Case Study:
User-Centric Conversion
In the digital realm, the transition from B2B to B2C is like navigating uncharted waters, and Virtuoso.com's initial voyage into B2C territory was no exception. Faced with a home page that struggled to captivate or retain consumer interest, the metrics spoke volumes: high bounce rates, fleeting session durations, and a notable scarcity of returning visitors. It was clear that the site failed to communicate value in a way that resonated with consumers, making the path to conversion more of a hurdle than a journey.
This case study dives into the pivotal question at the heart of Virtuoso's digital transformation: 'How might we redesign the home page to embody empathy, clarity, and value, thereby enhancing the success of our conversion funnel?' By addressing this challenge, we aimed not just to redesign a webpage, but to reimagine the connection between Virtuoso and its burgeoning consumer audience.
The Problem
The home page of Virtuoso.com struggled to keep users engaged and lacked consumer perceived value to complete the conversation funnel. Bounce rate was high, and session duration and returning users were low.
My Role
As the UX Director, I steered creative direction, branding, and research efforts. My responsibilities spanned overseeing the project's strategic vision to executing detailed user experience analyses and design implementations.
The Team
UX Director - Two UX Designers - One UX Researcher
Methodologies and Techniques
Interviews - Surveys - Card Sorting - Paper Prototyping Heuristic Evaluation - Wire-frames, Competitive Analysis, User Journeys - Storyboards
Tools
Photoshop - Axure
Empathize
Personas
Personas were developed based on insights from semi-structured interviews, serving as detailed representations of our target users. These personas enabled the team to empathize with specific user goals and needs, guiding design decisions and focusing efforts on relevant user experiences.
Empathize
Wants and Needs Analysis
A comprehensive wants and needs analysis was conducted to identify and prioritize the features most beneficial for travel advisors and their clients on Virtuoso.com. This collaborative brainstorming exercise was crucial for understanding user priorities and informing the subsequent design process.
Define
Problem Statement
“How might we redesign the home page to show empathy, clarity, and value to our consumers while increasing our conversion funnels succes?”
Ideate
Participatory Design
Participatory design sessions involved travel advisors from various agencies working together to create oversized paper prototypes for the homepage. This collaborative approach ensured that the redesign was grounded in the real needs and desires of users.
Ideate
Card Sorting
To refine the homepage's information architecture, an open card sorting exercise was conducted using Optimal Sort. This exercise engaged a broad sample of users, allowing them to categorize and label content in a way that made sense to them, providing invaluable insights into user preferences and cognitive models.
Prototype & Test
The prototyping phase involved creating multiple homepage concepts and engaging users in task-based discovery exercises. This iterative process, including retesting and refining concepts, led to the selection of a final design candidate.
Test
Heatmaps
A/B Testing
Heatmaps generated through Contentsquare offered deep insights into user interactions, including click patterns, scroll depth, and engagement levels. Concurrently, A/B testing directed traffic equally to two different page versions, revealing the superior performance of one over the other and guiding the final design choices.
Final Information Architecture
Legacy IA
New IA
Insights uncovered from the Card Sorting exercise produced a far more efficient workflow for the user.
Resigned Home Page is Launched
Simplified
What we do - Why you care - How it works - Clear CTA - Whitespace
Clarified
Real traveler stories - Value of the travel advisor - Value proposition of core products
Promoted
Content stories - Monetization - Cross-selling
Trust
Encouraged Trust - Award-winning publication positioning
The Results
25% increase in total conversions.
The bounce rate was reduced by 13% for new users.
The bounce rate was reduced by 7% for returning users.
Pages per session increased by 18%.
Session duration increased by more than three minutes.