UX Impact
Increased the sign up rate of a landing page
Through user research and partnership with Product Marketing.
Created 1 primary and 2 secondary personas
These helped guide design direction and user journies in the advertising industry.
Increased the System Usability Score (SUS) by 7 points
Through user research and partnership with Product Marketing.
Created 1 primary and 2 secondary personas
These helped guide design direction and user journies in the advertising industry.
Increased the System Usability Score (SUS) by 7 points
SUS is a standardized framework for an experience's usability and learnability.
68 is the average score according to usability.gov
68 is the average score according to usability.gov
Overview
An exploration of understanding customer needs and increasing value for Spectrum Reach customers purchasing commercials and advertising campaigns on a self-service web platform.
deliverables
Persona creation, landing page redesign, design system library, Zeplin style guide, High-fidelity UI screens
Persona creation, landing page redesign, design system library, Zeplin style guide, High-fidelity UI screens
ROLE
UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer
SCOPE
2-month timeframe, collaborated with 1 UX director, 1 UX designer, 1 product manager, 1 UX researcher, an internal Product Marketing team, and a third-party engineering team
Platform
Responsive, customer-facing web application
Tools
Sketch, Axure, Tobii Eye Tracker
What is the Ad Portal?
The Ad Portal is a tool that allows business owners to create and schedule cable advertising campaigns at an affordable price. Users can create their own commercials in the web application or upload their own. By inputting info about their business and budget, users are presented with a TV schedule that includes shows and networks targeted to their ideal audience.
The challenge
Business stakeholders desired an increased sign up rate for the Ad Portal service. Through research and design thinking, my team and I set out to validate assumptions, dig deeper, and improve the current UI. At this point, we were not even sure who the main users of the application were.
“Where is the cost for all of it?
What is the bottom line?"
- Ad Portal usability test participant
- Ad Portal usability test participant
Research
Past Usability testing
Prior to my team's involvement, a few usability studies and interviews had been conducted to determine an initial flow. This consisted of users adding an advertising goal, the duration of their commercial, their budget, and answering a few questions to create their commercial (or uploading their own).
Understanding past research and design decisions was an important place to start.
Previous UI screens
The previous landing page
Additional Usability testing
Recruited business owners, all screened to be potential users of the Ad Portal, were usability tested on-site in a testing facility. They were asked to walk through the landing page as well as the Ad Portal flow to replicate a typical experience when using the product for the first time.
Key insights & design recommendations
The landing page does not clearly communicate the product offerings
Recommendation: Establish personas to drive messaging on the landing page and throughout the experience. Work with Product Marketing team to redesign the landing page.
Users do not know how to build an advertising schedule that is effective for their business
Recommendation: Reinforce the expertise of Spectrum Reach and instill trust within users.
The value of a package is not explained in way that the user can relate to their business
Recommendation: Add value proposition to packages, with supporting data and cable channel logos that users can relate to their businesses. For example, for $450 you reach 50% of your target audience 3 times. (Studies show repeated exposure encourages consumers to take action).
Advertising terminology and industry stats were confusing
Recommendation: Reduce technical jargon and add helpful tips.
Recommendation: Add value proposition to packages, with supporting data and cable channel logos that users can relate to their businesses. For example, for $450 you reach 50% of your target audience 3 times. (Studies show repeated exposure encourages consumers to take action).
Advertising terminology and industry stats were confusing
Recommendation: Reduce technical jargon and add helpful tips.
Who are the users?
Goals:
• To gain new customers and inform
• To gain new customers and inform
them about sales and events
• To engage current customers with reminders about sales and events
• To let more people know about her
business and what makes it unique
business and what makes it unique
Frustrations:
• Thinks TV advertising is expensive
• Thinks TV advertising is expensive
• Concerned younger people don't still have cable
• Believes customer is "everyone" and doesn't understand targeting
• Doesn't know what is “good”
• Doesn't know how to drive ROI
Goals:
• To gain new customers and inform
• To gain new customers and inform
them about service and what makes it unique
• To grow an email list, so those leads turn into new customers
• Build brand awareness and establish a reputation in her industry
Frustrations:
• No dedicated marketing budget
• No dedicated marketing budget
• Doesn't understand targeting or where to advertise
• Can’t afford to hire a professional to make a commercial but also don’t want something amateur
Goals:
• To compete against larger industry rivals
• To compete against larger industry rivals
• To engage current customers by about sales, events, and unique products.
Frustrations:
• Willing to pay for customers but doesn't understand targeting
• Willing to pay for customers but doesn't understand targeting
• What is “good” for his business?
• How to drive ROI while staying competitive?
User drop-off points
The major drop-off points are outlined in red. (Results are from the analytics platform, Heap)
Proposed new flow & additional research
We determined that key changes needed to be made to the Landing Page and Campaign Packages
Wireframes & low fidelity concepts
Early iterations for Campaign Packages, which enable users to choose which ad campaign works best for them
User feedback & iteration
terminology
Most participants had difficulty interpreting campaign length as it relates to other parts of the package. Some did not understand the term "frequency" and how it related to the cost/length.
Content Overload
Some users had difficulty with the display, location, and amount of text on various pages.
Helpful tips
Most participants did not pay much attention to the tips sections. The word "Tips" was used excessively, the content was too lengthy, and for users who had a solid understanding of the process they were redundant.
The previous version (left) was not concise while the revised version (right) solves for the above user feedback
Design system & accessibility
By organizing and establishing a design system in Sketch, I quickly iterated on new designs using existing icons, patterns, spacing, etc. By integrating with Zeplin, developers were easily able to turn UI into code.
A large focus of this system was also on accessibility. By working with resources such as https://accessible-colors.com and http://colorsafe.co, both of which follow WCAG standards. I also collaborated with an internal accessibility team that provided a report outlining best practices on labels, states, and error messages.
A segment of the full design library imported in Zeplin, shared with engineering partners.
High-fidelity mockups
These were shipped in production, and built by an external development team. Designs handed off through Zeplin.
Campaign Packages are a key step where users make an informed decision when building their Ad Campaign
A mobile view of the Campaign Packages screens
The revised landing page more efficiently communicates product offerings than the original version
