Client
Cooperative Capital helps communities discover ways to increase their wealth and well-being by organizing and directing their resources towards local opportunities that have a lasting positive impact where it counts the most, at home.
Objective
Improve user retention on the website by providing a seamless experience that engages, informs, and encourages participation.
My Role: UX Designer — User Interviews, Research, Data Synthesis, Usability Testing, Sketches & Wireframes, UI Design, Prototyping
Time Frame: 2 Weeks
Summary
Site retention was low with a high bounce rate from the homepage. In a usability test of the initial site, users expressed it lacked credible information. Our solution was to focus on creating an engaging landing page with relevant information to support the client’s mission and meet their goal.
Tools: Sketch, InVision
Process
👥 User Interviews
Screener Objectives:
• Financial literacy
• If any factors deterred someone from investment opportunities
• How interested they were about giving back to their community
• How actively involved they were in their neighborhood
Interview Objectives:
• How financial literacy affects opportunities to invest
• What motivates someone to make an investment
• Accessibility to resources
• Familiarity with community funding
🧐 Key Insights
“I have never heard of investing in a community fund.”
— Sarah, 32
How the majority of people receive information regarding investment opportunities.
📻 Digital media (e.g. internet, radio, news)
💬 Talking to trusted friends, family, partners, mentors
63%* of people have some knowledge of community funding or are actively involved in a form of investing that positively impacts the community.
The majority defined their involvement as direct active engagement (e.g. lending their expertise by creating or working for an organization, volunteering).
83%* of people expressed challenges when it comes to investment decisions.
People are less likely to invest their money if they do not have disposable income or if information provided to them does not validate the risks and returns.
*out of 11 participants
📋 Usability Testing
We conducted a test with 4 users to gauge the clarity, credibility, and navigability of the existing website.
Task 1:
Browse the site to gain information about Cooperative Capital.
Results:
All users expressed that the site did not effectively convey the mission. They preferred not to watch the informational video on the homepage and felt the amount of text was overwhelming. User did not from the site to be credible.
Task 2:
Fill out a contact form to express interest in involvement.
Results:
All users expressed confusion by the call to action buttons and felt uncertain about the form dropdown options. They expected a confirmation page with follow up information after submitting the form.
⚖️ Comparative Analysis
What other investment market options are available to users?
How are these entities conveying their mission in a way to engage and retain users?
How can we learn from other web experiences?
👤 User Persona
“Giving back to my community is just as important as building on my own interests.”
Leah, 32
Leah has developed connections within her neighborhood by helping local non-profits. She is seeking other opportunities to empower her community with a goal of finding a reliable way to grow her financial assets while creating a positive impact in her city.
Needs
• Low-risk investment opportunities to support her community
Behaviors
• Seeks financial advice from social circles, online forums, and books.
Pain Points
• Finding credible sources for information
• Understanding financial terminology
🎯 Defining the problem space
Residents of a community are more likely to engage in Cooperative Capital’s cooperative private equity fund if they are presented with credible sources and measurable data.
Leah wants to make an investment that benefits her community and provides a reliable return, but the information she finds is not relevant to her current financial knowledge and goals. She also knows that improvements in her community can’t be made without financial support.
How might Cooperative Capital…
Guide Leah to invest in a fund that will provide a reliable ROI while also improving her community?
Encourage Leah to refer others to make promising investments within their community?
✏️ Design
We intended to maximize the content on the home page in a way that effectively communicates essential information in a more digestible manner that will subsequently increase user engagement. Utilizing our comparative analysis and MoSCoW mapping helped to inform our feature prioritization.
• FAQ
• Interest Form
• Contact Us
• Newsletter subscription
• Disclosure Notice
• Our Team
• Location
• Form Submission Completion / Confirmation
• Unique Selling Point
• Statistics / Data
• Social Media
