Referral program for Google One
About
Google One is a subscription service to get more out of Google. It includes expanded storage across Google Photos, Drive, and Gmail, plus, other member benefits depending on the tier.
Opportunity
“People are 4x more likely to buy when referred by a friend.” (Nielsen, 2015) Referrals are a strong growth mechanism that leverages social connections and trust for high conversion rates and reach.
Team
Timeline
Jonathan Shariat - Senior Interaction Designer
Kimberly Kim - UX Writer II
Jyothri Kurapati - Software Engineer
June 1, 2022: Design kick-off
June 9, 2022: Directional approval & legal review
June 16, 2022: Final UX Design & Content sign-off
Shameless Self Plug :)
"Kudos to Kim for ramping up so quickly, for being an amazing partner to work with, and contributing already to Google One's growth!"
- Jonathan Shariat
Senior Interaction Designer @ all UX team meeting
Challenges
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Matching a primarily marketing campaign to Google's voice.
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User research consistently showed that users don’t know about Google One or even that they have Google One, so in a limited space we need to communicate what Google One is + it’s value, Google Play Credit + it’s value, and the way to refer a friend.
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Strict legal requirements about communicating rewards.
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Continuous changes with a new PM and business analytics.
Addressing Challenge #1
What does Google One sound like?
"I want the website to communicate who ACCESS is & what we do. I want it to capture people's eyes and hearts."
Pasang Drolma, Executive Director
"I would just like updated information. No one knows how to update the website here. It just feels cluttered even though things are sectioned off."
Annie Tran, Program Director
"The website just feels outdated. These photos are from like 5-6 years ago."
Erika Mei, Long-Term Volunteer
b. What do other nonprofit websites do? Why?
I researched best practices & conducted a competitive analysis, collecting all the data into post-its on Miro.
I also interviewed a web designer with 10 years experience in designing for nonprofits who summed up all my research nicely:
"Engage first the heart, then the head, then the hands."
-Elijah, experienced nonprofit designer
Establish the Brand
Research that Leads to Easier Brand Creation
Because my research process was fairly thorough (hooray), the brand guidelines went from a Google doc draft to the final pdf with only a few minor changes.
Write, Test, Iterate
1. Engage the heart
After creating user personas, task flows, & user flows (see UX case study), I hosted a collaborative ideation session with the stakeholders for the tagline.
I shared some quotes from the usability tests to help them understand the current content problems, then showed them some good examples to strive for, discussing reasons why.
After reviewing the brand guidelines, I encouraged them to come up with as many ideas as possible to take ownership of the words that meant the most to them & their organization.
Breaking barriers.
Building relationships.
2. Engage the head
In an easy-to-digest way. No walls of text, no big words, but big on impact, using the communication principles.
Also, this section needed to be easy for stakeholders to update, so I used Canva.
I tested the stats draft on 4 people because communication is always about the person on the receiving end. The stats section went through 4 iterations. Here is the final:
3. Engaging the hands:
See the donation form design in my UX Design case study.
Photography
Photography with Purpose
Showing ACCESS' mission in action.
It was a privilege to spend two days photographing ACCESS in action. I hoped these images would better capture & communicate who ACCESS is and the value they bring to their neighborhood.
After-School Care for
Families in Need
Creating Community through Art & Fitness Classes
Site Launch!
Translation & Lift-Off
Thanks to WIX's handy-dandy language option, Google Translate did most of the translating work, making it easy for the Executive Director to do final translation edits. Wrap-up went quickly & the site was launched on June 18, 2021.
The Results (ICYMI)
90%
less emails asking if ACCESS is a Chinese language school, saving directors time & effort
30%
increase in PayPal donations
100%
Staff & board members feel that the new site is a significant improvement in communicating ACCESS' value, vision, & impact.
The Next Steps
Social Marketing
In order to truly grow in a business sense, I encouraged a social marketing campaign & increase in social content creation. Since I couldn't do it myself due to limited time, I created a position for a marketing volunteer position, & hope to volunteer myself when my schedule opens up.
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