Product design
Designing for trust
What is Editage?
An author spends a considerable amount of time on their research -- in some cases, it’s synonymous with their entire life.
Their skills lie in the subject area and the topic of the research but not necessarily writing a paper. They may sometimes need assistance to correct the grammar and in some cases the entire structure of the paper so as to communicate their research efficiently and be journal submission-ready.
This is where Editage steps in.
Editage is a platform where authors can shop for all these services to reach their publication goals. From editing their paper to translating it, to helping them select the right journal to writing a cover letter and more - Editage serves all the author's needs.
A platform that serves 729,000+ researchers from over 191 countries across 1,100 research fields.
Editage that was...
Understanding the product and user's needs.
A business that ran well for 17 years banking on the market need, was now ready to get a tech upgrade.
We intended for it to be a leading user-friendly product in its market.
and thus the research began...
• 3000+ Service Feedback Across Four Markets
• Review of 1000+ Chat Transcripts
• Watched 1200+ User Session Replay Videos
• Click Maps and Customer Route Map Development
• Keyword Analysis for SEO – Review of SEO Guidelines
• Tech Stack Evaluation
• Personal Feedback from Stakeholders Across the Organization
• Analysis of top 5 Competitors – Their Service Offering, Pitch, and Packaging
Key Insights
All the insights were segregated into what the users look for before deciding to transact and after they start the process. While sifting through the insights, these are the recurring themes that provided the direction for the website to be built in.
Users are most curious about how it works.
Users need to trust Editage for it's quality.
Users may not know what services we have to offer other than editing.
Hello Editage 2.0: Designing for trust
Goals
With thes learnings, it was clear that the users needed to trust Editage to be their partner and this trust will have to be earned in case of new clients.
Apart from that, the website needed to cover these:
• Communicate clearly about Editage's offerings. Give enough information for the user to make a decision.
• Make it easy for users to find what they need; A simpler user flow
• Clearly talk (be bold and assertive) about Editage's quality and guarantee.
• Should look global/ international yet appeal to the local audience.
• With the ease of understanding, the users should be encouraged to move to forms and submit more orders.
The revamped website
A new and refresh approach to Editage 2.0 that prioritises what the users are looking for while the visuals match those of international websites - ones that can be customised for each market.
How did we establish "Trust"?
1. Bespoke market Images
The first thing you see - every homepage has an image of a person representing the ethnicity of the authors, looking at the user for better connection and providing a visual break to what would otherwise become dull.
These images are carefully chosen to feel optimistic, natural and represent their local markets.
Homepage, first fold of the Japan market.
Homepage, first fold of the China market.
2. A service driven architecture
Categorising services clearly for the users to see the length and the breadth of our offerings without hiding it under menus like the older website.
3. Social proofing.
Letting the numbers speak for themselves.
Editage has helped 50,000+ authors so far and continues to grow every day. When the numbers are impressive, why not leverage them to attract the users?
4. Voice & tone
Our authors read!
This is an insight we have established over time looking at user videos and some data. Our authors are happy to read a lot of content on the website and perhaps, this level of detailing gives them the satisfaction of the quality. While we expect them to read everything, we want to sound less transactional and more conversational with our focus on being their "partners". We have carefully chosen words that are warm and friendly like "publication journey", " support", "collaborating" and more thorough out the website.
5. Editage Quality promise
Reassurance = Trust
That's what we intended to do with our stamp of Editage promise for all our offerings.
This is repeated everywhere to remind the user their documents are in safe hands and nudge them to place their orders with ease.
We even have a 100% satisfaction guarantee policy that is communicated by our very own CEO for more transparency and building the trust.
6. Our subject area experts
Showing off our real strength
Our real strength lies in our subject area experts that are native English speakers and we pair the documents to the matching subject area expert. Showing our panel of experts will help the users understand the quality we can provide.
7. Color
Color is an understated language but can make a big difference.
It was important for us to maintain international standards to let the user know it's a global firm and we understand and cover every subject area. How do we establish that via color? We played on the most neutral color - blue but choose a bright hue to make it stand out. If "Get Quote" is what you see first, we have a win win situation.
6. Font
Lastly, the font.
font's is not something the users conciously call out but it helps establish a mood as much as colors and images.
We chose the famous Gilroy to serve as an identity of being updated, contemporary and warm.
Lato serves as a functional font for the smaller spaces and large quantities of text.
Impact achieved
• The new website delivered a rich modern experience with a fast loading speed.
• It helped get us 8% additional jobs (based on Japan A/B test)
• In China, 24% more users moved from the web to the forms while the form submit ratio increased by 14%
• In China, The web submit ratio increased by 41%.
• In the ROW website, The traffic rose by 58% and jobs submitted by 56%.
This was just a glimpse into a very large project that ran over months and will continue to be enhanced as we learn more about the users who keep surprising us.
If you want to hear more stories of the surprises, let's connect at vidhi2912@gmail.com
You can check the latest versions here:
• Website in English - www.editage.com
• Japanese Website - www.editage.jp
• Chinese Website - www.editage.cn