In our website redesign for Voluntary Action Sheffield, data analytics, combined with focused internal research, played a key role in shaping the new website’s structure and functionality. Alongside tracking user behavior, we conducted focus groups and interviews with Voluntary Action Sheffield staff members to gather direct feedback and insight from those closest to the organisation.

These staff focus groups provided us with valuable perspectives on the existing website’s shortcomings, particularly in terms of navigation and ease of access to critical resources. To complement the discussions, we asked the staff to complete surveys, allowing us to gather more structured and specific feedback about the areas of the site that required improvement. This internal knowledge was crucial in understanding how well the site served the organisation’s goals and what needed to change.

At the same time, we tracked user interactions on the website using heat maps and scroll maps, which gave us a quantitative view of how users were behaving on key pages. Heat maps revealed the areas with the most clicks, helping us identify which content and features were engaging users, while scroll maps highlighted how far users scrolled down pages before disengaging. These tools helped us prioritise content placement, ensuring the most relevant resources and tools were prominently featured, while also helping us streamline underperforming sections that didn’t capture user interest.

Session recordings provided additional insights into user frustration, particularly when it came to navigating complex sections of the site. These findings from both the focus groups and analytics informed significant changes to the site structure, including a simplified navigation system and more intuitive content categorization, ensuring that users could quickly and easily access the information they needed.

We also identified areas where calls-to-action (CTAs) were underperforming, based on click and engagement data. This led to redesigning and repositioning CTAs to be more visible and aligned with user goals, making it easier for visitors to take meaningful actions, such as signing up for services or accessing downloadable resources.

By combining data from behavioral analytics and direct user feedback from focus groups, we’re crafting a user-centered redesign that reflects the real needs of Voluntary Action Sheffield’s community. These insights ensured that our design choices were data-driven, leading to a more intuitive, engaging, and supportive user experience.

Voluntary Action Sheffield’s new website will be launched November 2024!