A little bit of context before getting deep

‍

As part of the unification and merger of the 5 companies. The 5 products have different interfaces, features and workflows. However, they all align in their objective: Enabling users to track news, mentions, journalists, and media outlets related to their organisations. Additionally, they provide summarised reports on the social media conversations surrounding them.

One of their goals was to create a unified platform that combines the 5 companies. The issue we had is that we didn't know what users want from the platform. We had 3 options to choose from.

1. The first option was to build a new platform from scratch.
2. The second option was to change and improve the user interface of the 5 platforms and transfer them under one ecosystem.
3. The last option was to choose one platform and integrate the other platforms into it.

Before choosing a platform. The decision was made after our team conducted a thorough user research to determine what option should be used. Our team conducted user interviews with clients. We also ran  competitor analysis to see what users like and dislike about their platforms. After that, We analysed all the data and insights we had gathered and decided to go with the 3rd option. Finally, we had to create a full user journey about the unified platforms.

In this project, the focus will be on redesigning one of their pages. Which is one crucial page for the unified platform. This page is called " Contact Search Page ".

‍

‍

Problem Statement

‍

Users raised issues regarding the search input and the number of contact cards shown per page, leading to usability challenges. This became a significant concern for the company since the page is crucial and used by 86% of clients. Enhancing this page emerged as a top priority for both business and usability reasons.

‍

‍

Project Goal

• The platform is used by 86% of the customers. Our aim was to increase it to at least 92%
• To make the UI similar to other pages within the platform.
• To improve usability and interactivity of the page.
• Create an interaction which suits both the European and American marker. Both regions use the " Contact Search Page " differently.

‍

That's how the platform looked before

‍

‍

Design Process

‍

‍

Discovery and Research:

‍

We have conducted heuristic evaluations

‍

We divided the research into 2 parts:

1. The first part was conducting user interviews with existing clients and account managers.
2. The second part was test the product on clients who didn't use the platform before.

‍

For the first part of research:

‍

After talking to users and account managers. We created an empathy map analysing their concerns and pain points.

‍

‍

For the second part of research:

‍

We conducted 5 moderated usability testing:

• 3 users suggested to make the search input less restrictive.
• 4 users were inable to complete the assigned flows to research for contacts.
• All users weren't able to add the contact to an email campaign. ( It's important for users to add contacts to an email campaign )

‍

Ideation and Final Designs:

‍

Throughout the ideation process. As a team we came up with 6 different workflows which reduced to 2 workflows after testing the ideas and solution with the clients. In both workflows the contact cards will be shown later on in the final designs

‍

The user flow, hierarchy and wireframes of Split Search Workflow:

‍

‍

The user flow, hierarchy and wireframes of Dynamic Search Workflow:

‍

‍

Testing again

‍

After testing, we nearly broke even, with clients preferring the second solution by 8 to 7. As a result, we needed to conduct another round of testing with new clients.

‍

During the 2nd round of testing, we evaluated both solutions with 8 new clients.

• 6 clients favoured the second solution
• 2 clients favoured the first solution.

‍

‍

‍

For the Cards

‍

We showed how would the card first be displayed. Neither AMs or users did like the idea.

• Some users wanted to see more cards per page.
• The majority of them said that there are some information that aren't necessary for the page.

‍

‍

Final Design

‍

The final design after several iterations:

‍

‍

Testing

‍

After finishing the final mockups we presented and tested them to both Account Managers and Clients and the feedbacks were:

• Compared to the previous page. The UI of this page is cleaner and simpler.
• Users were happy by the designs of the cards and how they are displayed in grid view.
• The search workflow improved by more than 90%. From the 12 users and Account Managers. Only 1 users had concerns about the workflow. Which is an issue will be talked about in V2 of the platform.
• Clients who didn't use this page said that they will use this page more often ( Following the launch, the utilisation of this page increased to 93% from the previously stated 86%. )
• The majority of users successfully added, contacts to email list, saved, and updated contacts, marking an enhancement over the earlier version of cards.

‍

Personal Outcome

‍

This project widened my perspective of how UX maturity is important for any company. I was the lead designer for this project. There was room for improvement in the process. However, the company's understanding of UX kept me from moving forward. It's not common for them to participate in workshops and exercises. i was responsible for conducting, organising and facilitating them

‍