A sales-led organization must enhance user experience to convert top-funnel leads into solid revenue. Revamping the search and booking journey alongside the A/B testing approach to reinvigorate customer-led growth post-covid.
A sales-led organization must enhance user experience to convert top-funnel leads into solid revenue. Revamping the search and booking journey alongside the A/B testing approach to reinvigorate customer-led growth post-covid.
Impact
~50%
Improved Conversion Rate
7-to-4
Booking Steps Simplified
Extraspace Storage, the second-largest storage provider in the U.S., saw a 10% to 25% drop in revenue during COVID. As lead generation shifted online, the team struggled to identify root causes and balance user experience improvements with SEO lead generation.
How might we optimize Extraspace Storage’s online platform to boost customer acquisition, enhance engagement, and increase retention rates?
I led UX research, ideation, A/B testing experiment and execution of the project over 12 weeks. My efforts streamlined the booking process from 7 steps to 3, significantly enhanced user engagement, and aligned the online experience with business and SEO objectives without compromising user experience.
Section
Subject A
Subject B
Subject C
Section
Subject A
Subject B
Subject C
Section
Subject A
Subject B
Subject C
Team & Context
Time
2020
Duration
12 Weeks
Client
Extraspace Storage
Time
2020
Duration
12 Weeks
Client
Extraspace Storage
Scope
Design Research
A/B Testing
Design System
Prototyping
Scope
Design Research
A/B Testing
Design System
Prototyping
Team
1x UX Designer (Myself)
1x Visual Designer
1x Design Director - Support
1x Product Manager
Team
1x UX Designer (Myself)
1x Visual Designer
1x Design Director - Support
1x Product Manager
Discovery
Identify the Root Cause
Challenge
The team noted poor performance metrics such as high user churn and long user sessions (20min avg.), but couldn’t pinpoint reasons for user churn.
Approach
Under tight timeline and limited resource for user interview, I conducted a combination of the following research to identify root causes:
• Identify Target Audience and Clarify Needs based on existing data
• Heuristic Evaluation to systematically identify and categorize usability issues for prioritization later on
• Competitor Research to identify best practices and learnings in direct & adjacent competitors
Result
I reviewed the user experience to identify root causes and consolidated the findings. This finding informed my design principles and experiment strategy for the next step.
Identify the Root Cause
Challenge
The team noted poor performance metrics such as high user churn and long user sessions (20min avg.), but couldn’t pinpoint reasons for user churn.
Approach
Under tight timeline and limited resource for user interview, I conducted a combination of the following research to identify root causes:
• Identify Target Audience and Clarify Needs based on existing data
• Heuristic Evaluation to systematically identify and categorize usability issues for prioritization later on
• Competitor Research to identify best practices and learnings in direct & adjacent competitors
Result
I reviewed the user experience to identify root causes and consolidated the findings. This finding informed my design principles and experiment strategy for the next step.
Key Insights
SEO contents competed for user attention, resulting in inconsistent, cluttered UIs that lead to high churn rates and extended session times.
Previous experiment strategy focused solely on maximizing top funnels, optimizing individual page layouts in the expanse of UX and conversion.
The self-storage industry typically has low user experience standards, so we drew inspiration from adjacent competitors and startups like Airbnb, WeWork and Clutter that balances SEO with delightful UX.
With newfound insights on root causes and best practices, I set clear design goals and values for my team, accelerating the design process despite a large scope and tight timeline, and informed my design strategy to build partnership with business stakeholders to nudge the adoption of more holistic UX metrics that measure conversion.
With newfound insights on root causes and best practices, I set clear design goals and values for my team, accelerating the design process despite a large scope and tight timeline, and informed my design strategy to build partnership with business stakeholders to nudge the adoption of more holistic UX metrics that measure conversion.
Develop
Redesign the Search Flow for Increased Conversion & Lead Generation
Challenge
I faced a paradox between enhancing user conversion and maintaining lead generation. The page needs to preserve many SEO content to boost online traffic leads, but makes the page confused to scan through.
Approach
• I applied best practices to optimize SEO content.
• I educated business stakeholders on how poor usability can negatively impact revenue through high churn rates and low conversions.
• I proposed an A/B testing experiment to balance new user experience and conversion rates.
Impact
Shorted the search flow from 7 to 4 steps (40%+ reduction to time-to-book), increased lead generation by 20%+ by pitching and designing the organic landing page. Validated thesis and received positive user sentiment in online A/B testing.
Redesign the Search Flow for Increased Conversion & Lead Generation
Challenge
I faced a paradox between enhancing user conversion and maintaining lead generation. The page needs to preserve many SEO content to boost online traffic leads, but makes the page confused to scan through.
Approach
• I applied best practices to optimize SEO content.
• I educated business stakeholders on how poor usability can negatively impact revenue through high churn rates and low conversions.
• I proposed an A/B testing experiment to balance new user experience and conversion rates.
Impact
Shorted the search flow from 7 to 4 steps (40%+ reduction to time-to-book), increased lead generation by 20%+ by pitching and designing the organic landing page. Validated thesis and received positive user sentiment in online A/B testing.
Bloated search flow previously took 7 steps and on average 20 mins to complete. This led to low conversion rate (especially for new users) and low user satisfaction.
I designed and conducted user testing with ESS’s marketing team between two design approaches. After evaluating session time, accuracy, and satisfaction with 20 participants, we decided to adopt the self-guided approach that optimizes conversion rate for new customers (accompanying 50% of online traffic).
Deliver
Efficient Design Handoff
Challenge
Our UX team of 2 needed to handle a lot of changes in a short timeline with frequent updates from SEO, marketing and research teams.
Approach
Developed a comprehensive design system with modular UI components linked by design tokens.
Result
This system allowed for quick iterations and smooth hand-offs. In 2 weeks, our UX team of two produced 20+ pages, 40+ components, updated design guideline.
Impact & Future Thoughts
This project was a resounding success due to the strategic implementation of a human-centric design approach in a traditionally utilitarian industry.
My contributions not only enhanced the user experience but also met critical business and SEO goals. The redesigned portal now efficiently supports increased traffic and simplifies the booking process, leading to higher user adoption and satisfaction.
This initiative has set a new standard for online customer engagement in the storage rental industry.
If there is more time, I would like to have more comprehensive data on how the experiments and new design affect SEO lead-generation and conversion rate, and iterate towards the most optimized outcome.
This project was a resounding success due to the strategic implementation of a human-centric design approach in a traditionally utilitarian industry.
My contributions not only enhanced the user experience but also met critical business and SEO goals. The redesigned portal now efficiently supports increased traffic and simplifies the booking process, leading to higher user adoption and satisfaction.
This initiative has set a new standard for online customer engagement in the storage rental industry.
If there is more time, I would like to have more comprehensive data on how the experiments and new design affect SEO lead-generation and conversion rate, and iterate towards the most optimized outcome.
