Client Project with One Degree Impact (Grant Research Company) (2024)
Improving lead-generation through usability testing and content design for a consulting company's website
Timeline
6 Weeks
(November - December 2024)
Team
4 UX researcher/designers
Client
One Degree Impact
Who is One Degree Impact?
One Degree Impact is a grant research and writing service that offers subscription-based plans to their nonprofit clients. While previous lead-generation efforts depended on word-of-mouth and personal connections, they recently created a website to house information about their services and generate leads.
What were our objectives?
- One Degree Impact is rolling out a one-time service option for grant assessment and research. We were asked to test and include this option on the Services Page
- Evaluate the efficacy and clarity of the Services Page through usability testing
- Optimize the page to improve conversion and lead-generation
01 Methodology and Process
An iterative approach
To make the most out of our interviews and test different options, we took an iterative approach:
Recruiting Participants
We tested with 12 nonprofit professionals from nonprofits that fit ODI’s requirements: 5+ years of nonprofit status, medium-sized budget, audited finances, and a development team.
User Interviews
All of our interviews were divided into Part I and Part II. Part I focused on diagnosing general pain points about grant research and writing, and Part II had participants walkthrough the page, describing reactions out-loud.
Data Gathering and Analysis
We went through each interview transcript to tally the issues our participants saw and prioritized the most frequent issues in our iterations.
Here are the top three categories from our interviews, which I will further discuss in the next section:
1. Content Clarity
Almost all initial users found certain copy, phrasing, and the length of the page overwhelming, leading to high bounce rate. Throughout our iterations, we aimed for brevity and clarity, refining the page bit by bit (see decisions below).
2. Credibility
10/12 participants expressed wanting to see a track record of their expertise, including quantified numbers and credentials of the team.
3. Pricing and Package
A bigger issue we found was the dissatisfaction with ODI’s pricing. This was both the result of poor communication on the website and how much they charged in comparison to other options.
Using Tried-and-True Buzz Words and Impactful Visuals
I improved the clarity of the content by replacing unclear language with buzz words that target users used consistently in user interviews. Additionally, I implemented a professional visual language.
Improving Clarity and Displaying Credibility
After auditing the content of the page and considering user interview results, we decided to remove paragraphs that contained duplicate information to reduce clutter and shorten the page
We also suggested front-loading concrete evidence from the past, including nonprofits worked with and grant amount.
Rethinking the Pricing Model
Without expertise in the field, we experimented with different pricing models in our later iterations. However, we received conflicting opinions on all of them, leading to no final consensus.
Here are the options we tested:
Finding consensus through and despite conflicting data
We decided to recommend ODI to give their pricing after the first consultation, as our data showed how unlikely it was for prospects to contact them after seeing their price --
I wrote the above paragraph to maintain a sense of transparency without disclosing the price upfront and making prospects feel more defensive of their money.
Final Design that prioritizes clarity and impact:
04 Conclusions and Reflection
Positive Client Feedback
Overall, our client was amazed by what we found and who we were able to contact. We were able to understand and learn about their business in a different light and provide conversation-opening suggestions.
Next Steps
I would conduct an A/B test of the pricing section, comparing revealing no price versus whatever price ODI decides on to compare the conversion rate between the two.
Takeaways
I learned the importance of quantitative data and gathering a statistically significant amount of data even when conducting qualitative user interviews.
- Thank you for reading! -
