Upwork, Client Growth
Q4, 2020
Q4, 2020
I was the initiator and driver of this project. I had identified the opportunity to update the Enterprise lead-generating experience to increase client growth and hires across different Upwork hiring products, beyond Enterprise Sales.
Kick-off
Background
Upwork is the work marketplace where companies can find and hire independent talent, and independent talent can find work. Clients have multiple ways to hire on Upwork - from self-service options (Talent Marketplace, Project Catalog) to assisted hiring (Talent Scout, Enterprise Suite).
Upwork is the work marketplace where companies can find and hire independent talent, and independent talent can find work. Clients have multiple ways to hire on Upwork - from self-service options (Talent Marketplace, Project Catalog) to assisted hiring (Talent Scout, Enterprise Suite).
"Get a demo" form on the Enterprise landing page is one of the main lead generation forms on the visitor site for Enterprise Sales, and thus represents an important step in the conversion funnel.
Target audience
While the target audience for this form is large businesses that are looking for turn-key hiring solutions, however, this experience attracted clients from different business sizes as well as freelancers.
While the target audience for this form is large businesses that are looking for turn-key hiring solutions, however, this experience attracted clients from different business sizes as well as freelancers.
Problems
Together with my analytics and product management partners, we looked at quantitative data and discovered that the "Get a Demo" form has a low completion rate, a high number of requests from unqualified leads (including freelancers), and a high bounce rate.
Together with my analytics and product management partners, we looked at quantitative data and discovered that the "Get a Demo" form has a low completion rate, a high number of requests from unqualified leads (including freelancers), and a high bounce rate.
Project limitations
This project was not on the roadmap and was not on the radar for improvement. But my team and I were confident that even a small update to the enterprise "Get a Demo" form will be great for the user experience and fruitful for the business revenue. When my team shared the opportunity with the leadership team we got approval to proceed but with the caveat to execute fast and keep it low in design and development effort.
This project was not on the roadmap and was not on the radar for improvement. But my team and I were confident that even a small update to the enterprise "Get a Demo" form will be great for the user experience and fruitful for the business revenue. When my team shared the opportunity with the leadership team we got approval to proceed but with the caveat to execute fast and keep it low in design and development effort.
"...execute fast and keep it low in design and development effort."
As a convincing argument, we showed the number of key user journey flows that led to this form; how important the "Get a Demo" form was for the client conversion, and how poorly it performed at that moment.
DEFINE
Goals
The numbers spoke for themselves and helped to set up the project goals.
The numbers spoke for themselves and helped to set up the project goals.
Primary:
- Guide qualified prospects to complete the form.
- Steer freelancers to relevant experience.
- Guide qualified prospects to complete the form.
- Steer freelancers to relevant experience.
Secondary:
- Optimize experience for unqualified traffic.
- Optimize experience for unqualified traffic.
Project success metrics
Improvement of Completion Rate
Improvement of Visit to MQL
Improvement of Completion Rate
Improvement of Visit to MQL
Ideate
Journey map analysis
I mapped out the journey map and interviewed stakeholders from the operations and sales teams in order to understand the process that happens behind the scenes.
I mapped out the journey map and interviewed stakeholders from the operations and sales teams in order to understand the process that happens behind the scenes.
Psych analysis and user problems
I then did a psych analysis to uncover friction and confusion spots in the experience. This helped to see user problems.
I then did a psych analysis to uncover friction and confusion spots in the experience. This helped to see user problems.
Comparative analysis
I analyzed how different enterprise solutions set up the experience for their new and returned visitors. I primarily looked at the use of language, technical ways to connect with users, and questions on the sales forms.
I analyzed how different enterprise solutions set up the experience for their new and returned visitors. I primarily looked at the use of language, technical ways to connect with users, and questions on the sales forms.
Hypotheses
After the user experience analysis, I formed the key hypotheses.
After the user experience analysis, I formed the key hypotheses.
1. If we improve the content of the main flow we will increase the Enterprise conversion rate from Visits to MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) due to improved call-to-action focus and clear expectations for the next steps.
2. If we triage experience for all leads we will increase conversion on Talent Scout and Talent Marketplace as the unqualified leads will be guided to other recommended hiring flows.
3. If we point freelancers to their dedicated experience we will decrease unqualified form submissions and ease up sales department work by taking freelancers off the enterprise flow.
Solutions, obstacles, and iterations
Flow updates
The main recommendation was to reroute Enterprise Suite unqualified traffic to another hiring-assisted service - Talent Scout. And if prospective clients are unqualified for both assisted service options then route them to self-served hiring flow.
I wanted to streamline the Enterprise Suite experience and allow users to book demos right in the flow. Unfortunately, this change would have required changing the sales tool that Upwork was using. This big change was not in the scope of the project. I had to come up with another solution. I also wanted to simplify the Talent Scout experience and allow users to book an appointment with recruiters faster by skipping multiple steps with job-related questions. At that moment, the Talent Scout team was not ready to omit any steps from the flow for multiple technical reasons. Again, I had to come up with another solution.
The final flow updates relied on the existing operational framework but still solved the problems we aimed to solve.
Visual design updates
While I really wanted to improve the visual design of the flow I made a decision to not do it in this test iteration because of a few reasons:
a) Upwork was planning to go through a company rebrand and apply a new visual design to the entire site in a few months. I didn't want to invest time to the visual design exploration that will be changed in 3-4 months anyway.
b) I was able to improve the UI of the "Get a Demo" flow by repurposing the design and layout of the Talent Scout flow. This allowed us to launch the test faster and have a consistent user experience when clients are moving from one part of the product to another.
b) I was able to improve the UI of the "Get a Demo" flow by repurposing the design and layout of the Talent Scout flow. This allowed us to launch the test faster and have a consistent user experience when clients are moving from one part of the product to another.
Design solution
The team and I were happy with the design solution. Our stakeholders were excited about the proposed changes. It took about 3 weeks for me to work on the discoveries and explorations. I got the design specs ready for implementation by 3 engineering teams:
1) Simplicity. Clarity. Cohesion. Updating Enterprise form content and visual design.
2) Smart & personalized. Using geo technology and cookies to prefill form when possible. And route users (all types of clients and freelancers) to their dedicated flows.
3) Activation. Follow up with users via emails and offer a clear call to action.
Development and Design QA
I worked with 3 different engineering teams to QA the updated experience.
I worked with 3 different engineering teams to QA the updated experience.
Results
A/B test results
It was a winning design update that improved key business metrics. This test saw 182% lift in form Completion Rate; 80% lift in Visit to MQLs; and reduced the Bounce Rate by 5.6%. This updated experience got defaulted.
It was a winning design update that improved key business metrics. This test saw 182% lift in form Completion Rate; 80% lift in Visit to MQLs; and reduced the Bounce Rate by 5.6%. This updated experience got defaulted.
Results I am personally proud of
The updated form takes care of the needs of all visitors, no matter if they are qualified for the Enterprise Suite or not.
The updated form takes care of the needs of all visitors, no matter if they are qualified for the Enterprise Suite or not.
Time
It took 1.5 months from project kick-off to the test launch.
It took 1.5 months from project kick-off to the test launch.
People
8 people were involved in this work:
8 people were involved in this work:
1 Lead Product Design (myself)
1 Product Manager
1 Operation Manager
1 Copywriter
1 Graphic Designer
3 Engineers
... and a handful of cross-functional stakeholders.
1 Product Manager
1 Operation Manager
1 Copywriter
1 Graphic Designer
3 Engineers
... and a handful of cross-functional stakeholders.
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“Enterprise lead form is providing a new lead source for companies under 250 employees, yielding ~### leads and ~## qualified leads per week. We’re working on how to handle this new volume.”
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