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How JISR Turned 5-7 Monthly Features Into a Revenue Machine

From communication chaos to orchestrated growth across 6 products and 10,000 active users

Jonathan Anderson
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How JISR Turned 5-7 Monthly Features Into a Revenue Machine
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In November 2023, JISR was about to kill their Performance Management module.
By February 2024, it had 20% adoption.
What changed? JISR's product marketing team took control of every customer touchpoint, built three systematic playbooks, and turned their biggest weakness—release velocity—into their competitive advantage.
This is how a scrappy PMM team transformed 5-7 monthly feature releases from communication chaos into predictable revenue growth.

The result? Product saved from death

Engagement
54%
Win Rate
50%
Growth
83%

New users, week 1. Control = no help. Test = tour → opt-in modal → editor checklist. Source: Genially internal analysis (published with permission).

The Backstory

JISR's engineering team ships relentlessly across six different HR products. Before 2024, this pace created chaos:

"Customers were caught by surprise that a new feature had launched. They'd go somewhere and something else existed," recalls Harshita Kumbhar, Head of Product Marketing.

Random emails from different teams. No coordination. No awareness strategy. Products dying not from lack of value, but lack of visibility.
The complexity was staggering:

  • 6 products requiring different messaging strategies
  • 3,000+ organizations with varying product combinations
  • Bilingual requirements (Arabic-first with English support)
  • Multiple personas (HR admins, finance managers, employees)

The Turning Point

Taking Control

JISR's product marketing team made a radical move: they revoked every product manager's access to customer communications..

"We had to be the bad guy for a bit. But now nothing goes to customers without PMM approval." — Harshita Kumbhar

Building the System

Instead of spray-and-pray messaging, JISR developed three distinct playbooks:

The Three Playbooks

1. The Awareness Engine

Strategy: Study top traffic pages, run campaigns only where users actually go
Hero Campaign: The JISR 2.0 Rebrand

Results:

  • Average feature announcements now reach 2,000-5,000 relevant users
  • ~22% average adoption rate for newly launched people management features. 
  • The "nearly dead" Performance module: 20% adoption in week one after targeted campaigns

2. The Adoption Accelerator

Strategy: Deploy contextual walkthroughs at exact friction points
Example: Payroll Optimization

Contextual walkthrough that simplified complex payroll calculations

When payroll admins struggled with monthly pay runs, JISR created step-by-step guides triggered at precise friction points.
Results
: 12% uplift in payroll re-runs vs previous quarter (% of targeted accounts), driven by reactivated payroll customers
Example: Accounting Integration

As JISR's approach matured, they recognized that some workflows needed more than step-by-step guides. Their accounting integration—a 6-7 step process connecting to various ERPs—became a testing ground for richer support.
The Solution:
Combine video education, contextual help, and a direct "Schedule a meeting" path for users who need human assistance.
Note:
Accounting Integration Walkthrough: Launched recently, metrics TBD.
The Learning
: Not every feature needs the same treatment. Match support depth to complexity.

3. The Expansion Machine

Strategy: Paywalls as parallel journeys, not blockers
The Genius Move
: Using finance-specific language to naturally filter leads

"We write messaging that only finance can comprehend. Terms like 'accounting integrations' naturally filter out unqualified leads." — Uditi Johar, Product Marketing Manager

The Contextual Cross-Sell: When finance admins process reimbursements, they see targeted campaigns for expense management. Not disruptive, but opportunistic.

"We're not saying don't do reimbursements. We're saying we also have travel booking to make this easier." — Harshita Kumbhar

Results:

  • 100% of paywall-generated leads were qualified finance buyers
  • 50% close rate from paywall opportunities
  • First 30-40 customers secured for each new product launch

The Travel Module Turnaround

The Problem Discovery

JISR noticed 83% of users dropping off mid-flow in travel bookings. Through a combination of:

  • Direct phone calls to users (PM spoke Arabic)
  • In-app surveys via Candu
  • Sales feedback

They discovered: pricing was the issue.

The Solution

Targeted offers to users who had dropped off, delivered through hotspots and product tours.
Result
: 83% growth in Travel bookings in one quarter

By The Numbers

Metric Result Context
Rebrand Engagement 54% (7,000/13,000 admins) Highest performing campaign ever
Feature Adoption1 ~22% average first-month adoption For people management features
Performance Module 20% adoption in week 1 Was scheduled for termination
Payroll Completion 12-15% increase Vs previous quarter
Travel Growth 83% in one quarter After identifying pricing friction
Webinar Registration 30% increase In a market where "webinars don't work"
Paywall Qualification 100% qualified leads All finance decision-makers
Paywall Win Rate 50% From qualified opportunities
1. Notes: Adoption measured on newly launched people management features. Payroll uplift measured among Tier 3–6 customers that ran 0 payroll in the prior quarter and returned to run payroll during the campaign.

The System That Scales

JISR doesn't just send messages - they orchestrate journeys:

Use Case Tool Purpose
Awareness Overlays/Modals Announce new features
Adoption Walkthroughs Guide complex workflows
Demand Generation Paywalls Generate qualified pipeline
Re-engagement Contextual Hotspots Recovery for drop-offs

Key Success Factors

1. Direct Customer Connection

"A direct gateway to customers without having to go through CS or product teams" — Soumya, Senior Product Marketing Manager

2. Solving Awareness First

"Half the time, they just weren't aware a feature existed. It wasn't an adoption problem, it was an awareness problem." — Harshita Kumbhar

3. Strategic Control

Centralizing all customer communications under Product Marketing eliminated contradictory messages and created consistency.

4. Contextual Intelligence

Running campaigns on high-traffic pages, targeting by product ownership, and using language as a qualifier.

Customer Impact

The transformation is complete:

"The complaint from customers is never 'I didn't know you launched this' anymore. It's 'help me use it better.'" — Soumya
"We can easily close the first 30-40 customers through paywall leads." — Harshita Kumbhar

Looking Forward

With their foundation established, JISR is pushing for even more sophisticated orchestration:

  • Advanced Throttling: Ensuring optimal message frequency as they scale to 10+ features monthly
  • Enhanced RTL Support: Perfecting Arabic-first experiences
  • Predictive Targeting: Using engagement data to anticipate needs

The Playbook Takeaway

JISR's success came from three critical decisions:

  1. Centralize control - One team owns the customer communication experience
  2. Study user behavior - Place messages where users actually go, not where you hope they'll go
  3. Match message to moment - Different UX patterns for awareness vs. adoption vs. expansion

The result? They didn't just implement a tool - they built a revenue-generating system that turns product releases into predictable growth.

About JISR

JISR is Saudi Arabia's leading cloud-based HR platform, serving 3,000+ organizations and 350,000+ employees across the region. Their suite includes Payroll, Performance Management, Travel & Expense, and comprehensive HR management tools.

About Candu

Candu enables product teams to create native in-app experiences without engineering resources. From onboarding flows to paywalls, Candu helps SaaS companies drive adoption, expansion, and retention through contextual user experiences.

For more information on implementing similar strategies in your product, visit candu.ai

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