It's never FINAL

The biggest difference between graphic design and web design is the "finality" of the project.

Graphic design has a final output, be in a brochure, a packaging design, a poster etc. When it's done, it's printed, or it's live. That's it. There is no two-ways about it.

However with web design, especially nowadays using sprint, is like the movie "Groundhog Day". Loopy loop.

I remember my first ecommerce website, when it went live 16 years ago, it was a big bang! It was like, wow, we have finally done it.

The process was more like the waterfall workflow. The project has a set end goal. Tasks were previously agreed, and we tried not to swerve off that, even if we were itching to tweak a few things. The whole project success was hinged on "we stick to it like a postage stamp, until we get there."

I imagine a ribbon cutting on the day when the ecommerce website finally went live. It felt "final" since the project was delivered, and site was opened for businesses.

18 years later, I launched the new Novis Healthcare website in later May 2020. Design thinking is baked in the project from Day 1. The workflow was agile, and the enhancement is ongoing.

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Let's go back to the beginning of the story...

1. EMPATHISE

The site had not been updated since 2018. The design looked old. I interviewed the key stakeholders in the Novis team to find out what they thought the site was for. They informed me that the site was aimed at serving the existing customers, so they could download brochures and resources, but the site didn't provide updated resources because the up-keep was difficult.

The business lacked a presentable online presence.

The sales team were frustrated without resources at their fingertips where they are on the road. They were embarrassed to refer the customers to use the site because it contained old resources.

2. DEFINE

I started the project with this hypothesis - the site was created for the existing users to pull info. It's a resource library. AN OLD resource library that needs updating.

As the site didn't have any analytics in place, I installed Google Analytics right the way. But for the time being, the quickest way to work out its true use was studying the heat maps.

The heat maps over a period of several months confirmed that the Search function was hot, but the Download Catalogue, and the Distributor links were cold. These two are key links for customers to download resources and they were not used.

Other pages besides the home page were also cold. The site had lower viewership, and the hottest button was Search.

Why? Because the users could not find what they wanted, so they tried searching. Within a few months after installing Google Analytics, we can also see the 90% bounce rate also showed a similar conclusion.

THE REAL PROBLEM:

THE SITE WAS IRRELEVANT TO THE USERS.

3. IDEATE

So Novis needs a website? Or do they? What kind of website?

Considerations:

1. Resellers / end users can download brochures

2. Resellers / end users can see product videos

3. Resellers can access gated materials just for them

4. Resellers can read about Novis news and promotions

5. End users can use the "locate a reseller" function to find our resellers

6. Novis team can refer customers to a place which is the "single source of truth"

7. Novis team can retrieve Novis team only gated sales materials

8. Potential Novis employees can find out who is Novis

9. Future ecommerce capability

10. Improve Novis online presence

11. Mobile friendly environment to do all of the above

One of the difficulties with the previous site was the up-keep requires a web developer, which was not part of the in-house resources. The site must be easy to update, and agile to add different functions, and completely robust and scaleable for future additional function such as ecommerce and intranet.

Options explored:

1. Another Wordpress site - this requires a web developer on standby as the site expands

2. A custom built site - costly, and require an internal tech champion which was not an option the company was wanting to explore

3. An app - for more focus mobile use

4. An ecommerce site - this is great for future use, but currently there is no need for ecommerce function

4. PROTOTYPE

Option 1 & 4 provide scaleability. Option 4 with the ecommerce sounds good for future use, but what about now? Is there an ecommerce platform that has powerful CMS to combat ever increasing requests to build more product pages, to have a simple to use blog function to do simple news item, and have a treasure chest of features at our disposable, as the site grows?

Without compromising speed, and simple to run without a web developer installed in the regular payroll?

Many ecommerce platform was explored. Shortlisted ones were tested to replicate a Novis lookalike mockup to test the speed and userability. The winner was Shopify, as it ticked all the boxes, and can run without the ecommerce function.

5. TEST

Senior stakeholders were consulted to ensure the prototype had their buy-in. Their responses were positive and excited to have one system achieving all with the scaleability factored in.

6. RINSE AND REPEAT

The story, just like Groundhog Day, is one with continuous reiterations. A user testing widget was added a month before launch. Product managers, key sales and marketing personnel were encouraged to use the user testing feedback widget to provide feedback.

Over 500 feedback were added directly from feedback widget to Asana from typos to wrong products to more products to add.

The ecommerce function is now being tested. Zapier is added to the mix and google sheets are embedded, so as video gallery.

The site bounce rate drop from over 90% to 47%. The site is agile in combatting all various requests.

The site, till today, 10 months after launch, continue to evolve.

A never ending story, and a good one.