Redesign leads to 55% increase in registrations
This case study walks you through my design thinking and process about a redesign which
led to a huge increase in new users, event registrations and job applications
⭐ Product Background & Context
Web3 still being an up-and-coming industry, there is a lack of concentrated crowds within a specific geographic area. Most Web3 enthusiasts communicate online as they are spread around the globe. This made it very hard for Web3 companies to host events to promote and talk about their product.
This is where Recorem comes in. Recorem is an online event platform designed to unite the Web3 community in virtual spaces, enabling Web3 companies to host online events/webinars and communicate with the community.
One of the ways Recorem generates revenue is by featuring job advertisements while the event is live.
🤷♂️ Why do recruiters want to advertise their jobs
on Recorem?
Reason 1: Since Web3 is still an emerging industry, conventional job boards cannot supply candidates who have Web3 expertise. This made it quite hard for recruiters to find the right candidates. Spotting a group of Web3 enthusiasts at an online event or webinar is a gold mine for recruiters, as they are finding a huge number of potential candidates capable of filling roles within their company.
Reason 2: Recruiters had noticed a pattern. People who attended these online events/webinars were often self-motivated individuals who had a genuine passion for the subject as they voluntarily registered to events & webinars to enhance their skill set. Hiring such candidates was a wise choice as they showed a proactive approach to their careers, expressing genuine interest in professional development and industry trends.
💪 Motivating users to submit job applications
As Recorem isn't a job board, a unique approach is implemented to nudge users into submitting job applications. The "72hr feedback." This feature ensures applicants receive a guaranteed response from recruiters within 72hrs. This motivated users to seize opportunities and express interest in companies that catch their attention.
On the event page, users were browsing the page for hardly 3 to 7 seconds and
then dropping off.
Problem statement
There were little to no registrations for the events. This was a major concern as a
good amount of money was spent on marketing the event and it did not fetch a
good ROI. The low event registrations also resulted in limited exposure (less views)
for job advertisements due to the reduced number of attendees.
We needed to address this issue urgently because our schedule was packed with numerous upcoming events. With only 1.5 weeks available to fix this, we decided to keep the redesign minimal as major changes would require more time for both design and development efforts.
Constraints
The redesign resulted in a +55% increase in funnel conversions, i.e, 55% of users
who visited the event page went on & registered to the event.
Not only did users register to the event from the targeted ad campaign, they also
explored and registered to other events on the website as well
Outcome of this redesign
🚀
RESEARCH
✨ Insights
The problem was pretty clear. So, I started the research. Here are the insights from talking to users, monitoring sessions/heatmaps on Hotjar, and my personal take on how this page can be improved
User observations
85
Iterations
02
User tests
07
User interviews
12
Weeks
1.5
The Basics - Essential details were not easily conveyed. Users struggled to find key information like date, time, speakers etc. as it was buried in a lengthy and cluttered event description, leading to confusion or ignoring the entire thing.
Three different buttons / CTAs have the same color, The "Join event", "Newsletter", and "Apply" buttons. Highest salary was also shown in a blue tile but it was not a button, this led to users clicking on it and getting no response. There were other inconsistencies in the UI as well. A lot of redundant information was shown. Example: Asking users to subscribe to their newsletter when the webinar/event has not even started would be redundant.
Weak job card - The key feature "72hr feedback" had not been mentioned. Users could not apply for jobs when it's still an upcoming event. But, the apply button was always visible.
Information about guaranteed "72hr feedback" from the recruiter was mentioned in the landing page of the website and in the ads. Users coming to the event page from the landing page were the majority of people applying to jobs. Users coming in from ad clicks/marketing campaigns missed this and hardly anyone applied for the job. Information about this had to be conveyed to the users who were not aware of this benefit.
FOMO/Excitement could be improved.
User quotes
“Need more information about the job, just the company name and title won’t suffice”
“Event information is deep down in the event
description. Need to spend way too much time to understand what’s happening”
User types
Web3 Companies who attend online events/webinars to get leads and understand what other Web3 companies are working on
People who attend events/webinars out of passion
& genuine interest or to enhance their skill set
People who attend events to
find job opportunities
15%
35%
50%
THE REVAMP
Section 1: Basic information
The first section in the old design contained the event thumbnail and event notifications. While the event thumbnail was not causing any issues, The event notifications on the other hand was not serving it's purpose. Users did not pay any attention to it.
The "event notification" design aimed to create FOMO but proved ineffective, according to user research. Event notifications was most effective when the event was live, offering a real-time view of discussions. However, displaying such notifications for upcoming events, with only text like "1 ticket purchased" & "X company has joined," wasn't ideal.
The event notifications component had to be substituted with a design that users could grasp easily at a glance, while also urging them to register for the event or webinar.
Being the first section users see when the page loads, it should convey all the basic essential event information & stats that would nudge the user to register.
Old version
The event notifications was not having a good enough impact. Users scrolled past it and did not pay any attention to it
Better FOMO can be created
Information this component shows could be converted into a smaller ticker component and it would serve the same purpose taking 1/4th of the space instead of this huge component. Due to time constraints, developers mentioned this would be done in the future.
New version
Added a countdown timer to create a better FOMO effect compared to “Event notifications” which everyone ignored. Users respond better when they see stats. Showing a total count/ number is always well received as it's easier to read and glance through, compared to what was shown earlier.
Based on the earlier insights, there were 3 types of users. Event attendees who share the same passion, companies attending the event/webinar to find leads and a few of them who attend events to find a job. To address all these user types, numbers that matter to these users are added.
All this information leads to the register button.
Section 1 redesign
Based on the Improved user interactions that were observable on Hotjar, making all these changes worked out quite well. Users got a very clear idea on what are the basic things they can expect from this event without performing a single scroll.
Event thumbnail/banner uploaded by the organizer is clearly shown
FOMO from countdown created a better urge compared to the event notifications
The quick stats under the countdown gave all user types an idea on what kind of crowd they can expect at this webinar/event.
Section 2 : Organization and Redesign
This section created the most impact and was the primary reason for the higher conversions in my opinion. Here's why:
Everything a user would want to know about the webinar/event was one click away. Earlier during the research phase, users mentioned they had a tough time getting the required event information due to all the information being dumped in the event description. So, I decided to organize the entire section.
In the new design, there are a total of 5 tabs that contain all the key information users would need to make a decision on whether they want to attend the event.
Description: Contains information about the event.
Schedule: Some online events/webinars have a bunch of Web3 companies attending. Such events have a packed schedule and go on for a few days. Earlier, all of this information was just dumped in the event description which was very text-heavy leading users to ignore it. Creating a tab that has a clean organized view of the day-to-day and hourly schedule gives the user what they were looking for.
Speakers: Famous speakers/personalities who are presenting content bring a decent amount of event registrations. Having a dedicated tab that showcases the speakers attending the event/webinar made sense. This was missing in the old design. Adding this played a huge impact!
Sponsors: This was a business requirement, sponsors had to be showcased. Simple tile UI, when clicked users would be directed to the sponsor’s website or any other link they provide.
Jobs: The job cards are completely redesigned, here’s why
During the research phase, I asked users what is the basic information they would expect. The top 3 things which was brought up were, Title, Salary & Education qualifications (Education qualification primarily came from freshers) and a few of them were interested in positions (Because more open positions would increase their chances of getting hired). Decided to show this on the job card.
While the event is not active (when it's still an upcoming event) the description tab is opened by default because that would primarily drive registrations (as most attendees are not actively looking for jobs). When the event goes live, the job tabs are opened by default and the jobs are advertised as they would have higher priority in that scenario. If they wish to see the jobs, they can still access it when the event is not active. But, they will not be able to apply. Also, when the event is live, timely notifications are shown to bring awareness about exciting job opportunities available for the attendees of the event. This is to make sure users who join mid event are aware of the job ads.
Earlier in the research phase, I had mentioned an issue where users who came to the event page by clicking on an ad did not have an idea about the 72hr guaranteed response they would get from the recruiters if they applied to a job. This had to be fixed.
A timer icon with a lightning bolt in it to signify speed. This icon is placed on the top right corner of the job card and has a minimal wiggle animation as well. This was done to make sure it catches the users eye. When the user hovers on it, a tool tip with a one liner giving information about the 72hr feedback is shown. This was definitely a game-changer. It increased users applying to jobs by 50 %
While event attendees who were actively seeking jobs applied anyway, The "72hr feedback" primarily encouraged existing Web3 professionals to apply for jobs. Especially the ones who were considering a job switch or those who were eager to explore more exciting projects.
Full redesign preview
How did we measure the success of this redesign? 💯
Learnings 📘
Apart from seeing the improved User interactions on Hotjar and checking Google Analytics to get an idea of conversions, We noticed this redesign led to a huge jump in event registrations and job applications. We had an increased conversion rate of 55% in the first week. On a whole, this redesign was a huge success!
Working on this redesign reinforced the importance of user-centric thinking. I learned how to gather and analyze user feedback, identify pain points in the existing design, and iteratively create improved interfaces.
How to interview in a small time frame. Learned how to improve the type of questions to be asked and have a better idea on how to frame better questions as I interviewed more and more users
Further room for improvement
Exploring the idea of making the entire countdown a sticky component so that the register button is always seen is something that might make sense.
Before registering for an event/webinar, users scroll down to check the description, speaker lists, etc. Maybe enhancing the user flow by making the countdown component sticky, would ensure the register button is always visible as they explore and decide, eliminating the need to scroll back up for registration.
Due to time constraints, this redesign was a bit restrictive. I did not want to make any major changes that would drastically change the layout & increase development effort. I took a very safe & effective route with this.
I would have liked to spend more time with research as I felt there were a few more verticals I could have explored.
There are a few other things as well. If we connect in the future, I would love to have a conversation about it. 😁
Thanks for reading!