Product Discovery & Website Redesign
UX Researcher & Strategist
Fresh audience insights, new customer niche, & enhanced customer journey
A twelve-week discovery project to help Google better understand its audience, their unique needs, and what Google could offer them. This Discovery work informed the design and strategy for the Google for Small Business website.
An enormous audience and robust offering in need of a re-articulation
Google provides several tools and services specifically tailored for small businesses to help them reach and engage with their target audience. These offerings are articulated on the Google for Small Business website which is a hub for Small Business owners, regardless of type of business or where they are in their small business journey. Working with the team at Instrument, we set out to learn more about the nuances, traits, and pain points of this audience so that Google could better serve them.
What I did
This discovery process included a large survey, secondary research into small business trends, ethnographic research, and interviews. The research was synthesized into personas and an evolved small business owner journey that highlighted different needs at different stages of business.
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A sort of pulse check on the landscape of the Small Business owner: demographics, types of businesses, pain points, and morale.
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This research helped create the context for the Google team and informed interview questions for ethnographic interviews.
What’s hot, not, and influential in the space
What is the future for small businesses?
Do we see different attitudes and trends in the literature based on demographic traits?
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We recruited and interviewed 15 Small Business Owners across industry, geography, business size, business maturity, and age of owners.
These interviews took place in the business owners' primary workplace, allowing us to see them in action and see how digital tools make their way into their operations.
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Working alongside the Instrument team we synthesized all of our research into:
a fresh set of Personas - rich with stories and pain points
an evolved small business owner journey, informed by shared experiences and challenges at key points along their business journey
High-level strategic directions that the site could take based on findings: based on industry, size of biz, maturity of biz, etc.
Ethnographic Interviews
Personas
Business Owner Journey
Context based on maturity of business.
Insights & Outcomes
Prioritize the Brand New Business Owner With Just Enough Support
The Overwhelmed Micro Business Owner as a New Niche The micro business owner emerged - typically teams of one or one and a virtual assistant trying to do their thing, hold the passion for their product or service, AND do all the things required of a business: operations, technical setup, and challenges, accounting, marketing - and more. This type of business owner loves to be given a clear checklist, a simple roadmap, and told exactly what to do when.
Serve the “New Business” Owner and They’ll Mature With You Gaining insights about the overwhelm of the new business owner, informed the design for the new site. An overall spacious design, with clear action items, and just the right amount to do. The “Essentials” page was meant to introduce new business owners to Google’s offering - in an incredibly actionable and digestible way. As the business matures, Google supports with more sophisticated support.
Just-In-Time Support vs The Whole Menu Small Businesses Owners are typically using the types of tools that Google has to offer in the downtime when they’re not actually running their business. Offering bite-sized tasks, with clear action steps and anticipated results helps this audience to find incremental success. This builds trust and turns Google into a trusted ally in running their business.
