The Challenge

A $5 billion company wanted to launch a new website featuring SaaS tools for multiple audiences. They needed my team not only to write and design the site, but to define different user paths, untangle and organize their existing content, and create standardized guidelines for governing content moving forward.

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My Approach

I helped the client understand the need for a structured content system to improve the site’s usability and increase conversions. I used Google Analytics data to identify user friction points. I also highlighted instances of redundant or conflicting information, illustrating the need for a content audit alongside the creation of new site copy.

After collaborating with the client’s different business divisions and conducting user research, my team made recommendations to improve the overall quality, consistency and delivery of the site’s content. We did this by establishing a strategic roadmap for the site, complete with user flows, governance processes and standardized content rules that matched our new voice and tone guidelines.

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My Deliverables

• Stakeholder interviews

• User surveys

• User persona development

• User flows

• Content audit and critique

• Content frameworks and templates

• Wireframes

• On-page optimization

• Writing guide and editorial guidelines

I created stakeholder interview questions and facilitated group workshops with folks from the client’s various business divisions as well as prospective site users from our different audience segments. (I employed a Keep/Kill/Modify format to guide our discussions.) I also built user research surveys to identify content gaps and opportunities. Then, using those audience insights, I developed user personas to evaluate our content’s usefulness and clarity.

Once we understood the various audience needs and content gaps, I created a new sitemap and navigation schema along with wireframes for repeatable content pages. The user personas helped me create strategic user flows for the site. This made our content more helpful to users, getting them the content they needed and helping them complete their desired tasks on the site.

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Writing the Site

Our content and its organization led with audience needs, improving the site’s usability. On a global level, I considered how the top-level nav items would work with our different content types. On a sentence level, I eliminated corporate jargon and emphasized plain language wherever I could. I front-loaded the content to match user reading habits. And I created a brand writing guide to help future content creators apply our new voice and tone principles.

On the UX front, I wrote onboarding flows, UI microcopy, error states, notifications, and more. I worked closely with the UX designers to ensure that copy and design worked as a unified system rather than separate layers.

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The Impact

My team’s work satisfied our client’s many internal stakeholders while also serving the site’s users. Visitors found the new site easier to navigate and complete tasks with clearer paths through the site. We noted this improvement by reviewing Google Analytics data for time spent on pages that led to desired task completions and conversions. (We also used these page analytics to find areas for iteration and improvement — because a content creator’s work is never done.)