the Army National Guard

Increasing leads with validated user goals and cross-product flows

Role
Senior UX Designer

Timeline
09/21 - 06/23

Background

The client had not identified user goals and saw a large drop in interest from leads after initial interest. I collaborated on cross-functional teams to assess existing user flows, track & increase high-quality lead conversions, and support rapid and consistent ongoing product delivery.

Deliverables

  • Homepage redesign

  • Figma reusable component library

  • Careers interactive quiz

  • Lead input MVP mobile app

  • Landing pages

  • Landing page templates for state-specific branches

  • Lead input landing page

  • Email campaigns

Discovering user needs

In heuristic evaluations, we noticed a lack of user flow — landing pages featured long lists of opportunities with little narrative.

Additionally, some features lacked accessibility considerations, like videos supporting assistive technology, provided alt text, and screen reader support. The client did not want to be slowed down by these considerations, so we needed to find a way to integrate these standards in a rapid and sustainable manner.

We also identified key insights from successful recruits and their goals.
Top goals identified included:

  • Education

  • Adventure

  • Community

  • Trade Skills

  • Leadership

  • Experience

A screenshot of the original ARNG website calls out a text-heavy page with no narrative, no CTAs, and a long list of career options.

Solutions

Journey mapping across products following validated user interests.

We defined a journey map across all ARNG products and streamlined user flows around validated user interests.

Flows allowed potential recruits to make self-directed choices based on their interests and goals. New and redesigned products stemming from this initiative offered different ways to explore their futures. We created career-based landing pages, interactive quizzes, and tailored email campaigns.

Library of reusable, responsive, accessible components.

I created a Figma library of reusable patterns and components for rapid and consistent prototyping and product development. Libraries covered use cases for responsive web applications, native apps, and email campaigns.

Consistent components aid in linking user journeys across products, and included baked in micro-interactions and animations as supportive visual cues, accessibility standards, success and error validations states, and use case guidance.

Social proof was also collected, such as soldier bios, community impact, local news, interactive maps, quotes, photos, podcasts, and more.

Customizable landing page templates and email campaigns.

I created email campaigns tailored to the varied user goals. Email clickthrough rates were 4 times higher and web lead conversions increased by 15% in the first month. Curious leads are nurtured using goal-focused email campaigns..

We also built responsive landing page templates with customizable content to be used by state-specific ARNG branches. Providing these templates reduced independently published websites from ARNG state branches. Consistent but customizable UI unifies interfaces across states and upkeeps ARNG standards, while flexible CMS supports the state-level recruiters. Pages usable content in pre-designed blocks that can be reordered and filled with custom content.

Home page redesign to start many user journeys.

On the home page we leveraged accessible design within a client-requested carousel, aligning user and client goals. The carousel can accommodate many ongoing initiatives while still maintaining a usable and consistent format regardless of featured content. Users can navigate between campaigns, quickly choosing their interest and diving into a flow.

We featured large pagination to allow users full control — the automatic scroll pauses when a slide is selected. Left and justified alignment and high visual contrast maintains readability of content, while screen reader considerations, tab order, and aria attributes are incorporated in code.

Key wins

  • Web lead conversions increased by 15% in the first month. Converted leads were 13% more likely to qualify in the recruitment process.

  • Email click through rates were 4 times higher in the first 3 months. Curious leads are nurtured using goal-focused email campaigns.

  • Product interfaces were unified through the reusable Figma library with accessibility considerations baked into packaged resources.

  • Landing page templates provided supportive CMS and ARNG branding for state-level branches.

  • User and stakeholder goals were aligned through accessible, data-driven design solutions.

Retrospective

This project is a great example of guiding our client to solutions that will serve them best, despite conflicting stakeholder opinions.

With a tight timeline and a large wishlist, we still managed to develop an ecosystem of products that work together as an intuitive and accessible experience.

While I worked with this client, they saw qualitative and quantitative improvements in lead conversion, quality, and retention.

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