Increasing retention by 7x through expert volunteers
Connect more users to their ancestors using the expertise of hundreds of experienced volunteers around the world.
Background
An idea born from observation:
An obstacle patrons face is connecting into the shared public tree in FS. Being able to connect grows the patrons' tree exponentially, allowing them to see more of the ancestors and understand their heritage. When they are unable to connect, many don't know what to do or how to get help. We have hundreds of experienced volunteers who love family history and want to help these patrons.
Hypothesis:
We believe that we can double the number of new patrons who connect to the tree.
When a new patron accepts specific help from a consultant offered in the moment of need
Receiving asynchronous help from one of our 80K world-wide volunteers so that more volunteers will help because of the flexible help requirement
Facilitated by a system on familysearch.org that mediates the connection of new patrons with helpers
Tools:
Team:
Solution
Give patrons the ability to share their tree so a volunteer can help them:
Helper Connect: FamilySearch patrons can opt-in for help from experienced volunteers from anywhere in the world. These volunteers will have the opportunity to try and connect the patron to the shared public tree in FamilySearch by working asynchronously.
Screen to invite patrons to request help from volunteers - design by me.
Queue for volunteers to select a patron to help - design by senior product designer Valerie V.
FINDINGS FROM PREVIOUS RESEARCH
20% of patrons will return to FamilySearch (FS) when they connect to the shared public tree:
From in person testing at an event, patrons were 100% more likely to connect to the shared public tree when working with a experienced volunteer.
When patrons connect to the public tree, 20% will return to FS within 4 weeks (versus just 3% return when they do not connect).
Guided Tree (an experience on FS that helps patrons create their tree step by step) has been hugely successful. We desire to utilize this success to help more patrons.
Beginning of guided tree flow - a step by step approach to building a family tree. Adding our CTA designs to the end of this flow.
Initial brainstorming
Collaboration to understand business and patron needs:
With 2 Product Managers, the Senior Product Designer, and I, we discussed:
How this experience can meet the needs of FamilySearch and the patrons.
Our objectives and hypotheses.
Listed and ranked every feature needed for the MVP.
Brainstorming of objectives & hypotheses
Some of the finalized must haves, should haves, nice to haves
Our users:
New to FamilySearch - utilized the Guided Tree to create their family tree.
Majority of people using Guided Tree are new users.
Many will be new to family history.
Only targeting those who are unable to connect to the shared family tree.
How it all connects - Patrons to Volunteers:
Working along side the Senior Designer, we created a flow for how this experience would work. What we focused on:
At what point patrons would be able to opt-in.
How the queue would connect with volunteer tools.
Loosely when it would interact with FS chat.
Finalized flow and connects with other parts of FS
Communication for our patrons - Connecting to FS Chat:
My main role on this project was to connect the experience to FamilySearch Chat. The chat feature was recently released and we wanted to utilize it's functions for our experience. What I did:
Created flows for each use case when the chat would be involved: patron opts in, opts out, volunteer sends a message, patron is dropped, etc.
Collaborated with writing team to create clear, concise, and on brand messaging - chat messages and emails.
Met frequently with FS Chat team to ensure functionality and standards are met.
Example of two flows that connect with FS Chat
Main Challenge
Getting the Call to Action (CTA) Design Right:
The only way this experience will work is if patrons opt-in to receive help. Therefore, the CTA page is crucial. After initial designs, I performed tests on UserTesting.com.
Findings:
Patrons preferred "Facebook" looking photos (profile photo) to "stock images".
One design had ratings on it, many felt this was the wrong place for it.
Overall: patrons cared about how this benefited them, how it worked, and how much it cost.
From this feedback, I launched into further designs. The senior product designer also worked along with me to create options.
Latest CTA design
What we've learned so far:
Between Feb. 27 - March 16:
67% completed - 67% of people who ask for help are connected to the shared family tree, exceeding our goal.
On-going/Next Steps:
A/B Testing of CTA designs paired with qualitative testing.
Further testing with volunteers to improve the their side of the experience.
Ideation of how to improve the information added by patrons.
Utilization of FS Chat - messages written by me and UX writer
Admin queue - admins can monitor and keep track of current requests - designed by Valerie V.