My teams and I created this 2019 survey-related site as well as modals, emails, solicitation emails, and ad and marketing copy. (Top tasks for users on survey sites are earning rewards and compensation.)
Research and personas
Early on, I researched and forecasted trends in design, advertising, marketing, publishing, and the unfolding political topics of privacy and data to identify risks and opportunities, then captured insights in short documents.
As sole user researcher, I also studied surveys, ad-blocking, advertising, cash-for-browsing sites (“GPT sites”), and users’ comments on sites like Reddit.
I did a competitive analysis of survey sites’ language, visual design, and value propositions, then shared insights. User pain points include
› scams
› not knowing how their data will be used
› not knowing how much time and energy tasks require
› not being told details of compensation
I then wrote personas and went on to write recommendations about language and storytelling as well as overall strategy, UX, and visual design.
Process and writing
I worked on close-knit teams with designers, engineers, and executives in an Agile startup environment, contributing to user flows, concept diagrams, and prototypes, and translating requirement docs into features.
I argued for the integration of human experience into development-focused workflows. I shared users’ concerns with all relevant teams and advocated for the user-readers of every element. For each persona I created, I wrote multiple versions of landing-page copy .
I also presented marketing rationales for each proposed approach, and wrote language that helped my teams frame the product in a way that was sensitive to the climate and the competitive space.
Successes
Style, voice, tone, and language I suggested was used throughout, from the landing page to the ad copy, including the FAQ page, terms and conditions, mission statement, and privacy policy. I also collaborated on the participant recruitment process.↓
I advocated for clarity and made adjusted content to address user pain points. ↓
Specific results of my advocacy:
› Users were told exactly what they would be paid for, when they would get paid, and what form that payment would take.
› Users were told the type of survey they should expect to see.
› The company’s name and intentions were stated with a link to the main site.
› Users were told what to expect (e.g., at what points they would receive an email)
› Users were told how their data was going to be used (e.g., anonymized, aggregated).
I also determined and maintained brand personality in all customer-facing copy and made sure that the company state its concerns with transparency, privacy, and surveillance; that it refer to the composition of its own teams; and that it refer openly to the testing itself in plain language. ↓
As sole fact-checker, I flagged content that would damage the brand and attract media scrutiny. I also removed content that could be seen to include false promises. I also collaborated on naming.
I assessed multiple iterations (including all legal copy), revising the structure to be more logical, as well as ensuring visual, functional, internal, and external consistency.
My insights helped inform testing of different UIs. Downloads of the associated extension increased steadily after my contributions.
My insights helped inform testing of different UIs. Downloads of the associated extension increased steadily after my contributions.
Tools
Miro, G Suite, Dropbox Paper, Jira, Atlassian
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