Website Builder Guide
Website users were confused about how to build a website when they used the Business Maker Website Editor. Users did not have an understanding of what they should do, how to do something, and in what order to do it, which resulted in more support tickets, disengagement, users dropping off and not creating their site, and confusion.
For most of my time at Verizon, I was on the Business Maker team where I was able to design tools and products for small business owners. I mainly focused on designing foundational experiences to help small business owners interact with various aspects of running a business.
Role
Experience designer
Team
Product manager, 3 developers, User researcher, Product marketing, videographer
Scope
Web, 3 months
Goals
User - understand how to confidently use the editor and build their business website
Product - better website “onboarding” experience, improve site publish rate
Business - reduce support tickets, reduce the number of phone calls to customer support
Research
Surveys and User Interviews
We surveyed 1800+ Website Builder customer about their behaviors and conducted in-person interviews with 15 Business Maker customers who did not publish their website.
I was able to uncover a lot of useful insights from existing features, customer support teams, and the 1800+ survey results:
💡329 number of support tickets generated weekly because users don’t understand how to use Website Builder leading to an increase in support calls
💡48% of users are dropping off before publishing their website
Audit and Competitive Analysis
I analyzed the current Business Maker Website Builder and evaluated it against best in class brands to inform our my strategy.
Experience Strategy
I also developed a cohesive vision for the new dedicated help center based on the results of our user research and competitive analysis.
I took the survey findings, research and requirements from the product manager to form a document that would eventually guide the design.
Solution
A small business owner can follow the guide to help set-up their website without forgetting about the essentials. The guided checklist helps them stay on track by listing the must do tasks she needs to do in order to have a complete website. They can also search for specific topics like editing an image or setting up SEO for their site.
Guidance
Creating a website from is a time consuming, complicated task for a small business owner. We made it easy for business owners to start using Website Builder… well, instantly… by guiding them to view essential videos and relevant content in a few steps.
Education
We surveyed 1800+ Website Builder customer about their behaviors and conducted in-person interviews with 15 Business Maker customers who did not publish their website.
Future
This project evolved from just guiding users through building their website to an entire help center concept where users can chat, request a consultation, and search popular articles.
Early exploration of a mobile help center that can be accessed from anywhere in the dashboard. [high fidelity mobile visuals are not yet released]
Results
The feedback we received from small business owners was extremely positive, with many noting the convenience of having relevant articles and guides on the same screen.
Beyond a boost in positive sentiment, we’ve also seen an increase in retention and engagement from our users as a direct result of rolling out this feature.
✅52% reduction in support tickets related to the Website Builder product
✅Website publish rate increased by 32%