Information was too focused on technical aspects of uploading a file, with emphasis on file sizes & types. In reality which 15MB is rarely reached, while the most important point (3), is given least focus. This is in reality where most errors happen

Results & Impact

Following implementation of a more visual approach towards what normally leads to an approval or rejection of the document, there was an increase in uploaded document approval rates from 82% to 90%.
This ultimately increased the customer support team efficiency as they saved numerous hours each day from back and forth communication between users and the support team.