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From experiment to launch: how data shaped a new comments experience | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

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Figma used a series of data-driven experiments to redesign its comments experience and encourage collaboration among both editors and viewers. Although comments strongly predicted team retention and growth, they were underused because users struggled to discover them. Experiments confirmed that improving visibility increased comment creation, while an intuitive-looking relocation of the comments control unexpectedly reduced discoverability.

Collaboration and Comments

  • Teams that collaborate during their first month are:
    • 1.75× more likely to be retained.
    • 6.5× more likely to become customers.
  • Figma identified comments as a potential “front door” to collaboration because both editors and viewers can use them.
  • Despite their value, comments were not widely used, prompting the data science team to investigate the gap between user needs and behavior.

Testing Comment Discoverability

  • Users previously entered comment mode through an icon in the upper-left corner of the editor.
  • Research sessions suggested that comments were valuable but difficult to find.
  • Figma tested a prompt encouraging view-only developers to leave comments.
  • After two weeks in a 50/50 experiment:
    • Comment creation increased by 45% in the test group.
    • The rate of users returning to comments the following week did not change.
  • The result showed that simply making comments more visible could substantially increase usage.

An Unexpected Result

  • Figma hypothesized that moving the comments entry point from the left side of the menu bar to the right would improve discoverability.
  • The reasoning was that the left side emphasized creation tools, while the right side contained collaboration and viewing features more relevant to cross-functional users.
  • Among new users, the change caused a 20% decrease in comment discovery within seven days of signup.
  • The failed experiment demonstrated that seemingly logical product changes can significantly harm user behavior.
  • It also reinforced the value of controlled experiments: product hypotheses are often wrong, and teams should expect testing to disprove many ideas.

Figma’s experience illustrates that effective product development depends on combining user research with rigorous experimentation. Rather than relying on intuition about interface placement, teams should validate each change with real behavioral data and use unexpected results to guide subsequent iterations.