A new way to help associations find volunteers

A high-potential yet underused feature

At JeVeuxAider.gouv.fr, we want to help both volunteers and associations. Our key metric is: the number of volunteer applications.

When exploring how to increase this metric while answering our users’ needs, the PM and I identified a promising but underused feature: the reversed search, which allows associations to proactively reach out to relevant volunteers.

We chose to focus on it because:

• adoption was very low, yet it answers an associations’ need: to find volunteers for their missions
• the experience was incomplete
• we had several signals from support tickets and qualitative interviews: the need was there, the UX wasn’t

3 strategic sub-objectives to stay on track

As in any marketplace, improving the feature required acting on three complementary levers:

• Increase supply: more volunteers with complete & visible profiles (only 13% of new volunteers at the time)
• Increase demand: more associations using the feature and sending outreach
• Improve matching efficiency: higher outreach → application conversion

This framework guided every design decision.

Increase the number of volunteers visible, with a complete profile

To make the feature valuable, we first needed more volunteers with complete and visible profiles.

I redesigned the volunteer dashboard to encourage completion, with mainly:

• clearer nudges (completion gauge + todo list)
• a dedicated, streamlined completion flow

Results: 13% → 55% of new volunteers with complete & visible profiles. We doubled the total number of visible volunteers in 6 months.

Increase the number of associations using the feature

To scale usage, we improved the reversed search experience itself.

Through interviews, live and Hotjar observations and a survey, I identified two core use cases:

• Targeted searches: associations needed more precise info & filters
• High-volume missions: they needed quick bulk outreach

I redesigned the experience to include:

• new relevance & sorting rules (availability + preferences + proximity)
• clearer lists with key info surfaced up front
• filters for specific needs (skills, certifications…)
• qualitative signals (experience, motivations, past missions)
• bulk selection & outreach

Then I made the feature more visible and accessible.

Mainly within the mission page and through emails sent to associations at key moments in the mission lifecycle. Also through a product tour and our monthly newsletter.

Results:

• the share of associations using the feature increased by 51%
• outreach emails sent were multiplied by 3.3x

Note: outreach volume is capped for fairness: volunteers can receive only 2 emails/month, and associations are limited to 300 sends.

Improve the conversion rate

The second conversion driver was the email itself. The previous message felt automated, not personal.

We considered:

• letting associations write their own message
• sending a generic message framed as if it came from the association

We chose the second option, since associations didn’t express the need for customization and often send in bulk.

Result: the feature’s conversion rate increased by 2.7×.

Final impact — a step-change in performance

After improving each sub-goal, the feature’s impact increased dramatically — 8.8× more applications when comparing the first six months of 2024 and 2025. Another satisfying result: the application validation rate is +11 pts higher than the platform average.

What’s next? I think the two best options for us is to continue improve the feature adoption and improve volunteers x opportunities matching.