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Spotlight Tool

Thorn

Streamlining onboarding and adoption for a national AI tool combating human trafficking

Challenge

Spotlight—a machine-learning tool that helps law enforcement identify victims of trafficking online—was preparing for national rollout. Despite its powerful technology, adoption was limited by a manual onboarding process, low awareness, and inconsistent training. To scale from 100 users in three states to hundreds nationwide, Thorn needed a seamless, trusted onboarding experience that combined product clarity, credibility, and ease of use.

Solution

To drive adoption, we reframed onboarding as both a product experience and a brand moment—a critical trust-building phase where usability, empathy, and communication had to work in tandem.
We developed a comprehensive onboarding ecosystem that combined human-centered design, product marketing, and field engagement to:

  • Streamline the user journey through a structured onboarding website, automated account workflows, and simplified content architecture.

  • Build trust and capability through Spotlight Lab—a national, hands-on training program co-developed with the Department of Justice and Fox Valley Technical College.

  • Close the feedback loop by joining live sting operations (including Super Bowl deployments) to train officers in real time and test product performance under pressure.

  • Reinforce brand and adoption with one-page customer slick sheets, targeted marketing collateral, and weekly virtual onboarding sessions to support new users.

  • Inform ongoing product design through field observations, user feedback, and iterative updates that improved usability and data confidence.

My Role

  • Product Marketing & Program Lead: Directed cross-functional strategy for product rollout and onboarding.

  • Stakeholder Alignment: Partnered with DOJ, FVTC, Digital Reasoning, and Media Cause to unify design, messaging, and deployment.

  • UX Oversight: Guided user journey design, content development, and prototype validation.

  • Training & Enablement: Led weekly onboarding sessions, live demonstrations, and field-based instruction with law enforcement teams.

  • Marketing & Communications: Created product collateral, brand messaging, and campaign assets for adoption and awareness.

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Impact

  • Achieved 19× the projected user acquisition goal, reaching law enforcement in all 50 states within one year.

  • Reduced average investigation time by 43%, helping identify 2,000 children and 2,000 traffickers.

  • Built a scalable onboarding and training model now replicated nationwide.

  • Earned the 2015 Cloudera Social Impact Award for technology innovation and data impact.

Takeaway

By integrating product marketing, UX design, and experiential training, I transformed Spotlight’s onboarding from a manual process into a national adoption model—proving that storytelling, design thinking, and field empathy can accelerate both user trust and measurable impact.

© 2025 by alt/x

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