🧩 The Challenge
QuillBot's primary function is paraphrasing. However, it was totally invisible for more than 70% of our extension users (July 2023). We recognized the challenge as well as the opportunity there.
There are currently two main ways for users to paraphrase when interacting with QuillBot's extension:
1. Click without selection: By default, QuillBot rewrites the first sentence.
2. Click after selecting text: QuillBot uses the selected text to paraphrase sentences or phrases.
In reality, the majority of users were unaware that these entry points even existed. Our most potent feature was being handled like the best-kept secret. After a design jamming session, we decided to introduce a follow mode - contextual highlight menu
✍️ Craxy8's for Ideation
🧠 UX Laws That Shaped Our Approach
We inferenced Jakob's Law and Fitt's law while designing the follow mode.
Put differently, don't force them to think. Apps like Docs and Grammarly had already taught our users to anticipate a menu when they selected text. All we needed to do was ride that muscle memory.
🎨 Contextual design
🚀 The Outcome
~300% increase in engagement
Within two weeks of the experiment's start (September 1–12) we observed 3x increase in paraphrasing engagement. Acceptance rates for rewrite suggestions also increased dramatically.
The highlight menu's success sparked a new direction for the product rather than merely validating a feature.
We developed it into what is now known as the Toolbox, a multi-purpose, in-context feature surface that expands beyond paraphrasing to incorporate grammar corrections, synonym recommendations, and other future features.
More stories
550% uplift in mobile app installs by smooth, minimal redirecting
QuillBot
Jan 2024
Valentine's Day-themed dashboard 98% more click-throughs
QuillBot
Feb 2025
Follow mode increases rewrites by 300%
QuillBot
July 2023
Using rating flow raises the score to 4.7 and gives valuable feedback
QuillBot
Dec 2004
Improvements to uninstalled flow cuts churn by 35% (Coming soon)
QuillBot
July 2023
Progressive disclosure improves installs by 31% (Coming soon)
QuillBot
Dec 2024
more…