The Challenge Success Case Study
How I helped transform the Challenge Success website from clunky & confusing to clear, modern & user friendly.
"Annie's blend of industry expertise and writing savvy along with her method for extracting user insights was exactly what we needed."
Kari Ness Riedel
Former Marketing and Communications Director @ Challenge Success
Nonprofits need websites that convert
A conversion-optimized website can help a nonprofit promote their cause, attract donors, and get funding to further their mission.
The problem is, many nonprofits don’t have the resources to make that happen, which results in websites that are dated, confusing, and not aligned with their conversion goals.
In 2020, this was certainly true of Challenge Success, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing stress and promoting well-being by helping students, parents, and schools redefine the concept of success.
OVERVIEW
When they reached out to me, the Challenge Success team had a working website, but…
The design was very dated
The UX was disjointed and not user friendly
The messaging was confusing, unclear, and difficult to follow
The website was not optimized for conversion
Even though I could identify issues just by looking at their website, I knew the project would require more in-depth research to ensure the end result would not only be effective, but support their goals for years to come.
To do that, my design partner Jamie Kleiman-Hardt and I put together a research-first proposal so we could gather the insights we needed to update the Information Architecture and UX before updating the design or messaging.
Research & Strategy
STEP 1
The first step was to gather intel from internal stakeholders and the target audiences.
To do that, I conducted a strategy workshop with the Challenge Success team (so I could understand the organization’s challenges, goals, and more), then moved on to 1-on-1 interviews with school administrators, parents, and students so I could clearly understand who they were, their goals, challenges, how they communicate, and more.
In addition to the interviews, we also conducted some usability tests on the website so we could understand how potential leads were interacting with the existing site, where they were getting confused or stuck, and gathering feedback for how we could potentially improve the design, messaging, and user experience.
Once all of the research was conducted, I compiled the findings into a robust Insights Report which included…
Detailed, data-driven summaries of the target audiences
Quotes and VOC data from the interviews
Results, insights, and feedback from the usability tests
After the Insights Report was approved, I moved on to the next step in the process: Creating the Information Architecture for the new site.
Information Architecture
STEP 2
One of the main goals of the site revamp was to create a cohesive user experience, which was challenging for the following reasons:
To overcome those challenges and achieve the team’s goals, I started by first re-reviewing the Insights Report to familiarize myself with the research findings.
Next, I conducted a site walk-through with the Challenge Success team to get a better sense of their existing content strategy, what was (and was not) working, what they wanted to see moving forward, and more.
From there, I conducted a thorough site audit so I could clearly see the gaps between the current site and where I knew it needed to be based on the team’s goals and the research findings.
The site had tons of pages and content
There was a lot of duplicative content and pages
The site needed to serve three different target audiences
The product is complex and not easily communicated
Finally, I created the Information Architecture, which is essentially a blueprint of the website from a content perspective.
The Information Architecture was a bit more complex as it had many landing pages, different dropdown menus, and templates that needed to be incorporated into one cohesive user experience, but we successfully got there after a couple of iterations.
Once the architecture was approved, I moved on to the copywriting phase of the project.
Copywriting
STEP 3
With an approved Information Architecture, I could confidently begin filling in each page with copy informed by:
In addition, the site was still very content heavy, which meant I needed to write a lot of copy for a lot of pages, but after getting the Homepage copy approved, the process became easier and faster.
After finalizing the Homepage copy, we looped Jamie back in so she could begin designing the overall look-and-feel (such colors, fonts, logo, and more), while developing the overall design that would be used throughout the site.
Once all of the copy was completed, we were able to go straight into design without skipping a beat.
Research insights & Voice of Customer data
Ideas from the Challenge Success team
Conversion copywriting best practices
This was no easy feat as I had to create one cohesive “brand voice” that worked across the site while adjusting it accordingly to fit the audience-specific pages for schools, parents, and students (all very different cohorts with different needs, ways of communicating, etc).
Design
STEP 4
I often tell my clients “copy can only do so much” and it definitely won’t be as effective if it’s retrofitted into an existing design, only “half implemented,” or improperly translated into design.
For this reason, I always recommend working with a designer and/or developer who can collaborate throughout the copywriting process and properly translate copy into beautiful, modern, user-friendly designs.
Jamie Kleiman-Hardt is a perfect example of a designer/developer who can do exactly that.
She’s knowledgeable, open, and involved, but most importantly, she understands how to work around the challenges that conversion copywriting can pose for designers (for example, longer headlines, bulleted copy, proper use of visual elements (such as icons, illustration, and photography), and so much more.
Because Jamie was on this project, the Challenge Success team went from having a dated, clunky, and confusing website to a sleek, beautiful, and modern website that not only looks good, but is easy to navigate and supports the team’s conversion goals.
New homepage design
Hover to view new homepage
"Exactly what we needed!"
“Annie brought a much-needed fresh perspective as she worked with our nonprofit to streamline and rewrite the copy for a website redesign.
Her blend of industry expertise and writing savvy along with her method for extracting user insights was exactly what we needed.
And, she was a total joy to work with – friendly, flexible, and professional. I would highly recommend Annie for any copywriting projects.”
Kari Ness Riedel
Former Marketing and Communications Director, @ Challenge Success
RESULTS
Challenge Success now has a beautiful, modern, user-friendly website that’s clear and optimized for conversion
Through our research-driven approach, we were able to transform the Challenge Success website from dated, confusing, and clunky to beautiful, modern, and user-friendly.
With their new site, the Challenge Success team can confidently share it with their target audiences knowing the overall content will be clear (which is helpful for getting buy-in from stakeholders!) and the sales experience will be seamless and enjoyable.
The transformation will also positively impact leads coming from organic search — rather than being confused and frustrated, leads can now clearly understand what the organization is, what they offer, and how schools, parents, and students can benefit from participating in their programs.
