Role
UX Designer
Timeline
Nov 2024 – Feb 2025
Clients
FamilySearch
MyHeritage
Team
UX designer (me), senior UX designer, devs & project manager
Status
In progress
Overview
Giving FamilySearch members near instant access to billions of additional records
I designed a flow allowing FamilySearch users to enable MyHeritage record matches to appear within an ancestor's page. During this project, I…
Researched & adapted competitor flows
Created an onboarding experience that increased perceived value and customer engagement by 60%
Conducted user tests & interviews to iterate on feedback
Problem
FamilySearch members are missing out on new family history discoveries
FamilySearch makes it easy to attach records from other online databases, but users who don’t explore those sites often miss out on important information. During this project, I assisted in creating an experience that allows FamilySearch users access to billions of MyHeritage records without leaving the site.
FamilySearch has billions of records, and my goal was to make it easier to find more
Project goal
Successfully onboard users to a new feature making MyHeritage’s billions of records accessible from any FamilySearch person page.
Process
What have others done?
First, my team and I explored options for the design of this flow. MyHeritage had previously created a similar product with Geni, so we referenced that flow and UI during early product development. After this, I spent time whiteboarding to explore what this product might look like. My team and I made sure to explore any errors and edge cases, and then moved on to a rough wireframe.
Roughing out the flow
Next, we made very rough wireframes to explore the visuals of the flow. My team and I used these wireframes to present the flow to stakeholders, getting feedback on any concerns. Time was also spent meeting with internal teams, as this product would involve areas outside our jurisdiction.
FamilySearch person page
Logged-out MyHeritage record page
Record details & "Attach" button
Record is attached in FamilySearch
Exiting FamilySearch alert
Prompt to login to MyHeritage
FamilySearch source linker
Testing revealed some methodology mistakes
Stakeholders gave us positive feedback, so my team and I moved on to testing our wireframes. This is where I made my first big mistake. As a team, we decided asynchronous testing using online testing software would be adequate. I knew live tests would be better, but I thought this method would more accurately reflect a customer experience.
While we got some useful feedback, the users were not in our target audience. This made the testers confused and distorted feedback. Here are some of my learnings:
Know the right method to find & test users.
Explore options – don’t try to justify bad testing methods.
Finding the right audience is difficult; be open to trying new ways to find the right people to test the product.
Lesson learned
When conducting user tests, spend time exploring different testing methods. Not all methods will give equally valuable results.
Live user tests gave us more qualitative results
After struggling with online testing software, we used our internal research team to help us find the right people to test our product. Although the following rounds of testing took much more time, we were able to gather higher-quality information about our target user's opinions of the product.
Here are some of the insights we learned from testing:
1.
Users were more interested in using the feature immediately than spending time learning how to use it.
2.
After completion, 100% of users were excited about the feature and understood how it functioned…
3.
… but, none of the users understood the value of the feature until completing the flow.
How can we educate & spark interest from the start?
My team and I conducted 6 total rounds of testing. No matter the testing method, there was one consistent theme; once the flow was done, people understood how to use the product. But despite our edits between rounds of testing, users still struggled to fully understand the feature.
We knew the image and text choice for the activation card was most important. That's a lot of pressure on a small card! To mitigate this, I worked with a UX writer and collaborated with senior designers to capitalize on the minimal real estate we had to convert & educate users.
Learning to communicate value; from 10% to 100% customer interest
After updating the feature's onboarding card and landing page, we were able to increase customer interest to 100%. By using imagery and terms that users were more familiar with, I was able to help my team find a design that got users excited even before starting the flow.
Results
This project is in progress, but our users can't wait for launch
While my team designed this project, the build will involve the FamilySearch Tree team as well as MyHeritage developers. With an exact timeline still under wraps, I know that we can use our positive user reactions to advocate for the quick build of this feature.
Reflection
Lessons learned
It's important to thoroughly examine testing methodology before and during testing.
Examining others who have created a similar product is a great way to jumpstart a product.
Even if a feature only caters to a small audience, it can transform an experience and add value.