The redesign introduced a structured hierarchy to threads. This structure made it easier for users to follow the flow of interactions, even as discussions branch off into different topics. In addition, new sorting and filtering tools allowed users to sort or filter the replies, without losing sight of the original context or breaking the continuity. This improved clarity, navigation, and engagement across complex discussions and drove an increase in engagements by ??? and increased the time on site by ???.
Fast Iteration
Research
UX/UI Design
End-to-End
The problem
When I joined Fora, my first project was to evaluate the visitor experience and identify opportunities to improve user engagement. Through a user study, I confirmed that many were overwhelmed by long, unstructured threads, making it hard to follow or extract relevant information.
The threads were presented sequentially, with the oldest post first. Replies appeared in the order they were written, making it very difficult to follow the conversations.
Concept testing
I designed and tested three experiences after working with our engineers to create a workable prototype.
I used the RITE methodology so the team could evaluate and make changes as we went.
The three experiences were:
Nested Threads preformed well across the board, while Best Answer wasn't generally understood. Browse by Entity had a positive response when it worked, but was generally unreliable with our content.
Designs
Next, we brought the mocks up in fidelity and hammered out all of the interactions and edge cases. I tried many iterations of nesting levels and created patterns for sorting, filtering, and pagination. I designed the experience for inline replies as well as the admin screens which gave them the ability to move or delete threads and replies.
Launch
The nested UI was A/B tested to make sure that ad revenue wasn't impacted and to see the affect on user behavior. Ad revenue increased and visitors began scrolling through and interacting with the posts. Visitor time on site also increased significantly.