Background
Sundryver is a dispatch company that acts as an intermediary between independent truck owners and business brokers, facilitating the connection between them and enabling truck owners to find and secure loads for their transportation services. In addition to load matching, Sundryver also provides administrative packages that assist truck owners with tasks such as billing paperwork and other backend operations, helping them streamline their business processes.
The Problem
My challenge for this UX responsive website redesign project was to help Sundryver address their declining revenue and struggle to gain new clients. As approached by the CEO of Sundryver, my goal was to redesign the website to significantly improve the user experience for prospective clients, with the ultimate objective of attracting and acquiring new clients. Through effective UX design strategies, my aim was to enhance the website's usability, accessibility, and overall user satisfaction, thereby positively impacting Sundryver's revenue generation and client acquisition efforts.
Sundryver’s current Website
Challenge
After an initial discovery meeting with the client, we came to the conclusion and the goal of the website redesign was to design a marketing website that would provide the visitor/user with easy to access and simple to understand information they would need in order to make an informed decision about hiring the services of Sundryver. I needed to form a research plan to identify the specific challenges and pain points faced by independent owner operators, who are the primary users of the Sundryver marketing website. These users are seeking to make an informed decision on whether to hire the services of Sundryver as a dispatch company. This involved gathering feedback from owner operators, identifying pain points in their decision-making process, and exploring potential design solutions to optimize the user experience, enhance information accessibility, and improve overall satisfaction with the Sundryver marketing website.
Overview
Timeline:
8 weeks
Role:
Contract UX/UI Designer
Tools:
Figma, Canva, Google Meet
Discovery
Research Goal
The objective of the user research is to gain insights into the needs, preferences, and pain points of the target users, specifically the independent truck owners and business brokers who interact with the Sundryver platform. The research aims to inform the redesign of the website to improve the user experience and attract new clients.
Research Plan
User Interviews: Conduct one-on-one interviews with a sample of independent truck owners and business brokers to understand their experiences, needs, and pain points when interacting with the Sundryver platform. Use open-ended questions to gather qualitative insights.
Surveys: Administer online surveys to a larger sample of truck owners and business brokers to gather quantitative data on their preferences, satisfaction levels, and decision-making factors related to Sundryver's services.
Competitive Analysis: Conduct a comparative analysis of competitor websites to identify best practices, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
Secondary Research
Due to constraints, such as time limitations and access to the right demographic of participants, conducting one-on-one interviews or surveys was not feasible for this user research. As an alternative, I utilized secondary research methods to gather insights into the needs, preferences, pain points, and goals of independent truck owners who interact with the Sundryver platform.
I turned to social media posts and vlogs to gather information from users' perspectives. By analyzing the data I collected, I was able to gain valuable insights into the challenges, experiences, and expectations of the users. These sources provided real-life anecdotes, testimonials, and comments from users, which helped me identify pain points and goals associated with using dispatch services like Sundryver.
Research Analysis
My Main Research Takeaways:
My main research takeaway from my user research is that the current website was not effectively addressing the core pain points and goals of the target users, who are independent owner operators in the trucking industry. To improve the user experience, I would need to focus on designing an experience that would enable users to clearly understand the services offered by my client, easily contact the business, set up an account, and submit their paperwork efficiently to begin transporting loads as soon as possible. Understanding the high-pressure and stressful nature of the users' role as owner operators, I would also need to design for a friendly and helpful tone on the website to create a more pleasant user experience.
Analyzing the Competition
Summary of my competitive research findings:
Sundryvers decade of experience in the industry gives them a leg up to many of their competitors
Adding a “Meet the Team” section with pictures of the employees, gives the user an immediate feeling of trust and in the business
Many competitors in the industry offer a wide range of services so its crucial for Sundryver to be very clear on what services they offer their clients.
The main areas I saw improvement opportunities in regards to the website design for Sundryver were:
Clear services descriptions
Having a page dedicated to what services Sundryver provides to their clients and how they stand out from the competition.
Clear package descriptions
Having a page dedicated to the administrative packages that SunDryver offers with detailed information on each package.
Clear and pleasant navigation
Clear and noticeable CTA buttons for each section and clear navigation at the top for a smooth user journey.
Ideation
Narrowing Down The User
Although the industry is comprised of many demographics and it’s impossible to categorize my user, I designed a user persona as a visual for my client to understand the needs, pain points, and goals of an owner operator searching for a dispatching service. This also pushed me to understand my user better and design with my user’s goals in mind.
Information Organization
Once I had established what information needed to be added to the website, I wanted to make sure it was displayed in the most clear format for the user so I decided to break up the original one page website into 5 separate pages. This way the user would not be overwhelmed by the amount of information, CTAs, and marketing all at once.
I designed a site map to visually explain to my client the layout of the redesign and what would be displayed on each page.
Design
Wireframes
Being that most of my users are on the road for the majority of the time and therefore more likely to be using their phones as their main device, I decided to design a responsive mobile-first experience and make sure that the designs would be optimal at that size.
Adding in the Branding Kit
It was important to the client to keep the general look of the website as similar to the original as possible. I kept similar colors (black and orange) and the same logo feel but changed the typography and iconography in an effort to use best design practices and bring a more modern and clean feel to the redesign.
Mid Fidelity Frames
Top 3 Re-design Features:
Information breakdown:
I divided the website into 5 separate screens to prevent information overload
Clear description of services:
I broke down what services were being offered by my client and added icons and other visuals to break up the text and provide a more pleasant user experience
Modern and clean UI:
I designed the screens to meet accessibility standards in regards to colors, font sizes, and imagery.
Client Feedback
The design went through a few rounds of iterations before the client was happy with the look and I felt that it was optimized for user experience.
My Main Takeaway:
The goal of the client was to have the user contact them directly so each screen is a guide to the user leading them through the information until the contact page where hopefully the user has learned everything they needed to know before making the decision to contact the service and sign-up.
Validate
Usability Testing for Design Validation
To validate my design choices and identify any potential errors or oversights, I conducted five usability tests with participants who were not involved in the freight industry. These usability tests were conducted over Zoom, providing valuable insights into the usability and effectiveness of the redesigned website from a fresh perspective. The feedback and observations gathered from these tests were crucial in refining and improving the user experience of the website, ensuring that it meets the needs and expectations of the target users.
Feedback Highlights
Iterations (Part 1)
Iterations (Part 2)
Iterations (Part 3)
Next Steps…
Meet with clients web developer to go over designs, answer questions, iterate as necessary
Prepare files for handing over to the development team
Meet with the client again in 6 months to go over stats and user response to the new changes and decide on further steps and iterations.
Click image for Prototype
Conclusion
Sundryver’s previous website:
After the redesign:
Takeaways
While I strongly believe that nothing can replace 1:1 user interviews, this project presented several constraints that required me to adapt my research and design methods accordingly. As the trucking industry is niche and I had limited time and budget, I had to utilize alternative methods, such as YouTube and social media, to understand the needs of my users without relying on traditional interviews. It was eye-opening to discover the wealth of information available through these channels, providing valuable insights into my users' preferences, pain points, and goals. Despite the constraints, I was able to gain a deep understanding of my users and incorporate their perspectives into the redesign of the website, resulting in a more user-centered and effective solution.