Case Study: Member Website Journey Redesign

Member and staff input, as well as input from non-member key stakeholder groups, is necessary to redesign websites to meet web and organization goals. 

I've spearheaded website redesigns for several associations since the early 2000s, managing cross-functional teams, and there's one thing I know to be certain: you need great user research and analytics, along with clearly-articulated business goals, driving your website redesigns. My superpowers include doing both, but let's focus on the user research side here.

I start with a member journey map. Creating one can be a collaborative exercise with your marketing and membership teams. Use a free digital whiteboard tool like Google's Jamboard or Miro and set up the journey steps and needed content, and brainstorm for 60 minutes. You'll get a great overview of your member's journey. 

However, you also should get your members' viewpoints to fill in any gaps and truly understand their actions and emotions. To do this, I always conduct think-aloud interviews with 5-10 members, using very specific questions crafted to dive into user needs and association business needs, in order to get highly relevant and actionable input. The think-aloud interviews are one component of a multi-prong plan to get a 360-degree view of the website usability:

1. Staff interviews and survey

2. Board member interviews

3. Member interviews

4. Member journey mapping

5. Think-aloud usability interviews

6. Google Analytics data

7. Heat map data

8. Usability survey pop-ups on key website pages

9. Card sort exercise with a draft information architecture (members and staff)

The recordings of the think-aloud interviews also help convince staff that changes to the information architecture, content, layout, and flow are needed. See it in action - here's a sample think-aloud video.

The Challenge

A cross-functional association staff team was having difficulty building consensus around a website redesign proposal for a new information architecture (navigation system). Competing priorities for putting "my content first" were being raised, derailing discussions.

The Solution

I proposed a think-aloud exercise to crystallize their thoughts around specific member pain points and to develop an actionable plan and consensus to move forward. This think-aloud exercise would be used along with Google Analytics and heat map data along with surveys and other data to guide the creation of a new information architecture and new page layouts along with updated content.

See my think-aloud plan, results, and sample communications

The Results

After showing short snippets from three of the ten think-aloud exercise videos as well as other data I had compiled and summarized, I had the web team weigh in on my proposed new information architecture and gained 100% buy-in for moving forward. The resulting information architecture was then tested in a card sort exercise with members and gained further validation. 

I then created a before-and-after customer journey map for two key sections of the website - membership and accreditation. I rewrote 35 pages of content based on my proposed new journey in partnership with members of the membership team. The new information architecture and content, including a new infographic, remove doubt and confusion about every major aspect of membership and accreditation.

New membership web journey

Membership web journey whiteboard exercise

Before-and-after of the web pages

Contact Me Today

Have an immediate need or longer-term project in marketing, communications, or membership? Contact me at cathylada@gmail.com.