Nigerians in the Region of Waterloo (NIROW) is a non-profit organization in Canada that helps new immigrants to settle easily in the Waterloo Region, Ontario. Its updated landing page (above) has information hierarchy, a bold headline, and a clear CTA that speaks to the viewer.
The original landing page did not have clear information hierarchy, had lengthy copy and struggled to immediately inform the viewer how to join the association
— PROJECT NAME
NIROW Website Overhaul
— PROJECT GOAL
Increased conversion
— MY ROLE
Content strategy, UX writing and research, User persona, user flows, Content style guide, Information architecture, Wire framing
— TOOLS
Figma, Google Suite, Mentimeter
— DATE
First redesign:
Oct 2019 to Dec 2019
Second iteration:
Sept 2022 until present
My freelance client, Nigerians in Region of Waterloo (NIROW) is an association that provides members with the appropriate community resources for career mentorship, childcare, accommodation and related needs.
Challenge: The original website had a confusing design layout, inconsistent copy and minimal user engagement. The client also wanted to increase user’s awareness of the value of NIROW and increase the number of members.
Solution:: To improve the website’s design and user engagement, my team and I conducted UX research to re-design the website, develop a new content strategy, rewrote concise copy with a new brand/voice style guide, and pitched wireframes. This would help establish trust and confidence, increase awareness, and ultimately motivate individuals to get involved.
Preparing for user interviews
Within two weeks, I interviewed 7 first generation immigrants to learn more about their challenges when they migrated to Canada and solutions they seek. I created interview guides with questions focused on what issues they encountered settling in a new country, how they accessed settlement information, and what factors influenced them when deciding which organizations to source information on.
The user interviews revealed that separation anxiety for newcomers from their home communities begins earlier than my team initially assumed.
Quantifying through survey
To understand NIROW member expectations, my team and I surveyed 20 members. I developed and distributed the survey questionnaires using Google Forms. Questions included members' reasons for joining NIROW, visiting the website, and preferred changes.
62% felt that the website language does not reflect the values of the organization. Key findings became a valuable source of information for my team during the UX Writing process later.
Conversation Mining
I tracked keywords in comments left by members in NIROW's online forums (WhatsApp and telegram groups). Community, engagement and event were the top three keywords.
From Data comes User Persona
The findings from the interviews, survey and conversation mining helped me develop a user persona.
NIROW would be valuable to newcomer middle income young professionals with families aged 28-45.
Meet Cindy: A young middle income professional who seeks information, resources and networking opportunities with settlement organizations.
Building the Information Architecture
I created the information architecture below, expanding the menu pillar sections from 5 to 7 adding the “our stories” and “resources” pages. This was because our user research showed that newcomers seek information about their new countries and are inspired by the success stories of fellow immigrants.
The information architecture provides more educative and motivational content.
Navigating through User Flow
My team envisioned the website's new landing page would show the opportunities to join NIROW and its benefits upon first glance, without information overload.
I developed the user flow, where I broke down how a user can to join NIROW as a member and explore the resources for newcomers.
The flow shows a user's journey from the landing page to the membership and resources page.
Content Style Guide
Based on user research, I realized it was important that when rewriting the website's copy, it should not sound judgmental or invasive. Hence, I developed and presented the content style guide to us, which set the web copy's voice/tone guidelines.
The Work
My team and I determined that the new home page should immediately promote what NIROW stands for, joining as a member and avenues to reach out. As the users scroll down on the landing page (wireframe below), they would see more helpful settlement resource links, user testimonials, the contact to reach out for support, as well as joining a weekly newsletter for updates.
The wireframe for the new landing page.
UX Copywriting
Following the voice/tone guidelines, I made the copy concise and empathetic (image below), emphasizing community and engagement as prioritized by the user.
NIROW’s landing page with clear information hierarchy and concise CTAs.
Empathetic MembershipForm
Joining NIROW as a member is considered a success metric by the client. The website had a membership form that was not engaging and did not look visually attractive. On the client’s request, we used Google Forms.
My team and I did our best to make the form interactive and enabled people’s responses to be collected for review and data (compare the previous and current membership forms below).
Results
The website was updated 2 months after the client reviewed my team’s UX research, work and Figma prototypes.
The bounce rate dropped 3.6% within 3 weeks of launching the website. For industry standards, a good bounce rate ranges between 20-40%.
Client’s Feedback
The client liked that our copy was more empathetic and concise to users, enjoyed how our web redesign wireframes prioritized membership, their values and appreciated how the membership form was more engaging and interactive.
Within a month of updating the website, membership through the website rose to 624 from 405. This is a 50% increase after the website launch as against the regular 15% month-to month increase.
Next Steps
In Fall 2022, the client requested an update of the current website
Approved and shipped for development – Coming soon :)