Growth Redesign

How can we encourage users to subscribe to our data service?

  • Designed high-fidelity prototype and coordinated with a developer to deliver end-to-end subscriber experiences, securing a donation from Splunk

  • Led content discovery and strategy, ensuring the right activities are prioritized to uncover users’ content needs

  • Conduct competitive analysis, identifying gaps and designing content solutions that boost paid subscription rate by 28% and revenue by $30,000

Sector

Non-profit

Timeline

May 2024 to August 2024

Tools

Figma, Photoshop, Slack

Goals

The goal of this project was to demonstrate the "hows" and "whats" of the company's database, guiding users on how to effectively navigate the user interface and interpret search results. It also aimed to simplify the subscription process, offering users a quicker, smoother experience with fewer hiccups.

Ultimately, the project should strengthen client relationships and increase subscriber revenue.

Market & Competitor Research

I reviewed different newsrooms' homepages and subscription paths with similar sizes and missions, including The Tyee, The Logic, The Narwhal, and ProPublica.

Noted common features

Proactive CTAs newsletter subscriptions highlighting perks and prices from one plan

Pop-ups include mission-driven language that highlights benefits to readers

Some unique approaches

  • The Tyee engages users with a conversational style and includes interactive elements like polls

  • The Narwhal humanizes reporters in the subscription CTA to evoke empathy from readers

  • ProPublica prioritizes editorial content over Data Store on its homepage

Building on the research insights and past data, I pitched creating a landing page that:

  • simplifies user choices;

  • address diverse user intents;

  • highlight the benefits of subscribing to the dataset.

Who are the Subscribers?

This landing page targets two primary user groups: lobbyists and news readers.

The lobbyist group is further segmented into those working for energy companies or labor-focused organizations, and those employed by lobbying agencies. This segmentation aligns with trends in lobbying news and industry insights gathered during the research period. The key difference is that lobbyists working in specific industries may be interested in benefits different from those employed by lobbying agencies.

Prototype

The deliverable for this project is two landing pages, one for potential donors (left), and one for general subscribers (right).

The prototype shown below is also available in Figma.

Lesson Learned

  1. It’s essential to identify user intent in both content and UI design, and then you can demonstrate product value based on users' needs stemming from that intent.

  2. Less IS more. Making things as simple as possible for users is a direct way to boost engagement.

  3. Testing is key. A major challenge of this project was the lack of prior examples or data points, and the product’s uniqueness made it difficult to determine focus areas quickly. If I were to make an iteration, I would use the current template to gather more user insights.

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