Project Description
Nonprofits need websites that convert
A conversion-optimized website can help a nonprofit promote their cause, attract donors, and get funding to further their mission.
The problem is, many nonprofits don’t have the resources to make that happen, which results in websites that are dated, confusing, and not aligned with their conversion goals.
In 2020, this was certainly true of Challenge Success, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing stress and promoting well-being by helping students, parents, and schools redefine the concept of success.
When they reached out to me, the Challenge Success team had a working website, but…
✘ The design was very dated
✘ The UX was disjointed and not user friendly
✘ The messaging was confusing, unclear, and difficult to follow
✘ The website was not optimized for conversion
Even though I could identify issues just by looking at their website, I knew the project would require more in-depth research to ensure the end result would not only be effective, but support their goals for years to come.
To do that, my design partner Jamie Kleiman-Hardt and I put together a research-first proposal so we could gather the insights we needed to update the Information Architecture and UX before updating the design or messaging.
Step 1: Customer Research & Strategy
The first step was to gather intel from internal stakeholders and the target audiences.
To do that, I conducted a strategy workshop with the Challenge Success team (so I could understand the organization’s challenges, goals, and more), then moved on to 1-on-1 interviews with school administrators, parents, and students so I could clearly understand who they were, their goals, challenges, how they communicate, and more.
In addition to the interviews, we also conducted some usability tests on the website so we could understand how potential leads were interacting with the existing site, where they were getting confused or stuck, and gathering feedback for how we could potentially improve the design, messaging, and user experience.
Once all of the