National Literacy Trust improves UX and audience understanding
In summary
National Literacy Trust wanted to understand their users' needs better and to get recommendations to improve the experience on their websites.
We conducted user research to understand people's needs and how they used the websites and conducted our own UX analysis of key journeys.
The result was a detailed report giving the Trust what they needed to improve their experience and a set of new personas to improve and embed audience-first thinking.
Challenge
The National Literacy Trust aim to raise literacy levels across the UK, working with the most disadvantaged communities.
They needed to better understand how its core audiences of teachers and parents were using their two websites, as there were concerns that content was difficult to find and that having two separate domains created confusion.
As existing personas were outdated, the team needed validated insights to improve user experience and guide future strategy.
Approach
We carried out a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, including stakeholder workshops, user interviews and audience behaviour analysis to understand current user experience.
12 participants (teachers and parents) took part in user interviews to explore their needs and interactions. This was supported by website analytics, heatmaps and a full UX heuristic review to identify areas of friction and opportunity.
Finally, we pulled all our research and analysis together to create six needs-based personas alongside a detailed report with prioritised UX recommendations and real user evidence.
Outcome
The project gave the National Literacy Trust a clear, evidence-based roadmap for improving its websites, alongside a deeper understanding of how teachers and parents use the 2 websites.
The new personas are now being used across the organisation to inform content, user experience and future strategy.
UX improvement roadmap
Prioritised recommendations to enhance the user experience.
Behavioural insights uncovered
Research revealed how teachers and parents interact with the websites.
New personas created
Six validated personas now guide content and strategy.
Antonio Upali
Head of Digital
National Literacy Trust
