This project which is my friend (customer) asked me to build a website for his new company based on online education.
My Role
UX/UI design, Communicated with customers 2020, April
Early Stage
Through several telephone conversations, I knew a general demand of his company for this website. And then, my partners and I brought the initial plan to his office. They gave their assent to our plan at that moment. It all seemed smooth. The initial plan was a dynamic website, a dedicated server, that included planning, visual design, coding, about the server, back-end, OTT plug-in and ZOOM plug-in installation; finally, testing, review and launch.
Challenge
When I was doing the prototype and one of my partners was preparing the contract, the customers had questions about the time and the price, but we have discussed that before. Suddenly I understood that we didn’t meet the customers’ needs and they also didn’t know what they want. It seemed to be going well, but they never satisfied.
Communication
We wiped our whiteboard clean and rethink our strategy. I had some conversation with the customer as a friend. I understood that he's just started his own business, and then came the Covid-19. That's an opportunity for his company because they are doing online education. So they want a website to demonstrate their service as soon as possible.
We've removed the payment API and just showing payment mathod; and we're only showing two demo classes as demonstrations.
Solved the Problem
As a start-up company in the early stage, we focus on promoting the company's culture and services.
So we've removed the payment API and just showing the payment method.
Again, we're only showing two demo classes as demonstrations.
Although the website has removed two major functions, it has greatly reduced the time cost of launching the website. For customers, time (during the COVID-19 pandemic) is the most important thing, followed by cost. Finally, we built a static website and use a shared server. The time has shortened from two months to three weeks. The cost was reduced by 60%.
The structure and tone of the website:
- 1. The company's logo is bright red.
- 2. Our target group is parents from grade 1 to 12, whose age is roughly between 30 and 45 years old. (According to the records of the consultation calls received by the company, women about 80%.)
Conclusion
From this case, I learned that sometimes customers do not know what they want. If we want to understand their real needs, we need to sound out their demands and listen to them, give them some ideas to choose from. And then, learn what they think based on that. On the other hand, I worked with two friends, one friend is my classmate, he was responsible for the contract, communication (more formal), prototype and UI design. Another friend was a coding and back-end developer.