AdVenture Media Group Case Study

Problem

Users found the site professional but the content overwhelming. They have to search for content they can trust.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

Content is dense, with high cognitive load for users.

Users cannot filter the site's content by their industry or business type.

Content that provides social proof of AdVenture's expertise is not prioritized and hard to find.

Solution

Restructure the information architecture of the site to decrease cognitive load and highlight content that provides social proof of AdVenture's expertise and builds trust in their brand.

HOW TO SOLVE IT

Restructure the information architecture to emphasize content users want to see.

Feature Resources and Podcasts with industry leaders more prominently.

Condense and combine pages that have similar content.

Incorporate case studies in a more organic and logical manner on all pages.

Original Homepage

Redesigned Homepage

Jump to Design Details

user interviews

To understand the user's baseline impression of the site, we interviewed 7 users and asked them to perform contextual inquiries. Users included: online ad consultants, SEO specialists and potential clients.

Glows

Style is professional and clean

Impressive client list and podcast interviews
(but didn't know they were there)

Grows

Homepage is very busy

Pages are long

Bothered by copywriting

"Most people are either referred to this agency of specifically searched for them and already have some background knowledge of digital marketing."

"I wish there were more info on the individual team members."

"I feel like I've been scrolling for ages."

"It's easy to find a PPC agency, it's incredibly difficult to find a good one. I want to know what sets them apart from others."

competitive analysis

To identify AdVenture's unique value proposition, we performed a feature analysis of AdVenture and it's top 3 competitors. Only AdVenture offers:

Consulting and training

Other resources, like podcasts, courses, subscription service and free ebooks

heuristic analysis

To synthesize user pain points and identify other opportunities for improvement, we ran a heuristic analysis of the homepage. We found many opportunities to update information architecture and use of real estate:

user spectrum

We summarized the user's concerns with a spectrum:

Goal:

The Primary User is a Marketing Director or executive tasked with evaluating a new vendor.

Path:

They are likely to have been referred to AdVenture or did an organic direct search for them and has some understanding of digital marketing.

Want:

The content their interested in depends primarily on the size of the company they work for.

If from a large company, they're likely on the site to hire a digital ad consultant and want to evaluate AdVenture's expertise.

If from a smaller company, they're likely to be looking for educational resources.

site map

Many users overlooked pages in the global navigation because of double nested drop down menus and misleading page names.

So we:

Eliminated the double nested drop down pages

Renamed misleading pages

Created landing pages for important but previously hidden content.

information architecture

Goal:

Build user's trust in AdVenture's expertise and encourage them towards the contact form.

Strategy:

Provide more detail as you scroll down each page.

Add more success metrics and associate them to related industries.

Use CTA's to encourage designated flow.

Break up visuals to emphasize hierarchy within each page to reduce cognitive load.

Focus on key pages: Home, About, Results and Resources

user flow

We optimized the site to reflect the flow for users from larger companies (primary user), as this is the group AdVenture wants to target.

Secondary users who want training or educational resources may or may not explore the site for other services.

wireflow

Based on our contextual inquiries, users spend most of their time on the Home page. We ordered the content blocks to reflect what user's identified as most important. All pages contain CTAs in the header and footer so users can go to the contact form at any time.

design details

home page

This feature breakdown further details the content hierarchy identified by users as most important.

We changed the layout to optimize use of real estate and decrease cognitive load.

We also reduced the number of CTA's to emphasize the ones that remain.

global navigation

To reduce the number of clicks/decisions users must make to find a page and to show all pages, we stretched out the global menu and added space for a short description of each page.

resources page

This one-stop-shop page showcases all of AdVenture's resources, providing all the social validation a user might need to build trust in AdVenture's expertise and position as industry thought leaders.

Breakdown of content on the redesigned resource page

team page

Users want to see who they'd be working with and why they should trust the AdVenture team, so we:

Simplified and combined all pages from the "About Section" (Our Team, Our Values, About Us and Careers) onto one page for quick access

Updated the layout to put emphasis on each team member's expertise and role within the organization.

Placed content about the AdVenture's fun and personal company culture with the Careers section.

usability testing

We tested the hi-fi prototype with 5 users. 100% of users completed the test successfully and 80% of users reported being "very satisfied" with the changes.

Glows

Navigation is easier to understand

Visuals and content are more engaging

Content blocks are easier to digest

Resource center (page) is convenient

Website feels less dense and more accessible

Grows

Placeholder copy was misleading

Want even more detail about services up front

style guide

The majority of the site's typography and colors were not changed. We organized all style elements into a style guide with all graphic assets used in the hi-fi prototype.

Note: The original site's font, Circular, was replaced with Poppins for the prototype.

lessons learned

Copy is critically important. Word choice and phrasing drastically helps or inhibits a user's ability to absorb information and navigate the product. Our prototype had copy that indicated tone because we were not knowledgeable enough to fill use real copy.

What sets you apart. Content and copy need to sell AdVenture's unique value proposition. Though there service offerings are very similar to their competitors, AdVenture's additional resources and social validation stood out with users. It is a detail that might be easily overlooked.

Keep everything up to date. People want to see up-to-date industry news, dates on blogs and case studies - they want to see content that is still relevant.

Keep visuals simple and concise. We want to lighten the user's cognitive load even with dense, technical content.