Preliminary user research and testing helped us to deliver a better site for our church leadership customer segment.
1. The Challenge
With the change in publishing sales patterns, we need to rely more on our own efforts to grow our user base. In the past, our sites have been general audience or very specific at the book level. With this effort, our challenge is to build our church leadership audience in order to grow sales and connect users with our content.
Another challenge is around our content. A lot of our content is stuck in old products that are out of print or that no longer sell in large quantities. Our challenge with this site is to funnel this valuable content to the appropriate audience while simultaneously building exposure of our new and existing products.
2. User Research
Understanding your user base is foundational. As a team, we established interviews with a handful of church leaders. Our questions were both specific and open-ended. We had a list of defined questions, but our intent was also to explore and learn from them. We were looking to determine what leaders found valuable. We were also seeking to understand where leaders currently obtained resources.
The second stage of testing involved running leaders through some preliminary site prototypes. We used a 5-second test to gauge the site’s clarity. We also ran the users through multiple task assignments to measure various aspects of the site including clarity, site structure, and usefulness.
3. Results
The feedback that we received was helpful. It resulted in various changes to our initial strategy. Our interviews changed our perspective on what resources we assumed would be helpful. The responses also helped us to better structure the site and to provide clearer communication.
Our launch has been successful. Our monthly traffic is now more than double from opening month. Our return traffic has been steadily growing.
This project isn’t over. We’ll continue to gather user feedback. New features and site adjustments are already in the works.
