Directory Page Experience

UX Designer | HomeAdvisor

Challenge

Users needed an intuitive way to browse and easily compare local service professionals. The directory pages offered listings of companies but it required a high level of effort to compare important information about these companies. This caused users frustration and often resulted in high bounce rates and low conversion.

Discovery

Although we typically design mobile-first, I found the majority of visits to the directory pages were completed on desktop devices. Usability studies indicated this was due to users feeling more comfortable conducting research-intensive tasks on a desktop rather than a mobile device. This indicated I would need to ensure desktop designs were optimized for research.

We discovered our users did not find the current listings themselves helpful. They lacked important information that could be useful when looking to hire a service professional. Homeowners in the usability study also noted they would like an easier way to compare certain data points about potential service professionals.

Design

Brainstorming | Pro Listings

It was a challenge highlighting the most useful information about companies within the directory listings themselves without overwhelming users. I aimed to include unique content from recent reviews for SEO value while also including the details users had indicated important to their hiring decision in our usability studies. I needed to design a layout that would aid users in their task of comparing the listings by ensuring the information was easily scan-able.

Brainstorming | Filtering

I included a design for a filter to further aid users in narrowing down their choices. The filters could help users look for companies with specific areas of expertise as well as locations served.

Iterations | Wireframes

Focusing on scan-ability, I presented stakeholders with a variety of layouts for responsive designs that highlighted service professional information in different ways. To further ease the users in their hiring process I included designs for a side-by-side comparison tool along with the filtering feature.

Through design reviews, I facilitated a discussion on the business implication of robust filtering. We uncovered that including this feature could create more poor users experiences than delightful. We determined that we could still improve the user experience by limiting the filtering to just area served and project type. I iterated on designs to create actionable pieces to test and integrate to move from MVP to a more optimal state.

I built lo-fi prototypes in Axure to demonstrate the functionality of the filter, sort, comparison tool, and back to top elements.

Outcome

A/B testing revealed the re-design to be successful showing a $4.2M win from a lift in conversion. An indexation test was also conducted to measure the impact on SEO goals. The indexation test was also declared a winner with an additional $304K in annualized revenue. The redesign was live nationwide with further testing and has since been redesigned again with the merge of Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor.

Learnings

• Conducting user research and documenting the findings in qualitative and quantitative formats, helped provide stakeholders information they need to have confidence in my design decisions

• This project was complex with business constraints. The ability to collaborate closely with my Product Manager and Delivery Team proved necessary to ensure we could create a viable product while still championing the users.

• Some time was lost as I went back to create incremental versions of the designs. I learned how to avoid this in the future by designing for progression.