Improving the user experience for an online senior care directory

A comprehensive analysis on redesigning a web page

Overview

I reworked an existing webpage aimed at family caregivers of older adults. My redesign incorporated various resources offered by Caring.com, such as connecting users with Family Advisors, articles, tools, and directories for senior living options.

Challenge

The task at hand was to enhance the user experience on Caring.com's Assisted Living page and increase conversions. To achieve this goal, I drew on various resources provided by Caring.com and aimed to optimize the page for user acquisition. As part of the project, I created detailed design mockups and also documented the design process.

Research

WHAT ARE THE NEEDS, GOALS, AND CHALLENGES?

Before beginning the redesign of the Assisted Living page, I had to take into account the needs, goals, and challenges of both the users and the business. Caring provided me with information on the primary audience of the site, which were caregivers of family members, as well as secondary audiences of internet-savvy and concerned friends.

The main goal of these users when visiting the site is to research senior living and care options for their loved ones, and to find reputable communities in their surrounding area. The primary concern for users is that their loved one can no longer care for themselves, and they need to find a solution that fits both their financial and family needs. The business goal for the Assisted Living page is to drive macro conversions, which are usually achieved through form fills or phone calls to Caring's team of Family Advisors.

With these information I could understand user needs and goals, and tailor my design to help achieve the business goals.

WHO ARE THE USERS?

To ensure that my redesign of the Assisted Living page met the needs of the users, I conducted user research within the time constraints I had. This included reaching out to three individuals with different levels of caretaking experience: two beginner caretakers and one experienced caretaker with 5+ years of experience. I also did additional supplementary research by visiting online forums and discussion boards to gain a variety of perspectives on caretaking.

Through this research, I was able to gather insights such as:

“Loved one may feel or have certain views on how they want to be cared for”

“Biggest challenge is when your care is challenged by the person you’re providing care for”

“Dealing with a person under care is exhausting, makes me feel tired both emotionally and physically”

These insights helped me understand the emotional and physical tolls of caretaking, as well as the challenges that caregivers face when their care is rejected or challenged. With these insights I could design for user needs and goals, and ensure that my design helps in the difficulties of caretaking emotionally and physically.

HYPOTHESES AND ASSUMPTIONS

From the feedback I received during usability sessions, I was able to identify three key issues and formulate hypotheses for potential solutions:

1. Caretakers may become overwhelmed by a large amount of information, particularly first-time caretakers.

   • By presenting the information in an organized and easy-to-digest format, visitors will be more likely to read all of the content, resulting in an increase in page views and traffic duration.

2. Caretakers may have concerns about not knowing if they are making the right choices when looking for living options for their loved ones.

   • By providing assurance and guidance to users, they will feel confident in their decision-making and be likely to use the resources providing on the site, resulting in an increase in user acquisition

3. Caretakers want to make sure that the living options they choose for their loved ones meet their specific needs.

   • By providing more user control and customization, they will be able to find the best facility for their loved one and themselves, resulting in a solution that addresses their financial worries.

Ideate

SKETCHES

My redesign process began by creating a desktop-first design, where I laid out all the relevant content and ensured that it was displayed properly on larger screens. I also provided a mobile responsive design, ensuring that users would have a consistent experience across different device dimensions.

Proposed Solution

I wanted the redesign to be an improvement and not a complete change, so to avoid a learning curve for previous visitors, using the brand’s components will help maintain familiarity and consistency.

The following showcases the before and after of my redesign, along with explanations for my design choices:

ASSISTED LIVING: DESKTOP REDESIGN

3. Information content

I aimed to present the same amount of information in a manner that reduces the need for scrolling and makes it easier for users to navigate. To achieve this, I kept important content visible above the fold and enabled users to navigate using tabs on the left or links at the bottom of each section.

Mimicking an index in a book, this helps users to easily access the information they need without the need for continuous scrolling.

ASSISTED LIVING: MOBILE REDESIGN

1. Navigation bar

Most people are right-handed and may often use their mobiles with one hand so moving the hamburger menu and search icon to the right allows users to access them conveniently and comfortably.

2. Information drop down

Rather than having all the content shown on the page and users would have to scroll continuously on mobile, I decided to change the secondary navigation into a dropdown list. That way, the dropdown is always above the fold and users are able to easily navigate from section to section without having to scroll too much.

3. Buttons

For mobile, I made the buttons stretch across the width of the screen with a comfortable padding dimension around it. This is so the buttons would be large enough for precise interaction and would reduce the amount of any misclicks that may happen.

Reflections

LEARNINGS

Through this challenge, I approached it as a design sprint since I felt it would be an effective method due to the time constraint I had. If I could have done this again without any constraints, I would prefer to have spoken with actual users of Caring.com and hear their personal experiences. A comprehensive competitive analysis would have also been a great method to see how competitors are approaching similar problems and evaluate their designs.

WHAT I’D DO NEXT

Although I had the interviewees try my click-through prototypes, the next steps would be to quantitatively test my designs using tools such as heat mapping, web analytics, surveys and usability testing to help validate my design decisions.