Send with Scout
Project Specs
My Role: Project Lead
Project Timeline: 4 weeks
Constraints: Desktop platform, Private beta site with limited users, live site with outdated analytics, balancing user research and future customer needs
Context
I led a team of 5 designers through an end-to-end process to revamp the direct mail postcard marketing platform Send with Scout. The company is finding product market fit and wanted to optimize their landing page for conversion. The company’s goal of fostering community needed to be highlighted in the site rebrand.
Goals: Conduct user research to clarify needs of new target market, synthesize findings, and rebrand Scout website through UI design & copywriting to allow for CRO after launch.
Determining a Direction for Research
Scout's founder has a vision for the product as a community of direct mail marketers that openly share knowledge, and ultimately a platform that adds a lot of value to the industry as a top priority. We needed to find out if this vision was coming across to users.
Our team had a 2-week user research window for this project, which made it imperative that we strategize early on. How could we get the most relevant information we needed without access to a large pool of target users? What types of research will facilitate prioritization of design updates most valuable for the company?
As a team we decided to source as many Direct Mail Marketers as we could for research, and additionally test site copy and layout with growth marketers to accommodate time constraints. The research took a 4-part approach:
1) Comprehension test existing site copy with Direct Mail Marketers and Growth Marketers
2) Conduct user interviews with Direct Mail Marketers for insights on current workflow
3) Collaborate with Growth Marketers to optimize landing page and future CRO
4) User test in-site design tool with non-designers
Research Synthesis & Branding Changes
Since our team did multiple types of research, we found a number of pain points and numerous potential directions for the site. To narrow our focus, we mapped business needs and user needs according to importance (photo below), and determined what our priority areas of redesign were. Standout research insights came from user interviews and site tests with Direct Mail Marketers, who perceived the Scout website as:
- Confusing; unsure of what product or it's UVP were
-"Young" and inexperienced, doubting its trustworthiness
- Flat, static
- Not interactive- users were curious how to test out the design tool without signing up
Embarking on Lo-Fi
Our approach to Lo-Fi was to restructure the site so Calls To Action redirect to intuitive places, create copy that is more transparent and contains less "jargon", and create a benefits-forward dialogue on the site rather than the current feature-focused verbiage.
1) Revamp site copy for clarity and CRO
2) Restructure site flow and page names to be more intuitive to users
3) Include interactive elements to entice users and provide additional information
Since we couldn't source Direct Mail Marketers for Lo-Fi testing given time constraints, we tested a lo-fi clickable prototype with Growth Marketers and Sales & Business Development professionals as users adjacent to the direct mail marketing field.
Rough UI sketch for Scout homepage
Rough UI sketch for Scout product page
Hi-Fi Modifications
For Hi-Fi, our team aimed to create polished, approachable, professionally engaging feel to the site. To project Scout as a trustworthy, established, value-adding industry player we focused on:
1) Updating copy to solidify UVP and product benefits
2) Inclusion of professional images of people to create a feeling of community
3) Use of color blocking to create page hierarchy
4) Establishment of button systems to guide user actions
5) Updating icons and graphics to unify pages
6) Development of grid and typescale for the platform
We validation tested the site using a hi-fi clickable prototype with Growth Marketing and Sales and Business Development professionals. The product UVP and professional community feel were immediately ascertained by our users, and navigation within the site from CTAs was perceived as intuitive.
A desire to know more specifics about product pricing and the in-site design tool remained minor stumbling blocks for users, and will have to be taken into consideration when making future design changes to the Scout site.
Additional Hi-Fi iterations
After Hi-Fi iterations and delivery to the client, there was still feedback from validation testing that could be incorporated into UI changes. Below are UI changes I executed based on the final feedback, and envision being implemented had the project been longer.
Project Reflections
Scout presented the intriguing problem of working with an unknown product market fit, an undeveloped site in beta, and an old live site that each presented bits and pieces of an analytics and design puzzle. it was challenging to step into the problem space and figure out how to conduct research in a way that considered the value of each of those pieces and would help fit them together.
I grew my skills with Google Analytics, learning to dive in and suss out important statistics and understanding the data gaps. I additionally got a crash course in copywriting for growth, which differs immensely from my past copywriting experiences. I enjoyed implementing designs that optimize for conversion rather than being solely focused on user experience, and finding the balance that accommodates business priorities.