Overview
Owning a property is a huge investment. Property owners, new and current, are constantly maintaining and renovating their homes.
In real estate certain issues and discrepancies may crop up unexpectedly. DMC's services help homeowners to take the necessary actions when regarding the structure and maintenance of properties.
However, even being in business for 30+ years not many enquiries are being made through their website.
Responsibilities
User Researcher
UX
Design Director
Period
5 months
Client
DMC Consulting
Engineers
Team
+ Project Manager
+ Software Engineer
Key Objective
To figure out why a small number of clients are enquiring about DMC's services through their website.
Solutions Preview
Redesigned
UX
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Updated to be responsive for both mobile and desktop
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Clicks to Contact increased +200%
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New Visitors Increase + 89%
Redesigned
Art Direction
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Sentiment Analysis Score increased to 90+
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Net Promoter Score changed from 30 to 80+
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Consistent Visual Fidelity passed WCAG AAA
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Rewritten
SEO
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Site Sessions increase +1,200%
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Added SSL Certification for safety
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Company Revenue Increased +20%
Before
After
Prologue. " What is the situation? "
The Design Brief
Having a 1:1 meeting with the business owner, DMC was able to inform me about their current situation with their small company. This then further helped with the design brief to help set out goals, objectives and budget.
"Most of our resources are going into report writing...multiple clients at once. I cannot type pages upon pages AND go to surveys on-site..."
- Business Owner
DMC's NPS has been decreasing over the past years
Low reviews and broken promises
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DMC sales their services to be promptly executed, within 72 hours.
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Engineer needs to be on-site to obtain new jobs, and cannot spend all their time typing multi-paged documents
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Clients give poor rating to DMC due to tardiness of report
Q1. " What are the requirements and constraints? "
Problem to Solution
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Redesign of website took 5 months.
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Project Manager and Software Engineer from Yell.com worked with DMC
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Must focus on obtaining work within North West London
Research Goals
In order to find out DMC's current website problem, gathering adequate information about DMC helped set the foundation of the redesign with Yell.com.
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How DMC's business operates
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Types of jobs/ services they offer
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The clients DMC has worked with
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These questions were manifested to ensure efficiency when researching key elements for both business and design purposes.
Figure out which stakeholders to manage closely
Stakeholder Mapping
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Need to consider companies/ professions that DMC works with outside the office.
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Understand their motives, goals and strengths towards DMC
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Categorise whom to manage closely, consider and meet their needs
DMC offers an array of services to help maintain properties
Ranking DMC's Services Through Frequency
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Main source of revenue comes from report writing
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Large influx of work starts in Spring due to Contractors & Builders accepting work
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Label the frequency and average price for each service
Subsidence Reports are the most requested service from DMC
Cracks and openings on the wall need to be
investigated
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Most time is spent writing reports for subsidence issues
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Most clients expect a quick turnaround, within a matter of days
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Reports can be efficiently edited if any mistakes occur
DMC must spend approx. 2 hours on-site to dictate their findings for the report
Storyboarding DMC's Business Process
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DMC goes on-site to do a visual inspection and audio record their findings on a dictation machine.
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Audio recording helps DMC type the investigation in report format.
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Recommendation of works helps the client understand what procedure to follow in order to fix the problem.
Making contact with DMC and asking for a quote is the user's main goal
Main metrics to record to determine sucess rate
Clients want the reports promptly which causes issues
FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis)
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Most issues revolve around clients wanting the report promptly in an unrealistic timeframe
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Some clients do not give correct info (i.e. spelling of email, incorrect postal address)
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DMC wishes to gain more enquiries from potential clients
To understand the scale of DMC's business, an FMEA Analysis was created
to identify possible failures that pose the greatest overall risk for the product.
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Each scenario that DMC has previously encountered was given a score in regard to:
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Frequency
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Severity
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Chance of detection
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Although most of these discrepancies were at the fault of the client, an audit of DMC's current website should give an idea of which features have been implemented to prevent errors (i.e. Error field input).
Stage 1
EMPATHISE
Q2. " What is the state of the current website? "
Poor design, not up-to-date but still functional
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A quick R.I.T.E. (Rapid Iterative Task Exercise) to see condition of site.
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A heuristics review was commenced through its first session.
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Audit goals then determine user goals and pass rate
No SSL, not mobile responsive and fax machine number
Hypothesis
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A quick R.I.T.E. (Rapid Iterative Task Exercise) to see condition of site.
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A heuristics review was commenced through its first session.
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Audit goals then determine user goals and pass rate
Prediction: To modernise the website with a new design system and responsive UX
Surveys and Interviews
Q3. " What do users wish to obtain from DMC's website? "
With the hypothesis set, conveying interviews and surveys was my next step. Contacting previous clients for a questionnaire allowed us to determine:
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Services DMC carried out
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Price range
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Time of job completion from DMC
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Type of property
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Location
5 were chosen based on which service DMC provided
Interview former clients about DMC
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1:1 interviews with the former clients
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Backtracked through past jobs
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Quantitative and Qualitative will be collected
Interview Insights
Personas
Following the collected data, the user interviews were then categorised into their ownership of a property and which services they previously acquired from DMC.
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The Family Man
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The Home Owner
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The Home Extender
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Personas are contacting DMC in a small window, mainly before work or lunch time
Empathy Maps of Personas
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Users do not have time to research
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Often depend on DMC to decipher the problem quickly
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Depend on DMC being free during lunch time, 12 noon to 3pm for on-site meetings.
Family Man
Home Extender
Home Owner
Contact with DMC: more mistakes ensue via telephone enquiries
Ethnographic Research
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20% of each telephone call was dedicated to ensure spelling of names and addresses
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Often depend on DMC to decipher the problem quickly
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Most phone calls were made during lunch time
89%
of phone calls were first time
enquiries asking for quotes
about an issue regarding their
residential property.
4
emails sent on average enquiring for DMC's
quote.
3.4
minutes on average to
set a quote, collect relevant credentials and book in for a meeting.
Enquiries over the phone are less efficient due to acquiring relevant data
Scripts from the Emails and Phone sessions
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DMC follows a script to ensure all information is recorded
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Most clients use telephone contact for a quick quote
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Depend on DMC being free during lunch time, 12 noon to 3pm for on-site meetings.
Telephone enquiry requires more dialogue to retrieve vital information
Spelling mistakes, wrong postal code & misunderstandings
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Accents and pronunciations may challenge the info being recorded
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Client may quickly state email info, but Outlook claims: Undelivered ​
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New telephone system shows client's telephone number on screen, this prevents inaccurate recording of phone number.
Emails are the most efficient way to obtain enquiries and vital info from client
Correct spelling, photo references & payment transfer
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Average amount of emails exchanged is 4, which includes booking and payment.
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Most clients offer photo reference of issue, which aids DMC greatly.
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Names, Titles and address of property is clearly stated in written format. This prevents are errors regarding meetings and further contact.
Access to Contact, services DMC provides and easy to navigate
Users want to be told what do to by DMC
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Users wish to quickly make contact with DMC for an explanation of how their services work
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Acceptance of work depends on price. DMC claims to have very competitive prices.
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DMC must include VOC (Voice of Customer) for both ease of the user and SEO ranking purposes
Stage 2
DEFINE
Discoverability Testing: Current Website
Length
8 - 10 minutes
Participants
8 Participants
Location
U.K.
London
Study Type
Usability &
Contextual Inquiry
Can the candidates use the
current website?
Auditing Tasks for User Testing
Insights of User Testing for Current Website
A collection of bar graphs, quotes and gathered data for Task Analysis
Error Rate
66.67% pass rate against the 33.33% failures
UX for website has two nav bars and access to contact details
Current User Journey
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The main metric for success is 'Clicks to contact', which is accomplished
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'Links' page is a purposeless feature
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Website currently hosts an array of contact elements: direct email and mobile number for direct contact to DMC's offices
Users claim DMC's design system makes them anxious
Breadcrumb current user journey
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Users were very vocal towards the poor design system
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Despite the dated design, actionable elements were clear to use
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3 out of 5 users claimed they would not have contacted DMC based on website
UX was passable. Design and security of site needs a dire upgrade
Key Take Aways
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Lack of SSL certification decreases the chances of users visiting the site
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Blue hyperlinks and obscure banner design imply that business is barren
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Not being mobile responsive burdens DMC's chances of gaining clients
Problem Statement
DMC is not gaining many enquiries through their website as the clients find the design outdated and unsafe.
Stage 3
IDEATE
Q4. " What solutions can help bring in more business enquires via the website?"
Ideal User Journey
The relationship between DMC and the client should be fairly short, as stated by user testing. In order to understand in greater detail the user's mindset, an ideal user journey map was created.
Do NOT make the website feel unsafe and out of date
Setting anti-goals and translating them into goals
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Every business goal is passed through the FMEA
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Design goals will always have a metric to record to determine success
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All elements considered affect internal work structure and website
Design goals are set: Completly new website from the ground up
A whole new site with Clicks to Contact as the main metric
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Audit competitor's sites and record amount of actionable contact elements
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Modernise design system ensuring WCAG AAA is passed
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Prioritise business internally first before increase influx of clients to avoid work overload and decreased NPS
Sort out the business infostructure, then redesign the website
Elephant Carpaccio
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Ensure that the current production of reports can be efficiently completed before we introduce a larger influx of potential clients
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Tasks categorised through urgency and percentage of effectiveness towards DMC's business
Complete website redesign before Summer 2018
Product Roadmap
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Urgency is dedicated towards transcriptions and distribution of reports
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Ideally complete redesign before Summer Season
Target clients in NW London, produce reports efficiently and redesign website
Business Principles with Yell.com
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Project Manager was heavily involved with Yell adverts
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I led the internal business structure to ensure efficiency
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Concept stage of new website is being commenced by the software engineer and myself
Transcription programs write 98% of the report. Less burnout, more satisfied clients
Modernising the work infostructure for efficiency
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Every business goal is passed through the FMEA
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Design goals will always have a metric to record to determine success
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Other digital-related work is also upgraded for efficiency
Internally workflow has drastically changed: report distribution soars up to 166.67%
Burn out and work efficiency leads optimistic change
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Clients now praise DMC for their quick turnaround for reports.
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Time to create AutoCAD drawings decreased by 20%
DMC's competitor's websites are well-established
Competitive Analysis
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Auditing the competitor's website in North West to see current state of their website. Contact buttons are recorded to see amount of actionable 'Clicks to Contact'.
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Feature Prioritisation will be used to audit the sites.
5 local competitors will be audited through these metrics:
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Colour scheme
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Feature Prioritisation
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Elements that are Unique, Best, Same and Poor
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Positions and Frequency of 'Contact Buttons'
Competitor's website that are modernised have an array of contact methods
Competitive 'Areas of Contact'
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Most competitor's sites use an array of clicks to contact. Some are buttons, enquiry forms and allocated on-screen email and phone number.
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DMC will use these chosen methods on the redesign to ensure a higher 'Clicks to Contact'.
Find multiple methods to ensure client makes contact with DMC
Architectural Information
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Main metric is making contact with DMC for services
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Taking into account DMC's social media, word-of-mouth & Yell.com
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Start utilising the users 'VOC' (Voice of Customer) to strengthen DMC's SEO ranking
Make DMC's services part of the nav bar for ease of navigation
Potenital Wireframing
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Services that DMC offers are placed in nav bar
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A CTA is set within the landing page of each page, that being 'Contact'
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An array of methods to make contact are displayed: Enquiry form and direct number with email address
Only add features that will ensure clients make contact via the website
Speaking with the engineer for S.W.O.T. Analysis
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Main metric is making contact with DMC for services
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DMC wishes to obtain enquiries through their email. Even if Wix offers a 'Live Chat' the business owner wants to dedicate certain days to 'admin days'. Here he can filter out which projects he wishes to manage.
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Rule: No third-party apps. All features must be embedded into the website
Categorising which features are essential for the redesign
MoSCoW with How Might We's
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MVPs were created with the previous FMEA chart in mind.
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Impact - Effort Matrix chart determines whether time should be allocated to the idea.
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Each feature is allocated to Feature Prioritisation. This ensures the website accompanies the Affinity Mapping highlighting the users needs.
Wireframing the redesign and testing the lo-fi prototype
Testing newly formed UX
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Digestible information is present for consideration of FTX (First Time Users)
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Clicks to contact will be main metric to record
Clear modernised UX to bring
DMC's website to 21st century
Justifying features for redesign
Stage 4
PROTOTYPE
Lo-Fi Prototype
Length
8 - 10 minutes
Participants
5 Participants
Location
United Kingdom, London
Study Type
Usability &
Contextual Inquiry
The previous 5 user testers were again tasked to complete the audit. An unmoderated remote user testing session allowed us to determine whether the new structure was adequate enough, before handing it over to the engineers.
Insights of User Testing for Lo - Fi
A collection of bar graphs quotes and gathered data.
Error Rate
100% of all users managed to complete the business-related tasks. The lo-fi prototype proved successful due to the high-scoring audit session however, many felt unsettled due to the bare visual fidelity. This is owing to the simple wireframe.
Design System
Before attending the Hi - Fi, I created a new design system for DMC. Here, the visual fidelity and patterns library were formed in order to modernise the website. Foundations, icons and colour hex codes were formed for both Hi-Fi prototyping and for the engineers.
Design Elements ensure ease of use for user
Negative spacing and the colour blue
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Colour scheme needs to use 'DMCs's established blue
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Taking inspiration from Building Control's Planning Portal, a website needed to complete a client's project
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Users research DMC during the morning and evening time. Night shift mode is taken into consideration when designing new art style.
Hi-Fi Prototype
Participants
5 Participants
Length
8 - 10 minutes
Location
United Kingdom, London
Study Type
Tasks Analysis
& Sentimental Score
Insights of User Testing for Hi - Fi
A collection of bar graphs, quotes and gathered data.
Sentimental Test
As predicted, the Hi - Fi prototype would score highly due to the visual elements.
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The UX Copy was written out by the structural engineer to ensure information was correct.
The Next Step
Soon after, the software engineer followed the prototype structure in order to code the website. Once the handover is completed, a heat mapping session will ensure the users can gain access to DMC's contact details.
Stage 5
TEST
Clicks to Contact &
Revenue
Length
1 - 2 weeks
Participants
20 - 30 Participants
Location
United Kingdom, London
Study Type
Unmoderated
usability testing
First Timer Users navigate straight to their required DMC service and easily makes contact
Scroll Mapping
Hot Jar
Hot Jar allowed me to monitor the heat maps of the new unmoderated users. As Site Sessions increased to +1,200%,
the new site visitors were able to easily gain access to contact information. This helped us record the 'clicks to contact' metric.
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Heat map signatures imply that the users were able to gain access to contact details.
Using Hick's Law to ensure ease of navigation also allocated a 'Contact' button in the nav bar.
This will ensure the main metric of 'Clicks to Contact' will gather a sufficient amount of data.
Five methods: clients prefer to call DMC directly
Multiple contact methods increase clicks to contact by 200%
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Landing paged title changed for SEO and VOC purposes. 'Your Go-To Team' was altered to 'Structural Engineers based in Stoke Newington N16'. Users would type this phrase into any search engine.
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Clients praised the services placed in the nav bar, as opposed to a dropdown menu
Mobile version offers a direct contact via a static phone button
Multiple contact methods increase clicks to contact by 200%
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48.7% of users would access DMC's website via telephone
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A clear recognisable telephone icon that is internationally known, accessible at all times
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Actionable link for address is featured to allow user to see location of Google maps: some wish to acquire DMC services in person.
Final Deliverables
DMC is now updated and large influx of clients brings certainty to business owner
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Clicks to Contact increased to 200%
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Site Sessions increased to 1,200%
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New visitors increased 89%
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Revenue increased 20%
Overview
Working with the engineer and project manager at Yell.com proved to be successful. However, the project manager posed a few problems which slowed down the production.
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Not informing Yell.com to keep the current DMC domain for the new website seemed to be a simple beginners mistake that should have been avoided.
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Constantly trying to get DMC to invest into spreading more targeted adverts in certain London boroughs started to set a strain between Yell and DMC.
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Elements that I personally learnt:
Creating an in-depth design system
Learning about Construction and Engineering
In-depth prototyping Lo - Fi and High - Fi
Consistent wireframes