Global web experience strategy
case study
My contributions
While helping oversee a team of researchers, UX and UI designers, I was responsible for:
Research – Organized and led a team of researchers on three continents. Developed protocols, recruiting messages, discussion guides and competitor assessment strategy. Conducted group worksessions and individual user interviews
UX strategy – Oversaw affinity mapping, and development of personas and journey maps. Created initial desired-state page flows and wireframes.
Information architecture – Devised navigation scheme and content strategy to enable greater personalization in a flexible but consistent framework.
Content strategy – Enhanced taxonomy and meta-tagging to account for and relate products, thought leadership categories, user types, locations, and disclosure requirements. Developed consistent product description and performance disclosure framework.
Project management – Led day-to-day communications with an international client team, and presented to both the core client group and their global steering committee.
Flow diagrams show conceptual options to demonstrate MAM’s place in the larger group hierarchy.
Wireframes demonstrated navigation options and menu additions in easy-to-change low fidelity prior to detailed design.
Objective
With a new brand, new platform, recent acquisitions, expanded markets and new audiences, Maquarie Asset Management (MAM), a part of the Macquarie Group, needed to rationalize their disjointed, multi-site presence to demonstrate their combined purpose, array of offerings, and global leadership.
Our framework needed to accommodate both short-term and long-term consolidation.
World-wide research
We helped MAM start by getting the sense of the challenge and opportunity from internal stakeholders. That included marketers, producers, advisors, technologists, and client servicers from the institutional and retail segments for both public and private market investments in each of five global regions. I led the creation and facilitation of eight remote group work sessions that gave each participant a voice.
I led the design and execution of a qualitative research to capture input from a wide range of users—including institutional investment managers, independent advisors, industry monitors, and prospective employees. I oversaw a team on three continents, and helped interview 28 individuals in 13 countries.
Dozens of workshops and interviews covered 7 segments, 3 investment markets, and 5 global regions.
Broad competitive assessment
We identified a set of near-market competitors and evaluated their web presence against a set of common or desired attributes.
We enhanced our assessment by looking at enterprises we identified as doing a good job addressing similar communications challenges.
We identified strong attributes of both near market competitors and other industries.
Prioritizing features with personas and journeys
We used personas to create composites of the correlated behaviors, attitudes and content needs identified in research, but which didn’t necessarily align with regulatory user roles.
Journeys helped codify common interactions, touch points, and pain points to identify new opportunities for the site.
We mapped personas to required role identities to demonstrate the overlap while ensuring regulatory disclosure compliance.
Affinity mapping informed personas and journeys to codify needs and opportunities.
Mapping personas to role to reference communication and compliance requirements
Results
The new framework gives Macquarie Asset Management:
A single web destination for multiple markets and subsidiaries.
A consistent yet flexible design to account for current and
future offerings or acquisitions.A cohesive experience across segments and locations that clarifies MAM’s organization and place within the Macquarie family.
From the client:
