Conversation Starter: improved usability
Revolutionising Zivver's guest experience with a Conversation Starter Redesign. Seamlessly securing communications for clients and enhancing user-friendly access with improved 2FA flow.
Project overview
Context
Zivver offers secure communications solution trusted by over 10,000 organizations in sectors including Financial Services, Legal, Healthcare, Central Government and beyond. Its Conversation Starter add-on, utilized by 700+ clients, allows external guests to initiate secure, confidential conversations with organizations.
Problem space
While Conversation Starter is an innovative solution, its poor usability affected Zivver clients' end-users, leading to support calls and damaging client relationships.
Business impact
The Conversation Starter redesign led a major client to upgrade 434 instances to version 2.0, resulting in a 70% decrease in end-user inquiries. Furthermore, the new version consistently receives positive feedback from other customers.
My role
End-to-end redesign of a Conversation Starter feature: Design strategy, Leading the team (briefings, reviews and alignment with engineers ) User & Competitive research, Usability testing, Prototyping, UI Design, UX copy
Team
Product Designer (1): Myself, PM (1), PO (2), Front-end (4); Back-end (1)
Project type
SaaS, Webapp, Data Security
Duration
May-Oct 2023
Challenges
Data privacy
Compliance to data privacy standards and security of users should be ensured
Usability & customization
The improved solution needs customizable and intuitive, even for clients who may not be tech-savvy
Accessibility
Meeting the diverse needs of guest end-users by adhering to the accessibility standard of WCAG 2.0.
Solution
Complete re-design
Enhanced user experience across contact forms, 2FA verification and conversation components
Breathe simplicity
Clean and intuitive interface using consistent design patterns, removed clutter, clearer language
Happy users
A major client upgraded their 434 Conversation Starters to v. 2.0 and saw a 70% drop in user inquiries
Redesign
Before & after
Conversation starter re-design: personal details page (unbranded)
Before & after of 'Enter code' screen (unbranded)
Conversation Starter v2.0 main screens (Branded)
My approach
How I solve problems
I started this project with asking questions. Lots of them. I conducted multiple meetings with various teams including the product manager, engineers, customer-facing, and data security teams. My goal was to gain a comprehensive understanding regarding the current product and the users before diving deeper into their pains. During this stage I learnt security limitations - users should not include sensitive data in email subject due to it being unencrypted.
Why redesign? Discovery & Research
Initial version: confusing experience
I analysed several user interview recordings to deeply understand the problem. These were the most common issues people experienced with the initial Conversation Starter:
Senders unsure whether their secure message was sent
Senders forgetting conversation access codes
Recipients confuse messages due to default subjects
Limited sender verification
'To' field appearing empty while sender drafts their message
Confusing copy and outdated visual design
"We have many people that send an email via the Conversation Starter multiple times, because it's not clear for them if the message is sent or not. They are not familiar with Zivver."
- Annonymous municipality officer-
Desk research
Best practices favour SMS verification
As the project included 2FA, I examined various best practices to determine the most commonly used authentication methods. I noticed that SMS verification was always one of the main suggested verification methods together with authenticator app.
2FA screens of Microsoft, Amazon and Google
Initial solution
Scoping the problems and designing initial solutions
While analyzing the current solution, I discovered that some parts of Conversation Starter still used old blue branding, while others had been rebranded. In addition to the inconsistent branding, I identified several usability issues, which I resolved with the redesign.
The previous version of Conversation Starter utilized single-use email codes, frequently lost by users. To improve usability, I recommended SMS verification as a more convenient alternative and suggested changing single-use email codes to be sent upon request. Given the user base, especially elderly users, an authenticator app was excluded due to its complexity in download and usage.
New identification method selection screen
Validating design decisions
Usability testing
To validate the effectiveness of the new design, I carried out a prototype testing session in Maze with 11 testers. I prepared the testing questions and assumptions in advance to assess the ease of use and security. The results were informative and highly encouraging:
11
Testers
4.6/5
Ease of sending a secure message
4.2/5
Perception of platform security
Improving the solution
Insights from data analysis refined the final solution
Through careful analysis of the collected data, I made insightful discoveries that helped refine the final solution.
"Why would you allow to skip the sms code from a security standpoint? If it's skippable why have it at all"
- Annonymous tester-
Discovery: #1 Some testers found it strange that you can skip the sms code
Clarified copy to enhance the perception of security
The text "Skip this step next time" was updated to "Remember me for 30 days" to enhance the perception of security while using a familiar design pattern.
Before 'Enter SMS code' screen
After 'Enter SMS code' screen
Discovery: #2 Users forgot to enter their phone number before proceeding
Used a simple UI trick to highlight the crucial phone field
To tackle this issue I prepared several versions and listed the pros and cons of each to select the best one. I chose the below one since it seemed the most technically feasible and effective.
Improved 'Enter SMS code' screen
Discovery: #3 The majority of testers were first trying to edit the recipient
Read-only state to the rescue
To solve this issues I've implemented 'read-only' state for clarity: ensuring users understand that the text is not editable, enhancing clarity and preventing unintended modifications.
Improved 'New message' component
Looking back
Learnings
Through multiple iterations and feedback, I have gained extensive knowledge about the technicalities of Zivver product and the most optimal ways to deliver the best user experience.
Looking forward
If I had more time, I would...
Due to time constraints, some issues have not been resolved yet. Going forward I would like to look into to enabling guest users to start a conversation with the intended recipient as well as providing improved methods for recipients to manage and gather accurate data.
Conversation Starter add-on redesign (full branded flow)