AlixPartners website UX design
AlixPartners are an international consultancy operating in Law and Professional services amongst others
Tasks
Data analysis
Information Architecture optimisation
UX design (Ideation and wireframing)
Content design
Context
AlixPartners (AP) belongs in a competitive industry, where presentation counts for everything and where a good website with good user experience can help a consultancy excel in the market.
The Marketing team wanted a website redesign focusing on a user centred design principles, incorporating new brand highlights to excite user but remain identifiable as AP.
Problem
AlixPartners website redesign needed to appeal to users with external expectation of a modern user experience - 'As is' user journeys were too convoluted, consultants weren't represented clearly and the AP 'success stories', so integral to the business and brand weren't defined enough and communicated clearly.
Visual content needed review
Appeal to a new generation of consultants
Information architecture required mapping
Retain the AlixPartners brand
Research analytics
The AlixPartners website redesign had been in the pipeline before Covid hit in 2020.
A host of user research had already been carried out meaning AP were focused on creating a new layout in their Content Management System from their Discovery data.
The drivers were simple; make the website modern, informative and bold
Data review
I received Google Analytics data sets to determine user traffic, behaviour and where potential challenges existed in their user journeys.
Characteristics of 176k visitors
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Home page: 64% user retention
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Consultant profiles: 18% user footfall
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Careers: 13% user footfall
N.b. Figures collected from 2022
Characteristics of user searches for 'careers'
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Careers / search jobs: 82% initial user retention
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Subsequent bounce rate: 79%
N.b. Figures collected from 2022
Careers page age greatest demographics
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22% - 18-24 years
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29% - 25-34 years
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22% - 35-44 years
N.b. Figures collected from 2022
Outcomes
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The data showed a large percentage of users were between 25-35 - with that comes an external expectation of how a website experience should be.
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Careers and job searches seemed to be the activity of a high percentage of user traffic - equally a high bounce rate on the Careers section of the website could show a blocker as to the user experience.
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Component layout in any new wireframes could play a key role in trust and user retention. Therefore a review of Information Architecture was needed to map out the website relevant to the user data obtained.
Structuring the experience
User data from the research provided to us by AP and the analytics showed the 'as is' (below) Information Architecture should be restructured to reflect user footfall and help the user achieve their needs.
The parent pages with the most user footfall were not prominent in the top level navigation and this needed review to reflect user behaviour.
Outcome
'About us' and 'Careers' journeys made more prominent.
Child pages realigned to user behaviour and ensure the user journeys were clear.
A big focus on IA alignment was telling the story of AlixPartners, its people and the insights which make up the brand - these parent pages needed to be brought to the top of the navigation bar and express what AP is about.
Wireframe focus
Design of the wireframes for the following areas were key to determine the UI design of web pages which represented the highest % of user engagement:
Careers
Consultant search
Search filter component
Consultant bio
I helped create the component layout for these which can be viewed live on the AP website.
Careers
A key user journey was that of the 'Careers' page - I wanted to provide potential employees with ease of access to advertised job roles.
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Hero component bold to reassure user of brand using visual cues and website location
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'Featured jobs' top in webpage hierachy for quick access
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All jobs listed in search rest state
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Filter can be applied to reduce amount of job listings
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In relation to job listings, "location" has priority as a search option as AP is an international company
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Reveal logic to allow drop down menu
Careers is an integral part of AlixPartners, and the 'to be' needed a smart and user friendly search component for quick access to roles worldwide.
Reduction of steps to access the webpage was a primary driver behind my thinking and the wireframe layout.
Adding a secondary filter to the page pinpointed user desires when looking for new roles.
Additionally, adding a consultant story carousel added more impact relating to AP's people and what it's like to work for the company.
Consultant search
As a user of AP's consultant services, they needed landing page which reflected the AlixPartners brand but also ensured a search for a consultant was intuitive and informative.
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The global search component was made prominent to reduce the need to scroll through profiles if the user knew who they needed to contact
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Copy in the search component reflected the priority of topics users had searched for from user research
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The case study carousel at the bottom of the webpage offered users the chance to see "success stories" from a consultant's point of view and further highlight just what AP's consultants do
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The filter component offered users a chance to find a consultant depending on their needs and requirements
The importance of the filter
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Consultant profiles are listed out with a thumbnail of individual consultants
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Short bio outlines consultant's history for immediate user identification
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Filter reveal logic presents various drop down menus relevant to user choice
The consultant profile selection page was essential to ensure it made sense to the user selecting a consultant relevant to their business need.
The as is 'People' page was convoluted and required too much cognitive demand from the user.
Consultant menus were at the forefront of the webpage component layout, user research dictated the titles for the copy for search items.
AP's core is its people, I wanted to make sure the wireframe design for users ensured the consultant's profiles were at the forefront.
Consultant biography
One of the most interesting aspects of the redesign was reviewing the consultant biography pages. Here, users could explore a consultant's expertise and reach out to them for instant communication.
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Key consultant information "above the fold" to reach out to consultant quickly
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Instant message component: chatbot influenced concept where basic questions are answered before contact with consultant is made
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Consultant expertise outlined so users don't second guess
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Character limit on Content Management System so consultant "about me" is short and succint
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Video carousel demonstrates consultant case studies and AP successes to create user buy in
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Additional similar consultant profiles were also provided
The consultant profile page had to sell the skills of the expert in question; their information had to be the first thing a user would see when engaging with the profiles.
By creating an instant message component, AI would answer basic questions on the consultants behalf so the more important questions were saved for direct contact reducing energy for both user and consultant.
The consultant biography also demonstrated case studies and relevant insights related to the profile - promoting the successes and insights which make AP what it is.
The main driver behind the wireframe design was to create less contact waste where a user could enquire after a consultant with minimal effort.
Takeaways and learnings
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Using data from a few years ago isn't not current enough, and there needed to be more usability testing on the prototypes.
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Creating a design system helped create pages faster and made the wireframe process feel more "alive".
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Branding is very important; it goes hand-in-hand with UI design to make the most of your prototype screens. It makes it easier to explain to stakeholders your thinking if they can see it's starting to resemble the end product.
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Outlining 'user' thinking to the creative director of a company also helps them with their brand design; collaboration with visual designers is absolute key in nailing the tone of the webpage. Allow space and time for visual design when thinking of UX.