Our annual customer surveys revealed a notable portion of our customers as tech-savvy, with feedback consistently highlighting the complexity of our hosting products. An early solution to this problem was to develop a section on our product overview page that worked to break down the website creation process into stages. In each stage there is an educational section and a range of products that suits their needs. However, post-implementation, user engagement remained low. This case study outlines my method in exploring, defining, developing, and delivering a data-driven solution to this problem.
Diving into research
In the initial stages of the discovery process, I gathered insights from various sources including customer surveys, data analytics, and conducted baseline user-testing.
Feedback from our annual customer surveys highlighted a common concern that our hosting products were overly technical and confusing. Google analytics further confirmed this issue by indicating minimal engagement with our current solutions.
To get a baseline for how the current solution worked I engaged stakeholders, including the CEO and Head of Product to establish a clear success criteria. We conducted unmoderated users-tests measured against this criteria, collecting data from observations and feedback through usability surveys. This feedback was evaluated using the UMUX-lite framework and converted into the System Usability Scale (SUS) for comprehensive reporting and analysis.
What's the problem?
Both qualitative and quantitative data was gathered from user-tests and surveys to form a clear problem statement and recommendations. Users expressed frustration with technical aspects, with many customers expressing a desire for a simple process over an educational process. This quote from a customer embodies this sentiment.
"I pay for my water service, I don't need to learn about how the pump/pipes work - I just need the water."
The initial user-testing revealed a poor 55% success rate within our predefined criteria, while customer survey data yielded a SUS score of "C" (69 out of 100). These findings provide a foundation for forming a robust problem statement and subsequent recommendations.
Problem statment
Business owners had little to no understanding of the website content presented to them. They expressed a preference for a simplified process instead of learning about how the product works.
Collaborative solutions
During the development stage I facilitated brainstorming sessions, synthesised solutions and collaborated with cross-functional teams to validate user flows.
During brainstorming sessions I engaged Head of Product, Marketing, and Engineering teams. Together we generated and synthesised ideas, using an Affinity diagram to ensure feasibility and alignment with customer and business needs. Our Technical Support department, valued for their expertise in customer inquiries, was brought on board to validate our user flows.
This collaborative process ensured that the proposed solutions were both innovative and practical, addressing customer concerns effectively.
A success story
The delivery phase of this project involved iterative feedback loops with stakeholders, refining Wireframes and Mid-fidelity prototypes. Upon finalizing the design, I developed a fully interactive High-fidelity prototype to be used during user-testing. User-testing was conducted with remoted unmoderated testers recruited from Playbook UX. The results from these tests showed significant improvement, with success rates increasing from 55% to 87% against our pre-defined criteria, and the SUS score increased from C to B+ (85 out of 100). These results confirmed enhanced alignment with user needs and preferences, validating the effectiveness of the design.
Recommendation
Create a simplified guided experience
Communicate using language that business owners can understand
Present user with products and their benefits that are tailored to their needs.
*Data collected from Google Analytics compares the overall performance of the ventraip.com.au website from 16/10/2023 to 26/03/2024 with that of the same period in the previous year.
29%
Of total Website Hosting purchases
↑58.2%
Increase in Success rate*
↑23.2%
Increase in System Usability Scale score*