Optimising the top of the funnel

Optimising the top of the funnel

Redesigning our top of the funnel landing pages for SEO optimisation and to create a better channel-product-fit for customers.

This case study focuses on the main product homepage (findmypast.co.uk), but is part of a wider series of work including 5 landing pages and registration journeys.

Redesigning our top of the funnel landing pages for SEO optimisation and to create a better channel-product-fit for customers.

This case study focuses on the main product homepage (findmypast.co.uk), but is part of a wider series of work including 5 landing pages and registration journeys.

Brief

Brief

The companies main logged out homepage had not been refreshed in 4 years and was designed to guide users to “build their family tree,” which is one of the two main actions customers want to do. The design would need to cater for both new and experienced users as well as various paid and organic channels they would be landing from.

The main product landing page had not been refreshed in 4 years and was design to guide users to “Build their family tree” which is the primary action we want new users to take.

Who was involved?

This was a task for the Growth Squad/Team within the company.


Project Manager, Data Scientist, CRM/Marketing, SEO Consultant,

4 people Engineering team, UX Designer.

My Role

Sole Product Designer responsible for end to end process. Ideation sessions, research, design development, UI, Journey mapping and delivery.

Tools used

Figma - Wireframing and prototyping

Miro - Ideation workshops

Fullstory - Research and heatmap analytics

Looker - Dashboard for metrics

Photoshop & Illustrator - to sketch the graphics!

Results

Results

Overview

Business Outcome

The new design increased the number of users taking a free trial by 11% and improved registration rate by 2X.

User benefits

More users had successful onward journeys because they were filtered into the right segment and therefore found what they were looking for quicker without being confused or distracted by other product offerings.

Future iterations

We further optimised this page beyond this project to match various campaigns markeing were running as well as continued iteration and SEO updates depending on what content is being prioritised by the business.

Project Landscape

Project Landscape

Key Customer Profiles

Key Customer Profiles

The New User


New user goal: To start their family tree. Low to medium intent user, currently makes up about 28% of our customer base.


Business goal: To increase our New User customer base to 50% so that we can achieve steady growth and expand our market segment.

The Experienced User


Experienced user goal: To find a specific record or data source as they already use a competitor product to host their family tree. High intent user, makes up 72% of current user base.


Business goal: To retain experienced users and provide a competitive product which has good cut through and differentiation.

The New User


New user goal: To start their family tree. Low to medium intent user, currently makes up about 28% of our customer base.


Business goal: To increase our New User customer base to 50% to achieve steady growth and expand FMP's market segment.

The Experienced User


Experienced user goal: To find a specific record or data source as they already use a competitor product to host their family tree. High intent user, makes up 72% of current user base.


Business goal: To retain experienced users and provide a competitive product which has good cut through and differentiation.

Project Process

Project Process

Analysis of the live site


Analysis of the live site

Looking at existing data with our data scientist to try identify current registration rate, bounce rate, traffic, devise split and much more on the website.

Looking at existing data with our data scientist to try identify current registration rate, bounce rate, traffic, devise split and much more on the website.

Looking at existing data with our data scientist to try identify current registration rate, bounce rate, traffic, devise split and much more on the website.

Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis

Analysis of both direct competitor landing pages and other adjacent industry landing pages in the market to identify potential gaps in the market as well as understand the current competitor offerings.

Analysis of both direct competitor landing pages and other adjacent industry landing pages in the market to identify potential gaps in the market as well as understand the current competitor offerings.

Analysis of both direct competitor landing pages and other adjacent industry landing pages in the market to identify potential gaps in the market as well as understand the current competitor offerings.

Ideation worksops

Ideation worksops

I facilitated a number of workshops involving many stakeholders from brand, marketing, finance and other teams as well as the main delivery team. As this was the “shop front” of the business with the largest amount of traffic, many stakeholders needed to align before making any changes.

I facilitated a number of workshops involving many stakeholders from brand, marketing, finance and other teams as well as the main delivery team. As this was the “shop front” of the business with the largest amount of traffic, many stakeholders needed to align before making any changes.

I facilitated a number of workshops involving many stakeholders from brand, marketing, finance and other teams as well as the main delivery team. As this was the “shop front” of the business with the largest amount of traffic, many stakeholders needed to align before making any changes.

Low-fidelity ideation

Low-fidelity ideation

Low-fidelity ideation

The core cross-functional team did some ideation sessions round the focussed problems identified in previous sessions. From this workshop we narrowed down on some possible UI based explorations we could do.

The core cross-functional team did some ideation sessions round the focussed problems identified in previous sessions. From this workshop we narrowed down on some possible UI based explorations we could do.

The core cross-functional team did some ideation sessions round the focussed problems identified in previous sessions. From this workshop we narrowed down on some possible UI based explorations we could do.

UI and SEO content reviews

UI and SEO content reviews

Using feedback from research, ideation sessions and stakeholder meetings, I begun creating low and mid fidelity wireframes. The design went through many iterations which were shared with stakeholders and other designers for feedback before final hi-fidelity designs were made.

Using feedback from research, ideation sessions and stakeholder meetings, I begun creating low and mid fidelity wireframes. The design went through many iterations which were shared with stakeholders and other designers for feedback before final hi-fidelity designs were made.

Using feedback from research, ideation sessions and stakeholder meetings, I begun creating low and mid fidelity wireframes. The design went through many iterations which were shared with stakeholders and other designers for feedback before final hi-fidelity designs were made.

Engineer handoff

Engineer handoff

Engineer handoff

Once the design process was complete and had been critiqued and reviewed by other designers and stakeholders. Engineers began to refine it. They descoped elements which would be too complicated for the MVP. Engineers then begun building the page. Assets were handed over at 6 main responsive breakpoints.

Once the design process was complete and had been critiqued and reviewed by other designers and stakeholders. Engineers began to refine it. They descoped elements which would be too complicated for the MVP. Engineers then begun building the page. Assets were handed over at 6 main responsive breakpoints.

Once the design process was complete and had been critiqued and reviewed by other designers and stakeholders. Engineers began to refine it. They descoped elements which would be too complicated for the MVP. Engineers then begun building the page. Assets were handed over at 6 main responsive breakpoints.

Launching the first experiment

Launching the first experiment

We launched the first iteration (MVP) new landing page with a 50/50 split in traffic between the new page and old page (A/B Test).
We kept an eye on registration rate, conversion rate and overall retention on each variant as well as other indicators of success.

We launched the first iteration (MVP) new landing page with a 50/50 split in traffic between the new page and old page (A/B Test).
We kept an eye on registration rate, conversion rate and overall retention on each variant as well as other indicators of success.

We launched the first iteration (MVP) new landing page with a 50/50 split in traffic between the new page and old page (A/B Test).
We kept an eye on registration rate, conversion rate and overall retention on each variant as well as other indicators of success.

Reviewing experiment learnings and developing V2


Reviewing experiment learnings and developing V2

Reviewing experiment learnings and developing V2

The variant (New design) out performed the control (Old design) by reducing bounce rate by 13% and increasing the reg to conversion rate by 3.4 times. We also did some heat map analysis and found areas we could further improve the variant.

The variant (New design) out performed the control (Old design) by reducing bounce rate by 13% and increasing the reg to conversion rate by 3.4 times. We also did some heat map analysis and found areas we could further improve the variant.

The variant (New design) out performed the control (Old design) by reducing bounce rate by 13% and increasing the reg to conversion rate by 3.4 times. We also did some heat map analysis and found areas we could further improve the variant.

V2 Launch and learnings

Looking at experiment and heatmap analysis, we identified areas to improve and re-designed another iteration for sections of the page. Going forward, we aim to take learnings from experiments and keep optimising the page.

V2 Launch and learnings

Looking at experiment and heatmap analysis, we identified areas to improve and re-designed another iteration for sections of the page. Going forward, we aim to take learnings from experiments and keep optimising the page.

Looking at experiment and heatmap analysis, we identified areas to improve and re-designed another iteration for sections of the page. Going forward, we aim to take learnings from experiments and keep optimising the page.

Key Learnings

Key Learnings

Challenges

De-scoping interactions and animations.


A lot of content needed to be visible for SEO Optimisation therefore creating a very text heavy page.


Difficult to have one page to serve two (or more) very different audiences.


Stakeholder management due to many interested parties as this is the page with the largest amount of traffic at our company. Therefore any drop in performance is risky.

Outcomes

Increase in number of free trials taken by 2X.


4X improvement in the free-trial to subscription conversion.


Fewer family trees created due to more users going straight to search, however the trees created were more detailed.


Bounce rate reduced by 11%

Future iterations

Including some more interactions and animations to increase delight and intrigue.


Optimising the value proposition by experimenting with content hierarchy.


Reducing the number of CTA on the page to funnel users down one registration route.

This is a project that is constantly being iterated on and adjusted to match marketing campaigns, updated imagery and SEO keywords

View the live site

www.findmypast.co.uk

PROJECTS

PROJECTS

PROJECTS

Optimising the top of the funnel

SEO Landing page and registration route optimisation.

Optimising the top of the funnel

SEO Landing page and registration route optimisation.

Optimising the top of the funnel

SEO Landing page and registration route optimisation.

Mobile-first onboarding redesign

Redesigning the product onboarding to be optimised for mobile-first users.

Mobile-first onboarding redesign

Redesigning the product onboarding to be optimised for mobile-first users.

Mobile-first onboarding redesign

Redesigning the product onboarding to be optimised for mobile-first users.

Getting Started - Inboarding

Introducing points of value exchange and gradual product education so that users learn how to engage with complex data and features

Getting Started - Inboarding

Introducing points of value exchange and gradual product education so that users learn how to engage with complex data and features

Getting Started - Inboarding

Introducing points of value exchange and gradual product education so that users learn how to engage with complex data and features

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