Following Your Passions & Creating Impactful Digital Experiences

In this episode of Masters of Max, host Tom Butta is joined by Frank Bach, a product designer at Instagram. Frank shares how he started his career in graphic design and later transitioned into the digital space working for brands like Red Bull and the mindfulness app, Headspace. Beyond his daytime role, Frank runs the Sunshine Shop, a lifestyle brand elevating underrepresented art and leads the vocals for his band, Monk. In this conversation, Frank shares how experience is the new brand and how to foster mobile app engagement and create impactful digital experiences. 

Short on time? Here are five key takeaways from the conversation. 

Experience is the New Brand

Brand designers and product designers often operate in silos with minimal overlap, viewing branding and experience as separate components. However, to create a personalized cross-channel customer experience, these two teams must step back and see the brand from the customer’s point of view. As Frank puts it, “it’s more than a logo, the typeface you choose or last season’s marketing campaign — it’s the customer service, the return policy and the advertisement of all the other things.” A frustrating mobile app experience weakens your brand image, while a seamless one strengthens it.

Drive App Growth as a Mobile-First Business with Feedback Loops

Driving mobile app engagement and growth is challenging in a competitive landscape. When your customers have options, you need a constant feedback loop to understand and solve their problems and enhance your mobile app experience. Frank shares, “Growth is a multi-headed monster. You have to tackle it from all ways and see what is getting you the best traction.” Mobile-first businesses must have a long-term customer engagement strategy to extend the value of their product offering as core user groups evolve.

Orchestrate a Seamless App Onboarding Experience 

A successful app onboarding experience turns new users into loyal ones. Utilize your customer engagement platform to identify where your app users are in their journey and guide them to the “aha moment” faster through seamless customer journey orchestration. By removing friction points and providing clear solutions, your app becomes your users’ go-to resource. 

Present Yourself Professionally in Virtual Meetings

As more businesses shift to a hybrid-work model, how you show up in virtual meetings matters. Frank stresses the importance of keeping your camera and microphone on—just as you would be ready to speak in an in-person meeting. If you’re faceless on camera, you risk being unnoticed in the organization. Your on-camera presence is a reflection of your brand. Just as push notifications keep your users engaged, staying present in virtual meetings helps you stay top-of-mind in your organization. 

Build Meaningful Relationships to Drive Organizational Impact

Building meaningful workforce relationships is the key to driving innovation and organizational impact. Offer support and express curiosity about what your colleagues do to get to know people beyond their job title. Be open to new ideas and foster collaboration, such as developing cross-channel marketing strategies to drive more significant impact across teams and the organization. 

The views and opinions expressed in this conversation are Frank Bach’s and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of his employer.