Caesars Digital
Senior Product Manager, then Product Manager, registration, identity and first deposit across four consumer brands
2022 – presentGonzalo Aguilar / Product & interaction
Ideas you
can touch.
There are four things on this page you can play with. Try one: you will understand how I work before you finish reading.
Take a look around
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What I do
Who I am, in five points
- Nine years designing and building digital products, and the strategy behind them.
- Today: getting people signed up, proving who they are, and paying for the first time. In a sector where the law requires checking every customer. Four brands, 22+ states.
- Before that: Carnival Cruise Lines, Spirit Airlines, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and Office Depot.
- AI I keep running: assistants that do real work, a system that recommends from 815,000 past cases, and the alerts for when it gets it wrong.
- English and Spanish, remote.
Measured results
What got better, and by how much.
Four things that got better, with the number each one moved. The fourth sits behind a password because it is my employer’s business, not mine to publish. Ask me for it.
- More people finish signing up
- 75% → 92%
- More people get to actually use it
- 1% → 7%
- How many sign-ups I went through
- In the case files
- Fewer people turned away by the identity check
- +10.8%
I changed the order in which people are asked for their documents. In the biggest market, completed sign-ups went from 75 out of every 100 to 92.
After paying for the first time, almost everybody stopped there. I reordered what happens right afterwards, and 7 out of every 100 carried on instead of 1.
The number, and how much of it turned out to be bots or fake sign-ups, are behind a password. It is my employer’s figure, not mine. Ask me and I will give you the password.
We changed the company that checks who you are. 10.8% more people passed, and 15.4% of those who used to fail got through, with nothing else breaking.
No jargon
What I can do for a product
First I lookWhere you are losing people, and what to watch
I find where people are slipping away
I go through your product like one of your customers and mark the screens where they give up.
With numbers, not opinions.
See an example
A real case
At an airline people dropped out at seat selection: the price showed up after they picked, so they went back, and many never came in again. I put the price before the choice and the step stopped being a surprise. In a repair shop or a clinic it is the same thing, with the form that asks for your phone before saying the price.
And what the technical people call it
- funnel analysis
- heatmaps
- session recordings
- friction points
I look at what your competitors do, and what the internet says about you
What they publish, which words they show up for, and what appears when someone looks you up before calling.
Almost nobody knows what a customer finds right before deciding.
See an example
A real case
I collect what is public about your competitors and about you: pages, reviews, social accounts, and what Google and the AI assistants answer when asked about a business like yours. Out comes a map of where they are, where you are, and which gap is still open.
And what the technical people call it
- competitive analysis
- web scraping
- online reputation
- presence audit
- market research
I put the meters where there are none
What to watch, where to put it, and what the number means when it shows up.
Most people measure what is easy, not what decides.
See an example
A real case
Plenty of businesses have Google Analytics installed and not one answer. I mark every step that matters, with the same names everywhere, and a report that says what changed this week and why.
And what the technical people call it
- analytics
- GA4
- Search Console
- events
- dashboards
- reporting
And I tell you the truthWhat worked and what did not, checked
I tell you what works and what does not
Every change gets re-checked a week later, and again two weeks later.
Of 154 with a verdict: 72 worked, 76 did nothing, 6 made it worse.
See an example
A real case
Almost nobody goes back to see whether the change they made did anything. I keep the date, the number before and the number after. When something did not work I say so and we take it out, even when it was my idea.
And what the technical people call it
- A/B testing
- experimentation
- cohort analysis
- Mixpanel
- Amplitude
I test the work before it ships, and the test keeps running
Nothing goes out without passing its checks, and the checks stay running afterwards.
Being wrong is not the strange part. Hearing it from a customer is.
See an example
A real case
This site checks itself three times a day: it opens every page like a phone, plays the games, measures whether the text can be read, and speaks up if something broke. It costs nothing and does not depend on me remembering.
And what the technical people call it
- automated tests
- QA
- regression tests
- production checks
- alerting
Then I buildThe thing that needs building, built
I take an idea and turn it into something that exists
From the napkin to the first real user: what gets built, in what order, and what gets left out.
I have done it end to end, alone, more than once.
See an example
A real case
This site, an assistant that qualifies leads and answers on its own, and an engine that recommends over 815,000 past records: I designed them, built them and I run them. I do not have opinions about building products from the outside.
And what the technical people call it
- 0 to 1 product
- discovery
- minimum scope
- prototype
- launch
- operating it
I get people to finish signing up
Registering, proving you are who you say, and reaching the first payment without dropping out on the way.
It is what I have done for nine years, and where my hardest numbers are.
See an example
A real case
On a regulated platform you had to leave the sign-up to send your document, and many people never came back. I moved the document check inside the sign-up itself: the share who got to the end went from 75% to 92%, and the queue of people waiting fell 64%. In a small business it is the same story, with the form that asks for too much too early.
And what the technical people call it
- registration
- identity verification
- KYC
- onboarding
- user acquisition
- two-factor
- account recovery
I design the screens, on phones and on computers
Apps and web pages: how it looks, what order things appear in, and what happens when you touch them.
On paper first, so the wrong ideas die before anyone builds them.
See an example
A real case
Before a line of code I draw every screen and the arrows between them. A three-week argument gets settled in one afternoon by pointing at paper, instead of by building it twice.
And what the technical people call it
- UI/UX
- wireframes
- prototypes
- flow diagrams
- responsive design
- design systems
- motion
I build the cart and the moment of paying
Choosing, booking, paying, and changing the booking later without calling anyone.
It is where the most money falls through if something is off.
See an example
A real case
At an airline I rebuilt check-in, flight changes and bag buying, on the phone and on the airport kiosks. Checking in went 40% faster. In a shop with five products the problem is identical: one step too many between wanting and paying.
And what the technical people call it
- e-commerce
- cart
- checkout
- booking flow
- self-service
- add-on sales
And it runs without youThe part somebody used to do by hand
I automate the steps you do not need, and you pay less
Programs that do the repetitive work on their own, and AI assistants for what used to need somebody watching.
Fewer steps, and fewer tools on the invoice.
See an example
A real case
I run 130 assistants and close to 500 scheduled jobs doing work that used to be a person: searching, writing, checking, raising a flag. Every tool you stop paying for because one of these replaced it is money that stops leaving every month.
And what the technical people call it
- automation
- AI agents
- scheduled jobs
- integrations
- cost reduction
I build the whole CRM, and the thing that answers on its own
Where every contact comes in, what stage they are at, the messages, the campaigns and the bookings. It replies and chases whoever went quiet.
And it knows when to hand you to a person.
See an example
A real case
A business got two hundred messages a month and answered forty. The rest went cold. Now it answers all of them in seconds, follows up three times, and only interrupts a human when someone actually wants to buy.
And what the technical people call it
- CRM
- ManyChat
- conversation automation
- SMS and email campaigns
- customer and lead database
- lead stages
I give them a reason to come back tomorrow
Streaks, visible progress, something you earn by using it. No casino tricks, no fake countdowns.
Getting someone back costs less than finding a new one.
See an example
A real case
A shop had no reason for you to return the next day. I gave it a daily streak: you come in, mark the day, and see how many you have in a row. The same thing your language app does, and it works for the same reason: you do not want to break it.
And what the technical people call it
- retention
- streaks
- progress meters
- rewards
- game mechanics
And it keeps workingStill standing without me
I make sure Google and the AI assistants can quote you
No tricks. The page says plainly what it is, in both languages, with the hidden notes those readers look for.
Two audiences now read the same page.
See an example
A real case
When someone asks ChatGPT about a business like yours, the answer comes from pages written so a machine can understand them. If yours is not, you do not rank low. You are simply not there.
And what the technical people call it
- SEO
- GEO
- structured data
- schema.org
- llms.txt
- sitemaps
- hreflang
I make sure you can write to your customers without getting in trouble
Keeping who said yes, to exactly which sentence, and on what day. Not writing at hours that annoy. And an unsubscribe that works on the first try.
One message without permission can cost you more than the whole campaign.
See an example
A real case
A bought or stale contact list looks like free money until the first complaint. I set up the record of who agreed and when, a one-tap unsubscribe, and hours when the system simply does not send. On the day someone asks, the answer is already on file.
And what the technical people call it
- consent
- opt-in and opt-out
- compliance
- audit trail
- identity verification
I leave a system, not a favour
Adding the next site is a line in a settings file, not a new project.
It has to work when I am gone.
See an example
A real case
If you have to call me to change a price after I leave, the work was done badly. I write down what I built and leave checks that run on their own and speak up when something breaks, without anyone having to remember to look.
And what the technical people call it
- documentation
- automated tests
- continuous deployment
- monitoring
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The work
Where the work happened
Nine years, three sectors.
Nine years of product work inside regulated gaming, travel and retail. Every one of these is on my LinkedIn with the same dates.
Carnival Cruise Lines
Product management consultant, in-app guest messaging for the Carnival HUB app
2022 – 2024
Spirit Airlines
Product Manager, mobile and kiosk, self-service check-in, changes and ancillaries
2020 – 2022
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
Guest pre-cruise onboarding, booking and payment workflows
Earlier
Office Depot
Marketplace pricing, inventory and sell-through
EarlierMy thesis, in cards
Open a pack. Three cards inside.
Three topics, three packs in each. Open the one you like and out come three cards: what is happening, what to do, and how you will know it worked. Three are on me.
Selected background
13 projects, at the level where the decisions are still visible.
Notes on product decisions. No organizations, no dates and no private data: just the problem, the decision and what I learned.
Touch any illustration: every one answers to your finger.
Applied AI
Open the case→When an agent should stop
I explore how a chat assistant can recognise its limits and hand over to a person.
- Claude API
- FastAPI
- Supabase
Customer experience
Open the case→Ask less, explain more
I explore the order of questions in account creation.
- iOS
- Android
- Mobile web
Applied AI
Open the case→Automate without losing control
I explore how to make an automated system’s actions and limits visible.
- Agent orchestration
- Release gates
- GitHub Actions
Local commerce
Open the case→A catalog that helps people decide
I explore how to present changing information without creating false expectations.
- Next.js
- Vercel
- Inventory feed
CRM and lifecycle
Open the case→A CRM for a business that had never had one
Lead capture, lane attribution, a customer database, SMS campaigns and automated follow-up for a small business that had none of it.
- Next.js
- Supabase
- Twilio
Forecasting
Open the case→Design for uncertainty
I explore how to present a prediction without making it look certain.
- FastAPI
- React
- Supabase
Privacy-constrained product
Open the case→Measure while respecting privacy
I explore what can be learned without collecting unnecessary data.
- iOS
- Identifier-free analytics
Guest experience
Open the case→A messenger that had to work at sea
An in-app messaging platform for the Carnival HUB app, built for guests on a ship with almost no bandwidth.
- iOS
- Android
- Real-time messaging
Self-service
Open the case→Check-in, changes and the cart, on a kiosk
Mobile and kiosk redesign at Spirit Airlines: check-in, itinerary management, booking changes and buying the extras that come with a seat.
- Mobile
- Kiosk
- A/B testing
Commerce
Open the case→A marketplace that had to sell what it had
Marketplace pricing, inventory and how fast stock moves at Office Depot, where daily revenue grew roughly threefold.
- E-commerce
- Marketplace
- Pricing
Onboarding
Open the case→Everything a guest must do before they arrive
Everything a guest has to do before they sail, digital booking, loyalty and checkout at The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection.
- Digital booking
- Payments
- Loyalty
Identity
Open the case→Changing the engine without stopping the car
Changing the company that checks people are who they say they are, on a live product, with a switch we could flip back in seconds.
- Identity vendors
- Config-only
- Instant rollback
Growth systems
Open the case→
Sites that have to be found, and then believed
Bilingual sites, the hidden notes that tell Google and the AI assistants what a page is about, analytics and publishing loops built and run for small businesses.
- Next.js
- Vercel
- Supabase
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How I work
Touch and move
The same function.
A different feeling.
The same ball and the same paddle, twice. One version answers your finger, the other does not. Put the ball through the moving goal at the top. Miss once and the score goes back to zero.
The lines follow your gesture. Each bounce responds. Switch to “Without details” and compare the feeling.
Read more
- Try “Without details” and “With details”: the task is the same.
- Which feels clearer?
- Which makes you want to stay?
Action → response. When an interface responds to your gesture, you can understand it without a tutorial. On mobile, swipe outside the field to keep scrolling.
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Try it yourself
An attention experiment
At the edge of the horizon.
Wait longer and you arrive faster, but you spend that time waiting. Every product makes this trade. Here you get to feel it.
GRAVITY CHARGE · MANUAL JUMP
Charge the engines and choose when to jump.
A made-up journey, not a physics simulation. What changes each time is the moment you decide to jump.
I write about the gear I use every day. 18 reviews, on their own page.
See the deskWhat does this have to do with your product?
Visible feedback confirms that your action worked. In an app: see that a file was saved. In a store: see the item enter your cart. Less uncertainty, a clear next step.
The hypothesis: clarity can help people finish and return. Test completed tasks and return visits, not just time spent playing.
Free, no sign-up
Take an AI tip with you.
Eight practical things for your next chat or your next screen. Hit a block and it is yours.
Why it is built this way
I broke it into pieces on purpose.
All of this could have been a wall of text. Reading is tiring, and a long page gets abandoned before it reaches the part that matters, so there is a game between each block. It is there to let you breathe, and to make what you just read stick.
The long parts are folded away and you decide whether to open them. Nothing moves forever, and what moves can be stopped. The buttons are large because a finger does not aim precisely, and the text has contrast because in sunlight it would disappear.
If any of this felt easy, that was not an accident. It is the same work I do inside a product.
Still here?
You made it to the bottom, which almost nobody does. What is missing is one sentence from you: what you sell, and what is getting stuck.
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