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| View the site |
VeriSign
SSL Certificates |
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| Background |
VeriSign knew its SSL Certificates site was cluttered and
complex. They were creating problems for both themselves and their customers. |
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VeriSign was being threatened by low-end competitors who
made buying an SSL painless and cheap. It needed to increase sales, renewals,
and up-sell opportunities. |
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But for customers, the offerings were complex and weren't
presented to them in terms of their needs. They couldn't find information
about the real benefits they could expect in return for VeriSign's premium
prices. |
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| The Project |
I collaborated with a colleague on this project. My focus
was twofold:
 Analyze
what the competitors were doing
Profile
customers and identify their needs |
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Interviewed stakeholders. Reviewed
research. Distilled our findings. We first interviewed the stakeholders
at length to get their perspective on the problems they faced and to get
a clear notion of their objectives. We reviewed all the research and statistics
they'd assembled, analyzed it, and quizzed them on its deeper meaning for
them. |
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We distilled our findings into a clear statement of what
we wanted to accomplish with the redesign. The stakeholders concurred. |
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Analyzed and evaluated the top
competitors' Web sites. I did a thorough evaluation of the usability
of VeriSign's five top competitors' sites — and I evaluated VeriSign's
existing site as well. I walked the stakeholders through each site —
to show them what was good, what was bad, and why. |
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The comparison highlighted the usability standards that were
common on SSL certificate sites. We identified the standards we wanted to
conform to — and usability problems that remained to be solved gracefully. |
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Created user profiles. Developed
use-case scenarios. VeriSign has experience in SSL certificates second
to none. From its deep understanding of what customers need — and
my analysis of the needs that VeriSign's competitors were targeting —
I developed clear, concise profiles of the target customers. |
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I identified the need — and questions — each
of the target customers would bring to the site. For each of them, I developed
a use-case scenario. Each scenario defined the flow that would address the
customer's questions — and lead the customer to the SSL certificate
that matched his or her needs. |
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(Example: persona
and scenario, PDF, 75k) |
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Developed an information design
and a new site structure. Prototyped and tested it. We then developed
an information design and a site structure that addressed all the usability
issues that the use-case scenarios raised. My colleague then prototyped
the design. We validated the design by usability-testing the prototype with
real users. |
