Project Brief
Zen Village is a cross-cultural, inter-faith organization that promotes eco-living, sustainability, and holistic wellness. They offer classes that incorporate aspects of art and culture to promote well-being of body and soul through Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, and self-healing to both men and women of all ages.
DMNM Team Roles and Responsibilities
Ana V Peralta: Information Architect and Content Strategist
Matthew Young: Web Designer, Digital Marketer, Videographer/Editor
Objectives
Zen Village was in need of a complete overhaul. After deciding to take their business online, Dmnm was contracted to develop a new website showcasing their many offerings including webinars, a commerce platform, and expand information of the site for potential new students.
Actions
Dmnm was sent to China to film and document Master Tsai (Founder of Zen Village) in order to capture content for social media and website purposes. After the build with a new brand logo, and once events were registered, Dmnm created and maintained digital marketing campaigns across facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, EventBrite and email.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
Data Timeframe: Last 30 days
WHAT WE KNOW
Zen Village's website suffered from a combination of lacking both a clear direction established and sufficient content to keep the user engaged. With an expansion to their business models and announced tour dates for workshops and classes, they were motivated to have a digital presence supports all their initiatives. Also, with the client's help, we outlined a priority list of new content that being created for the website revamp, please see below:
Identified Company Priorities:
-Classes
-Excursions and Retreats
-Company Events and Webinars
-Ecommerce
-Community Information
WHAT WE NEED TO FIND OUT
An appropriate content strategy and visual layout strategy that will neatly highlight the company's goals of increasing user engagement and client registration while revamping the creative direction of the brand.
HOW TO FIND OUT
By conducting some research and interview on the user and to gather insight on their needs can determine what the best course of action will be apply to emphasize the company's goals best.
Google Analytics
ASSESSMENT RESULTS
Learnings:
1) Almost 50% of traffic was mobile
2) Most Sought After Topic: Master Program
3) Average User Session: 1min 54 seconds
4) Bounce Rate 71%
CONCLUSION
Based on the analytics, it was deemed obvious that there were flaws in the user experience. The session duration and bounce rate were clear indicators that the level of engagement was not meeting the user's expectations. Learning that mobile was such a popular device, I know that we will have to keep the mobile experience in mind as the content was expanding. Also, seeing as the Master Program was the most popular topic on the website, I felt it was necessary to make this content easily accessible when prioritizing against all other content.
RESEARCH
The biggest challenge with this project was connecting with users and their experiences seeing as the business had a remote business model, which means they did not operate out of a brick and mortar establishment, therefore, I took to the internet for some high-level insight on the target audience that Zen Village seeks.
MARKET RESEARCH:
28% of internet users look online for information about depression, anxiety, stress or mental health issues.
The percentage of adults who look online for information about mental health issues has increased in the past two years. From 2002-2006, online searches for information about mental health issues remained relatively stable, around 22%. In 2008, however, the percentage of internet users to look online for information about depression, anxiety, stress or mental health issues rose to 28%, a statistically significant increase. Source:PewResearchCenter
RESEARCH conclusions
According to the industry research, Zen Village's clients meet the socio-economic criteria that identifies with the average American that would succumb to much anxiety, stress and other mental health issues.
ZV CLIENT PROFILE:
-Typically holds a corporate career
-Age range 40-60 years
-Predominantly women who balance career and homelife
EMPATHY MAPPING AND PERSONAS
SITE MAP
Challenges: Due to limitations in the budget and timeline constraints, several features that were considered resource-heavy, such as a student portal, were de-prioritized until a later date. The first deadline for launch was August 2017 when Master Tsai departed for her seminars tour began, therefore, it was imperative to ensure that all content was made available first. Amongst the team, we decided that a short-term viable option was to include widgets and extensions to the website in order to process transactions, track registrations for events and redirect users to recommended brands/products for the e-commerce factor. I do expect the usr flows and site maps to update over time.
Long-Term Vision includes:
1) A portal for users to make profiles and access exclusive content (i.e. meditation and yoga video sessions), register for retreats and community events
2) An operations tea to source inventory and manage the e-commerce purchase orders
3) A dedicated content team to manage the Blog piece
IA by Ana V Peralta
USER FLOWS
WIREFRAMES
I opted for a creative-heavy layout that balanced well with copy because the original photography gathered by our own team, from a recent trip to China, was so authentic that it would help set the tone of the client's Eastern values and belief system.
The grid layout was an ideal option for organizing all products and services, allowing for easy browsing and search-ability. The hero image across each page allows an introduction to Zen Village's world and was a decided strategy amongst the team to increase engagement and length of user sessions.
FINAL RESULTS
Screenshots of First Rollout of Website Revamp
Screenshots of First Rollout of Website Revamp
AS THIS PROJECT IS STILL IN PROGRESS, PLEASE CHECK BACK IN FOR MORE UPDATES, POST MORTEM ASSESSMENTS AND KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS