Constructing a New Website
About the Project
The client, a flooring product company, wanted to redesign their website to modernize their brand, stay competitive in the market and provide an improved user experience for their customers online. In order to do this, it was necessary to get an understanding of:
Employee experiences
Customer experiences (5 user types)
Competitors
The client’s websites
User goals
The Challenges
Creating a shared understanding of the user goals
Untangling all of the legacy websites that existed and what they were used for
The Research
Contextual Inquiry + In-depth Interviews
UX Audit
Key Findings
The UX audit focused on the homepage and the product pages. Some of the findings included unclear page hierarchy, multiple redundancies, inconsistent page styles and complex navigation modules.
We found two different persona types split by level of familiarity and trust with key flooring products and the brand.
The company was founded in 1972 so some are certified “super users” who have been using and advocating for the products for years and some are new customers in new industries.
The super users were more comfortable with product-based website navigation and using the website to find certain items, like specifications or tech sheets.
On the other hand, the new customers were less familiar with the brand and needed more help searching and comparing products. They were also less likely to trust the brand and needed more specific content to address that.
Design Recommendations
Armed with research insights and user goals, I met with the web developer to discuss feasibility of a few items I was recommending to the client:
Improving access to specs
Many users relied on PDF specifications so the client’s website had a large library of unorganized PDFs. The developer and I determined that tagging PDFs with metadata was the best way for the client to categorize their PDFs so users could easily search for them, which was one of their primary website goals.
Removing default settings
It was important for users to have the ability to customize their documentation (specs, safety data sheets, tech sheets) when downloading submittals from the website. I worked with the developer and the client to advocate for as much customization as possible so users can provide the correct documentation to support their use of the client’s products to architects and general contractors.
Customizing a product selection tool
There were a lot of feature requests to improve a popular tool that helped users identify products that hit the right fire and sound ratings. Some of the items requested included allowing users to add a floor finish (carpet or tile) or adding audio clips so users could listen to the sound rating. After talking to the developer, we determined that those items were currently out of scope. However, it was still important to adjust the inputs to allow users to add their fire and sound ratings up front in order to receive a product recommendation.
The Results
The insights and design recommendations helped guide the client:
prioritize content (across content strategy and page hierarchy)
untangle the complex and duplicative navigation modules
understand what their digital competition looks like
understand what content needs to be gated vs. public
move forward with a new site map and new web design by end of 2021