Streamlining test creation
8 weeks
Design Lead, Product Designer, PM, Customer Support
Making research simpler
UserZoom is a leading user feedback tool in the industry. Its platform offers qualitative and quantitative studies that enable organizations to build better digital experiences.
Research revealed that users often became stuck in the test builder section of the platform, unsure of how to begin building a test or never arriving at the launch stage. Over the course of two months, my design lead and I collaborated with UserZoom to improve the test creation experience.
Taking it one step at a time
To create user confidence in the test building process, we leveraged progressive disclosure to present just one or two tasks at a time. We stripped the interface of extraneous information, giving feedback and hand-holding to assure them along the way.
We explored a long page form where we'd anchor users to different steps on a single page, in addition to focused, individualized steps. With stakeholder feedback, we landed on creating smaller steps to lessen the overload of decision making and provide the user with a sense of progress; things that would often decrease engagement and completion.
Information at a glance
Once a test had been customized and launched, it was important for users to quickly glean important information and take action directly from the dashboard.
To achieve this, we transformed a long list of studies into a visual dashboard of projects. By organizing the list into cards, users could view test progress, status labels, test authors, and key actions at a glance.
Additionally, we surfaced quick actions such as editing, viewing results, and duplicating. This was historically burried several clicks down in the information architecture. With the change, users could also duplicate existing tests, helping them to avoid the labor of rebuilding another test from scratch. This promoted more ease of test creation and reduced the barrier to launching a new test.
Bringing users into the ecosystem
To foster collaboration and advocacy for data, we created pathways to invite users into the platform. The ability to share valuable reports were accessible throughout the platform, and notifications were thoughtfully added to alert users of a test's progress. These features enabled individuals to share the findings of their study and demonstrate the value of data to stakeholders.
Reducing barriers to research
Designing a welcoming, user-focused platform helped to reduce the barriers into research. UserZoom went through several rebrands, but the work we did to simplify test creation into progressive, guided steps allowed teams to more quickly measure user feedback and move their products forward. It also made test creation more accessible; data no longer had to be long, expensive, or reserved just for UX researchers and data scientists.
Reassessing the project scope
A loosely defined scope can be great, as it can allow for more organic exploration during the design process. In the instance of this particular project however, it gave us a bit more than we could solve in the allotted time. About midway through the project, the team had to commit to a trade off: refinement of the test creation process or dive into another new area of the application.
Working from the knowledge of what we already knew, we decided our time was best spent on refining the existing area of focus (converging), instead of opening up a new one (diverging). In the end, the added refinement added more value and the team felt it was a good compromise.
