MARYANDRES
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Problem
The average time spent on the Help Guide page was 8m 13s indicating it was confusing and difficult to use.
CLIENT
eBuild
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A proposal software that helped sales teams, consumers, contractors, and business end users quickly create and manage price quotes for building projects.
Outcome
Time spent on the Help Guide page decreased by 80% and users voted to keep it rather than return to the previous version.
INFO
Role
1 UX Designer
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Timeline
4 Weeks
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Team
1 UX Designer
2 Product Managers
6 Engineers
1 QA
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UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
Why are we doing this?
1
Optimize sales workflow
Users only end up pricing a building project after visiting
the help guide 60% of the time.
​
Median time for users who are successful at completing
the task is 2 min 27s seconds. However, the average use
of the help guide is currently 8 min 13s.
2
Improve findability
Users want to locate product specific information quickly in order to accurately enter projects and resolve pricing errors.
3
Build trust in the process
If users can easily find product specific information
and complete tasks quickly the first time, more users will
be likely to use eBuild to price their projects.
DATA & METRICS
Understanding the current experience
Being able to price projects quickly helps users build
and maintain credibility, strengthening their professional reputation. If users can’t resolve their questions confidently,
it leads to delays, uncertainty, and frustration. Trust in the process is very important.
Currently, users access the help guide page using a link, navigate through hyperlinked PDFs to find what they need and search through text-heavy content.
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​
65%
of all customers are not aware that the help page exists and resort to contacting customer support instead.
3%
3% of all customers access the help guide.
​<1%
were able to find the correct answer on the first try.
HYPOTHESIS
By making the help guide function like a real webpage with a filterable search bar, users
will improve information findability, resolve errors faster, and be more likely price projects using eBuild vs. a competitor platform.
KEY OPPURTUNITIES
Overview of the previous experience
Based on our data, these are the key areas of concern based off our assumptions. ​The design relied on users scrolling through linked pdfs full of text.
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1
Why doesn't the table of contents work?
The table of contents is a hyperlinked pdf version with
19 section headings link to 278 pages. Users can only scroll
up and down to view the contents of the guide.
3
Hidden content
The help guide content is nested 3 levels down in navigation which can lead to abandonment if the path feels too long
or unclear. Some users shared they had to read everything
in a section to find their solution.
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2
Information overload
The current search tool only allows users to search within
the Table of Contents. Users wishing to revisit content would need to complete the process all over again. Or search through the left navigation menu.
4
Self-service suppport
65% of all customers are not aware that the help guide exists and resort to contacting customer support instead.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Identifying opportunities
Looking to six of our competitors it was quick to see that:
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Search bar was robust with predictive search
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Strategic use of screenshots, videos and icons to explain concepts, features, and steps
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We were the only platform directing users to a separate help center instead of providing contextual help at the moment it is needed
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INTERVIEWS
Validating with our customers
1
Do customers feel confident that they can find what they need?
Customers didn’t know where to start or which category their issue fell into, reinforcing our decision to reduce the number of categories and organize content in a more logical way.
3
What barriers are users experiencing when using the help guide to solve a problem independently?
Customers struggle when the guide doesn’t resolve their issues and shared that switching back and forth between the guide and the interface breaks their workflow.
2
What experience should be prioritized, navigation structure vs. searchability?
Many customers mentioned having to read through a whole section to find their solution, so we made it the main action on the page.
4
How much support do customers expect?
Our customers felt they should be able to find answers quickly to prevent pricing errors. If they can't find what they need within 60 seconds, they quickly lose patience.
Based on our data, these are the key areas of concern based off our assumptions. The design relied on users scrolling through pdfs full of text.
INTERATION 1
Easily find what you need
The primary navigation was updated to logical categories. An intuitive search bar was added that allowed searching by keyword throughout the entire guide.
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INTERATION 2
Faster access to content
The PDFs were converted into a functional webpage allowing for a more streamlined experience.
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IMPACT
Evaluating our results
1
Success rate
The percentage of users who visited the revised help guide increased by 72%. 40% of users visited the page
a minimum of 4 times within a 30-day period.
2
Click rate
By adding a “Go back to the previous experience button
at the bottom of the Help Guide page we were able to track if users preferred the new design.
3
Time spent on page
Average time spent on page reduced from 8 minute 13s
to 3m 36s. This indicates that our users were able to find
the information they needed to price their projects faster.
In order to assess if our new design had the impact we expected we needed to check our KPIs that we set ahead
of time to quantify our results.
NEXT STEPS
What comes next?
With positive impact established it's time to take our findings and start addressing the core reason for lack of engagement, awareness that the feature exists.
Once the rebuild has been completed we will be able to integrate contextual help to prevent our user’s workflows from being disrupted.
RETROSPECTIVE
Final Takeaways
1
Gradual improvements work
Our initial instincts were to redesign the entire guide and restructure the content. After talking with users, we realized that they needed a clear path to the information they were seeking.
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Pushing no-code changes first and updating the existing search tool changed how users perceive and interact with the guide, allowing them to find information with significantly less effort.
2
Scope creep is real
By focusing on smaller fixes and quick wins we were able to provide a more personalized experience for customers with minimal disruptions to the user flow.
We identified areas and opportunities in the guide that could be addressed in future projects to make it more modern.