The Problem
Lots of people contact the Trust asking if they can dedicate a tree or a bench at a property to connect the memory of a loved one to a favourite place. This is not always possible but it was shown that there was a definite loss of donation revenue where people would go somewhere else rather than make a donation to the Trust anyway.
The solution
I ran workshops with internal clients. I interviewed stakeholders in different teams and worked with external creative planners to come up with a potential solution. I took every opportunity to talk to the people that would be affected by this product from as early as possible
We explored every option for allowing users to connect a place to a person and a special event and looked at every interaction to ensure that the journey was as smooth as possible.
By balancing business reality with the needs of the users, we came up with a solid minimum viable product that we were happy to go proceed with.
I built some low fidelity, highly functional prototypes to test the journey end to end with users using remote, unmoderated testing on UserZoom where users were asked to complete certain tasks, asked to score the task on ease of use, and you provide comments.
This gave insights that I used to fine tune the prototype until all usability issues had been removed or at least reduced in terms of the number of people who experienced them.
What happened next?
The product went live at the end of August 2019 with a soft launch. If people found it through the site they could use it. One month later we started to push the concept through various channels.
The number of people using this and generating revenue for the trust is growing steadily. People are using it in ways that we didn’t imagine they would.
We’ve even had at least one marriage proposal as, once a dedication is live, the user gets a unique link that they can send to anyone they choose.
However, certain changes were made to the layout of the product that weren’t tested before they went live. This happens from time to time but it is becoming less common as we mature in terms of UX as an organisation.
Low fidelity prototype showing step one of the journey
I’ve now run tests on desktop and mobile, on the live site and on new prototypes that go back to what I specified in the first place, adding in small changes where other usability issues have been identified.
The outcome
We now have a new product that creates revenue where before it was being lost. In the first 3 months, there were nearly 100 donations totalling many thousands of pounds with one donation alone of £2000. Based on what we’ve seen, we have developed a roadmap of enhancements that should see continued improvement of the product and increased revenue over time. The forecast for commemorative giving is £330,000 of revenue over the first, full 12 months.