Streamlined onboarding exp for company users

 

Project Summary

ConsultXperts is a two-sided marketplace business founded in mid-2020, aiming to help companies hire experts through the online platform. The two biggest problems they need to solve are 1. not enough companies posting jobs, and 2. high bounce rates on the home page.

Research indicated that company decision-makers found it difficult to navigate the dashboard after signing up, and the ConsultXperts website wasn’t able to translate its USP which was confusing.

We suggested streamlining the onboarding experience to encourage company decision-makers to post jobs; as well as a proposed road map showing the next step, which is identifying the market and rebranding to communicate the USP to potential users.

One week after implementing our proposed solution, the homepage drop-off rate reduced from 72.3% to 58.2%.

 

My Role

Design Lead, Design Strategist

Tools

Figma, Miro, Google Analytics

Skills

Discovery, User research, Workshop, Facilitation, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability testing

Client management, Communication, Presentation

 

“ConsultXperts” engaged us to find out:

  1. Why not many company users are posting jobs on the platform?

  2. Why there’s a high bounce rate on the home page?

Client kick-off workshop output

To have a more in-depth understanding of the business:

I kicked off the project by co-hosting and facilitating the online client workshop.

The client wanted to build an exclusive platform in terms of experts talents, and they are proud of their “strong high-value experts” and “competitive price”.

The initial discovery phase was started with running a heuristic evaluation and analysing Google Analytics data.

Some of the initial findings were:

  • No onboarding introduction for new users

  • Lack of error prevention when filling out the form

  • Inconsistent wording used

  • Approx 72.3% drop-off rate on the homepage

Drop-off rate on the homepage (before)

We ran 5 initial usability tests, mainly focused on how company users navigated the website and posted jobs, in order to discover the main friction point during the existing journey.

Summary of User Interview Participants

While the main focus audience is the company users, we planned to put emphasis on interviewing the existing users. However, due to the limited access, we pivoted our research with a focus on potential company users.

We also interviewed expert users to understand their pain points and the job-hunting process.

Some hypotheses after synthesising the research data:

  • Company users were confused about the process after signing up for an account

  • Lack of error prevention deterred company users from completing the job posts

  • The IA and UI elements on the website weren’t able to translate the business USP to the users

I’ve also identified two main user groups, each with their goals, needs, wants and fears

 

Solving the problem for “Company decision-makers” was the focus during this design sprint:

  • Company decision-makers want to hire qualified candidates from a trusted platform if needed

  • Experts also need to see more jobs posted on the platform

  • It’s one of the business needs, encouraging companies to post jobs after signing up 

#Problem 1

Company decision-makers need clear information so that they can navigate the website to hire candidates if needed.

- Trend No.1 : Users mentioned the existing dashboard side menu is confusing and not easy to navigate

 

“When I minimise the menu, I don’t know what does it means”

“Why view my profile and edit my profile seperate?”

“Doesn’t seems straightforward to me”

- How might we improve the user experience of navigating the dashboard?

 

we ran a card sorting exercise in order to understand the user’s mental model, and how they want the information to be presented, which helps us better design the dashboard side menu.

Card sorting exercise

Based on the result from the card sorting exercise, we proposed to reorganise dashboard navigation into a main and secondary menu

 

The testing results of the proposed side menu were:

  • 6/6 users found the navigation in the sidebar more streamlined and simple than the existing menu

  • 5/6 think that the secondary menu is a useful component

 

- Trend No.2: Users won’t post jobs until they have their company profile ready, because an incompleted profile will harm the business image

 

Users spent 10 min on average to figure out where to complete their company profile.

“I’m confused whether it’s a company or personal account”

“I still couldn’t find where to fill my comany details, it only ask personal detail”

- How might we streamline the process for new users to complete their profiles?

 

Exploring different options of wireframe

Mid-fidelity wireframe

We proposed to separate the company profile and personal profile into two tabs and redesign the task flow after signing up

 

The testing results from this solution showed:

  • 5/6 users think it’s much clear to separate the company profile and personal profile

  • All 6 users completed filling the company profiles within 5 min

Clickable Prototype

User journey after signing up for an account

 

The prototype shows after signing up for an account, company decision-makers are directed to the company profile page, where they are able to fill in the necessary information.

Users will receive a notification that reminds them to complete their profile before posting a job.

 

#Problem 2

Company decision-makers were confused about who they can hire, whereas experts mentioned they weren’t able to find jobs from the ConsultXperts website.

imbalanced number

There were over 150 experts signing up on the platform, but only 7 jobs were available during the 3 weeks project period.

mismatching user needs

Potential company users were not sure what was unique about ConsultXpers, they want to hire from a niche hiring platform.

Existing experts signed up as it’s an alternative way to broaden their network, and won’t have a high expectations.

Categories of experts available on the website

To validate the hypothesis of inconsistent wording used might cause confusion to potential users,

I designed a survey to understand what people think about those words

 

  • People associated “freelancer”, “expert”, “talent” and “consultant” differently, according to their own background and experience.

  • We suggested our clients have a clear definition of the wording and avoid inconsistency so that it can be clearly communicated to the target audience.

How might we clearer translate the business USP on the website so that to ensure the needs between two users groups are aligned?

 

The user interview and survey data indicated that the user stickiness is pretty low: 1) Company decision-makers are confused about who they are able to hire from this website and 2) Experts only sign up as an alternative option.

Therefore, to attract the right target audience and grow the business, it is suggested the client to follow the roadmap below.

Note: There’s not enough research data to support which niche market to start with during the project period

 

Achievement

The client was respectful of the research findings and made some changes to the website accordingly. The homepage drop-off rate for the new users was reduced from 72.3% to 58.2% only one week after the project was completed.

 

Learnings

 

Be adaptable and flexible when it comes to recruiting participants of user interviews

We started with contacting the existing users our client provided to us, however, we didn’t receive enough responses. Considering the time constraints as well as ensuring we are able to collect enough data to reduce bias, we decided to recruit users from other sources to be part of the research participants. We also tweaked some of the research questions in cooperation with the changes.

Test your wireframe ASAP, and let the users tell you which idea works and which doesn't

When we started sketching the wireframe, there were three different opinions of how the layout should be. We fell into the trap of spending many hours looking at examples and discussing our preferences. I then realised there’s no right or wrong idea, what matters the most was we as a team should put the wireframe in front of the users and let their feedback guide our decision.