Internal portal site renewal
Challenge: Internal portal site renewal
Deliverables: research report, affinity map, site map, wireframe, UI, prototype, site operation rules, training session for operators
Role: UX designer
The target portal site contains important internal information about products and business performance, and is used daily by more than 10,000 employees, mainly sales representatives and engineers.
＜Problems＞
The existing portal site was stuck in the following negative loop.
The existing portal site is not operated properly and is very difficult to navigate, making it difficult to find the information we need. As a result, users who visit a portal site to resolve a problem often can not solve the problem on their own and must contact the operator. However, operators are busy responding to many inquiries from users every day and do not have time to improve the portal site or do other tasks.
＜Goals＞
By renewing the portal site, we would like to put it into a positive loop and achieve the following.
- ◎Site users can solve problems on their own and quickly drive business forward.
◎The number of inquiries will be reduced, and site operators will have more time to improve their portal sites and do other creative work.
◎Operators and users connect through the portal site and collected user feedbacks are utilized in the development of products and promotions.
1. Understand users
We conducted surveys and interviews to understand users’ thoughts and feelings about existing portal sites.
1. Questionnaire survey
We conducted a survey of approximately 50 people, mainly sales representatives, sales team leaders, customer engineers, and product planning and promotion staffs, who are thought to use this portal site on a regular basis.
2. Interview survey
In order to understand users more specifically based on questionnaire survey results, we conducted interviews with a total of five people: a sales representative, a sales team leader, a customer engineer, a product manager, and a promotion staff.
2. Define problems
Based on our research, we created affinity maps, personas, and problem statements to define the core problems to be addressed in this project.
1. Affinity map
After classifying the problems identified through research into “problems for site operators” and “problems for site users,” we created affinity maps for each and prioritized the problems.
At first, we thought that the main reason why the portal site was not functioning well was that the operator was busy responding to inquiries from users and did not have time to improve the portal site. However, research has revealed that operators don’t understand what a good portal site is, the need for improvement, and how to use the system that operates the portal site. We realized that there were serious problems on the operator’s side.
2. Persona
We created personas for each of the “site operator” and “site user.”
3. Problem statement
We created problem statements for each of the “site operator” and “site user”.
1. Site user
Mr. Aizawa is an IT salesman in his late 50s. In order to gain the trust of the customers he works with, he wants to immediately check the latest information on products, stocks, and contracts during business negotiations.
2. Site user
Mr. Yamanaka is a new customer engineer. In order to increase his knowledge about the company and technology, He would like to access and study in-house materials in his free time.
3. Site operator
Mr. Inada is a product planning staff in his late 50s who posts information on a portal site. In order to concentrate on his core planning work, He would like to reduce the number of simple inquiries about products from sales representatives and engineers.
4. Site operator
Mr. Takahashi is a promotion staff in his early 30s who posts information on a portal site. He would like to know how to effectively utilize a portal site in order to spread new promotional measures to internal sales staffs.
3. Ideate
We conducted idea generation and design production based on the following process. This process was not linear and required many iterations, revisiting each step.
1. Site map
By analyzing usage data from existing portal sites in addition to questionnaire surveys and interviews, we aimed to provide just the right amount of information that users need. In addition, we clarified the structure by paying close attention to category classification so that users can quickly find the information they need.
2. Idea sketch
We created a design that uses many illustrations and banners to reduce the user’s burden of reading so that even busy engineers and elderly sales representatives unfamiliar with digital tools can operate the portal site intuitively.
We also created several design templates so that even operators with little knowledge about operating a portal site can utilize the portal site.
3. Wire frame
We created a wireframe based on the idea sketch and organized page transitions and user flows. This process was also a good opportunity to help not only the portal site operator but also the staff in charge of product and promotion development understand “how to convey information.”
4. Evaluation (test)
We collected feedback from both operators and users about the wireframe we created and made repeated improvements. In addition, we created opportunities for operators to exchange opinions on “what makes a good portal site” and deepen mutual understanding.
5. Prototype
When creating the prototype, based on research and the efforts made during the problem definition phase, we assumed that elderly sales representatives would access the site from outside and made sure to ensure sufficient accessibility.
4. Verification
After the portal site renewal, the following results were confirmed.
We should continue to collect feedback from users and improve the portal site.
・User satisfaction improved by 2.7 points in a post-renewal survey.
・A usage survey after the renewal showed that the number of visitors to the site increased by 1.2 times.
・A usage survey after the renewal showed that the time spent on the portal site increased by 1.6 times.
・After the renewal, the number of inquiries for some products decreased significantly.
・The more carefully we improved the product page, the fewer inquiries we received.