Learn how user data and research transformed the design, functionality, and development of one of the largest and oldest professional associations - and why it should be a critical element in the process for nearly every digital project.
The American Library Association's Complex, Digital Presence
The American Library Association (ALA) is a professional association that serves over 130,000 libraries across the United States. This extensive network includes public, academic, school, special, and government libraries, each with distinct needs. ALA’s website provides critical resources like the Library Bill of Rights, advocacy tool kits, access to various divisions, annual conferences, and educational materials to over 300,000 library workers, whether they are members of the association or not. To address these demands, ALA’s web presence grew to more than 30 distinct sites, managed by various stakeholders and offering different experiences to users. Recognizing the need for a unified presence, ALA partnered with Urban Insight to redesign their websites and create new structure for their content management system. With over twenty years of experience leading redesigns for professional associations and nonprofits, Urban Insight created a customized research strategy to transform ALA’s web presence using data-driven design - the newly designed website resulted in engagement rate improving from 35% to 57% year over year.
User-Centric Approach to Web Design
For professional associations like the American Library Association, effective communication is crucial to serving its members. In order to best address this critical element, ALA and Urban Insight prioritized user experience (UX) research as part of the web design process to ensure we received feedback from real users. By conducting in-depth interviews with users before any design or development begins, we ensured that decisions are shaped by the users themselves. Given ALA's large membership base, Urban Insight interviewed users from a variety of backgrounds to collect the most diverse perspectives possible. These interviews allowed us to hear directly from users what their pain points and needs as librarians in the field were, resulting in a design and development process that was tailored to solve real-world problems effectively.
Additionally, behavioral analytics tools, such as Microsoft Clarity (free) or HotJar (paid), can provide deeper insight into how real users are interacting with the website. You can answer questions like: what is the data showing is the most important aspect of the website? Is there content that isn’t clicked at all despite it being in the menu? Are there areas further down the page that are interacted with constantly that should be moved up more prominently? For ALA, we analyzed the Microsoft Clarity data to make more informed UX and content decisions based on recordings and heatmaps (like the one below).
In every redesign, it is essential for user research to be as current as possible. Technology and user interfaces evolve rapidly, impacting user expectations; what was relevant two years ago may not be relevant today. By gathering the most up-to-date user data, project teams can ensure that the design, functionality, and development of the website are informed by the latest trends and user needs. This approach allows the project to deliver a modern and seamless user experience. We approach each project with a user-centric mindset, which significantly contributes to the success of each new website, including ALA’s.
Setting Project Priorities through User Data
User data gathered from stakeholder interviews not only shapes the design and development process but also plays a critical role in helping the project management team set priorities. Working within budget constraints is a common challenge when serving professional associations or any organization in a website design project, and navigating these limitations can be complex. To maximize the effectiveness of any given budget, it is essential to focus on features that will make the most significant impact for the users themselves.
By analyzing user data, project teams can identify which features are most critical to the client’s users and customers, or in this case to ALA’s members. For ALA, this allowed the team to prioritize functionalities that enhanced user satisfaction and engagement in cost effective ways. Instead of spreading resources thinly across numerous minor improvements, the team was able to turn their attention to high-impact areas. This approach not only meets user expectations but also delivers a better return on investment. For instance, rather than overhauling less-used sections of the site, the team focused on optimizing high-traffic areas to ensure a greater overall impact - such as prominently featuring ALA’s fight against banned books on the home page.
Enhancing Engagement and Supporting Missions
Engagement is crucial for a thriving professional association. It ensures that members feel connected, valued, and actively involved in the association's activities and goals. High engagement levels contribute to member retention, attract new members, and foster a sense of community and belonging. This sense of community is vital for associations like the American Library Association, which serves a diverse array of libraries and library professionals across the nation.
User data identified which resources are most valued by members and which are underutilized. By focusing on enhancing and promoting the most useful resources, ALA ensured that these critical tools reach the librarians who need them the most. When members find that the resources provided meet their specific needs and preferences, they are more likely to interact frequently with the platform and engage with the website for longer. This frequent interaction translates to higher engagement levels, as members find value in what the association offers.
Leveraging user data not only increases engagement but can also further an association’s mission. For the American Library Association, professional development is an essential priority as stated in their constitution. Since members are more likely to participate in webinars, training sessions, and conferences if they encounter highly relevant topics on the site, it can be beneficial to utilize the user data collected during the project to improve content strategy as well as website design and functionality. In the case of ALA, it provided a greater opportunity to create highly targeted professional development opportunities for its members, which helps strengthen the bonds between members and the association.
The Impact of Data-Driven Design
User research is a powerful tool that enables organizations and businesses of all types, including professional associations and nonprofits like ALA to understand, anticipate, and meet the diverse needs of its user base effectively - leading to better outcomes for both the user and the organization. By leveraging the insights of user data, professional associations and membership organizations can enhance user experience, drive strategic decisions, and foster stronger engagement, ultimately leading to a more effective and user-friendly online presence.
The success of this project highlights how a data-driven design approach, like Urban Insight’s, can transform a professional association's online presence, providing a seamless and enriching experience for all users. For more in-depth information about Urban Insight’s approach to solving some of ALA’s most critical issues, please see the American Library Association case study.
