Helping people help themselves
User problem
Building a website isn’t easy. New customers trying to DIY their first website must gather and process a lot of information to successfully build their website.
They weren’t able to find the how-to info they needed from within Bluehost. Surveys and interviews showed that almost all of our customers found it easier to leave our product and search for information on Google or YouTube.
Things to fix
Multiple support hubs
Over the years, stakeholders had correctly identified a need for a better, more accessible support.
Rather than tackle the messy project of redesigning the knowledge base, the Marketing team started featuring more how-to content in the blog. Another team added a “Resource center.”
We ended up with three different channels and left it to the customer do figure out which channel they should start with. So messy.
Recommended content not aligned to users’ needs
The content we were surfacing in the Knowledge Base was based on business groups, not on what customers needed. TBH, just swapping out the “Education Resource” section out with the top-ten most searched articles would have been a step up in helpfulness.
Unhelpful search results
The tool we were using to power search wasn’t powerful enough to give helpful results. For example, a customer searching for information on “setting up a domain” would see every single article that included the words “setting,” “up,” and “domain.” This is a website company — every article has the word “domain.”
The solution
Create a single hub to surface all how-to content
Create a single hub that can surface content from any of Bluehost’s existing libraries (Knowledge Base, Blob, and Resource Center), so people don’t have to wander down organizational dark allies to find the help they need.
Personalize recommendations
Recommend content depending on the type of website they’re building and where they’re at in their site-building journey. Create clear pathways for them to get additional help if they need it.
Upgrade the search tool
Source a new search tool that uses machine learning to display more relevant search results.
Testing results
Overall the response was positive. People loved that they could start by category. They also noticed and appreciated that they could browse by learning style. The first version we tested had “Browse by topic” lower on the page, but testing revealed that this was the first place people gravitated to, so we moved it to the top of the page.
“I like how this is done - you can go by either the category or how to go into more direct [instructions] to watch videos and watch somebody go through this process... With a specific question, the topic would be good to start narrowing it down.”
“Really liked Browse by learning style section - I gravitates towards step by step guide and videos”
We also tested naming options but asking people what they’d expect a this hub to be called. Over 80% of participants suggested “Help Center," so that’s how it will be titled and labeled in navigation. Speaking of navigation, we’re also moving the Help Center to the top navigation within the application, so people can access it quickly.
As we implement this new help center during the second half of 2021, my assumption is that we’ll see a drop in call volume to our support center and an increase in the number of people who successfully publish their website.
My role
Identify the problem (In the process of this initiative, I learned that three different groups identified this as a problem: marketing, a group working on a holistic blogger solution, and myself.)
Bring Marketing, UX, and the Knowledge Management teams together to figure out areas of responsibility and source new a new search tool.
Sell the initiative to stakeholders.
Work with UX researchers to plan testing and write a testing script.