The challenge: A website that can be a resource for aspiring advocates
Latinos and immigrants were looking for help.
The previous website was exclusively for B2B audiences and users were feeling abandoned.
The organization was invisible to its core audience.
UnidosUS was missing out on grassroots support and donations.
Previous homepage prioritized donors and excluded the community. Click to enlarge.
Research
Understand what Latinos need from the site. I interviewed affiliate organizations and clients and learned they want fast facts.
Biggest insight: Users don't want to be told what to do. They want all the facts so they can make their own informed decision.
Strategy
Get the team and stakeholders speaking the same language. I used branding and style guidelines to help all stakeholders make decisions faster and keep messaging consistent.
Emphasize that users want to be informed, not impressed. I drew from published policy reports to create concise copy that drove action rather than touting the organization's accomplishments.
Prioritize and organize information so users don't have to hunt. I chose substance over style (just this once), employing an inverted-pyramid style and bulleted lists to honor the users' need to get the information the need without browsing.
Content repurposed from dense policy report. Click to enlarge.
Relaunched home page directed at the community. Click to enlarge.
Action
Wrote new copy for more than 30 pages, including page copy, microcopy, tooltips, and error messages.
Refined and further removed jargon thanks to beta readers from affiliate organizations who provided crucial user feedback.
Prioritized immediate copy fixes but also championed the creation of reusable content templates.
Standardized content blocks so translators could easily adapt them for a later-launched Spanish site.
1M+
Unique visitors per year
Results
Measured success with heatmap tools to observe navigation flow, A/B testing for donation calls to action, site analytics for volunteer sign-ups, and user surveys on accessibility and clarity.
Lowered navigation drop-off by 50% thanks to streamlined menu structure and improved microcopy.
Increased donation conversions by 20% through clear calls to action.
Boosted mobile sessions by 45% by achieving faster load times and more intuitive layouts.
Lessons learned
Funders and donors are more willing to browse. The general audience will bounce faster.
Be blatant about where to find resources. A "WE CAN HELP" button got huge traction.
Introduce quarterly audits to refresh messaging, ensuring constant improvement.
Gauge where users became fatigued and iterate the content or call to action.
