A generative research study informing the design of a B2C enterprise dashboard for web agencies managing WordPress clients, uncovering key user needs and guiding a balanced roadmap.
A generative research study informing the design of a B2C enterprise dashboard for web agencies managing WordPress clients, uncovering key user needs and guiding a balanced roadmap.
Impact numbers
↑40%
Customer Aquistion YOY
✓ Pilot Group
Customer Advisors
⊖ %
Usabilty Issues
Impact numbers
↑40%
Customer Aquistion YOY
✓ Pilot Group
Customer Advisors
⊖ %
Usabilty Issues
Overview
The Problem
We had little visibility into our two segment audiences:
solo-preneurs and enterprise agencies.Current tools were built for single-site B2C users, not
designed for enterprise workflows.Large agencies represented a new audience for us.
Lack of insight into this audience's workflows, priorities,
and challenges.Uncertainty on what features would generate the highest
ROI and user adoption.
Objectives
Understand workflows.
Identify key functionalities for bulk site management
Mitigate audience risks.
Assess the competitive landscape.
Fuel iterative generative and evaluative research.
Identify competitive advantages.
Research methodology
SURVEYS
This research was exploratory and generative. It targeted various agency types to gather insights on workflows, pain points, and cross-site management needs.
We focused the survey on features already on our roadmap to assess priority and maintain engineering momentum while adding questions to uncover potential features we hadn’t considered. This approach allowed us to validate our assumptions while exploring new opportunities for product improvement.
Qualitative INterviews
With over 27 million customers, we had a large audience to draw from and conducted Zoom interviews over three months. Our main challenges were reaching larger agencies managing 1,000+ clients and determining which audience (small vs. enterprise agencies) would yield the best CPA and revenue.
My strategy focused on identifying features that would resonate with both groups, helping to shape the initial launch roadmap for broad acceptance while continuing to research our actual target audience.
Findings
Solo-Preneur Agency
PAIN POINTS
Affordable solutions but have trouble passing on the costs to budget-conscious customers. budget-conscious
Feel unsupported during critical updates.
Seek out tools that focus on ease of use and cost.
WORKFLOWS
Use 3rd party tools for managing complex features on client websites.
Manage client sites manually.
Will do a high degree of research to find tools that focus on ease of use and cost.
Enterprise Agency
PAIN POINTS
Get frustrated by integration issues and lack of quick resolution by provider.
Are judged on downtime by clients and need to resolve quickly.
They often do a lot of custom code when they'd rather have an all-in-one solution.
WORKFLOWS
Require scalability and automation.
Have a unique maintenance plan for different types of sites.
Require detailed documentation.
Must be proactive to identify and resolve issues before they escalate.
A generative research study informing the design of a B2C enterprise dashboard for web agencies managing WordPress clients, uncovering key user needs and guiding a balanced roadmap.
Impact numbers
↑40%
Customer Aquistion YOY
✓ Pilot Group
Customer Advisors
⊖ %
Usabilty Issues
Impact numbers
↑40%
Customer Aquistion YOY
✓ Pilot Group
Customer Advisors
⊖ %
Usabilty Issues
Research methodology
SURVEYS
This exploratory and generative research targeted various agency types to gather insights on workflows, pain points, and cross-site management needs.
I focused the survey on features already on our roadmap to assess priority and maintain engineering momentum and added questions to uncover potential features we hadn’t considered.
This approach allowed us to validate our assumptions while exploring new opportunities for product improvement.
Qualitative INterviews
With over 27 million customers, we had a large audience to draw from, so we conducted Zoom interviews over three months. Our main challenges were reaching larger agencies managing 1,000+ clients and determining which audience (small vs. enterprise agencies) would yield the best CPA and revenue.
My strategy focused on identifying features that would resonate with both groups to shape the initial launch roadmap for broad acceptance while continuing to research our target audience.
Survey design
I am a survey nerd and love crafting perfect questions! I guided our research team using MaxDiff, Ranked Choice, Likert Scale and Forced Ranking to get clear, actionable insights. The goal? Make every question work harder by choosing the right type to drive smart product decisions.
INsight to uncover
Type of question to use
Which features are an absolute must-haves to compete?
MaxDiff
Minimizes scale bias Gives clear, ranked data.
Which features are important, but can wait?
Likert scale
Provides nuanced data on the urgency of each individual feature.
Which features have the broadest, cross-audience appeal?
MaxDiff
Forces respondents to make trade-offs between features, simpler for respondents.
How might we prioritize planned features on the long-term roadmap?
Forced ranking
Provides a clear hierarchy.
Findings
Finding
The Journey Map: Understanding workflow
The actors and customer journeys became clear as we completed our initial set of research. I was able to create an in-depth journey map for ongoing reference.
Solo-preneur agency
PAIN POINTS
Affordable solutions but have trouble passing on the costs to budget-conscious customers. budget-conscious.
Feel unsupported during critical updates.
Seek out tools that focus on ease of use
and cost.
WORKFLOWS
Use 3rd party tools for managing complex features on client websites.
Manage client sites manually.
Will do a high degree of research to find tools that focus on ease of use and cost.
Enterprise agency
PAIN POINTS
Get frustrated by integration issues and lack of quick resolution by provider.
Are judged on downtime by clients and need to resolve quickly.
They often do a lot of custom code when they'd rather have an all-in-one solution.
WORKFLOWS
Require scalability and automation.
Have a unique maintenance plan for different types of sites.
Require detailed documentation.
Must be proactive to identify and resolve issues before they escalate.
Action items
SOLO-preneur Agency
Action Items
Offer revenue share or bulk licensing to reduce costs.
Provide automated tools for seamless updates.
Highlight value metrics such as cost savings visualization, client retention metrics, revenue growth opportunities, capacity planning, and streamlined reporting for their clients.
Enterprise agency
Action Items
Offer customizable solutions to simplify workflows.
Provide dashboards for tracking integrations.
Enable real-time monitoring for faster issue resolution.
Support bulk site management for aligned timelines.
Add customizable client groups for tailored workflows.
FOLLOW UP RESEARCH
While we identified a strong feature set for both solopreneurs and enterprise agencies, I was uncertain which audience would deliver the best ROI, so I suggested starting with core features and adding further research on the following:
PREV
NEXT
PREV
NEXT
ANalysis and Recommendations
After our initial set of qualitative interviews we had a frame work for a solid journey map. We then updated the finer details after the survey piece was completed.
Action items
SOLO-preneur "Agency"
Offer revenue share or bulk licensing to reduce costs.
Provide automated tools for seamless updates.
Highlight value metrics such as cost savings visualization, client retention metrics, revenue growth opportunities, capacity planning, and streamlined reporting for their clients.
Enterprise Agency
Offer customizable solutions to simplify workflows.
Provide dashboards for tracking integrations.
Enable real-time monitoring for faster issue resolution.
Support bulk site management for aligned timelines.
Add customizable client groups for tailored workflows.