Bridebook Dashboards

Project Type

User Research

Date

July 2024

Bridebook is wedding venue marketplace and the UK’s no. 1 wedding planning app. Wedding venues list with Bridebook and are discovered by prospective couples who can enquire with them through the Bridebook platform. As part of a design internship, I helped conduct user research to understand how Bridebook could improve their B2B dashboard in order to improve satisfaction of and value perception of their venue partners.

The Bridebook App

The Bridebook App 1

The Bridebook App

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Problem

Bridebook was seeing an increase in venue churn due to a lack of perceived value from their venue partners. It was also discovered that whilst the B2B platform was being utilized by venues to read couple enquiries, key features generally had a low level of engagement. In a survey conducted with 150 Bridebook venues, 46% interacted with their enquiries on a weekly basis, 13% with the dashboards and less than 3% with other features. From this, we hypothesized that by understanding what venues wish to see when they log in we can increase usage of B2B dashboards and help to convey the value they are receiving from the platform with the expectation that this will reduce venue churn.

Solution

We conducted one round of user testing both with internal Bridebook stakeholders and a range of different venues across the different existing venue segments. From these activities we were able to redesign elements of the dashboard to be more user friendly, prioritizing key performance metrics which highlight the value Bridebook provides to their businesses.

Refining Existing Personas

Business Owner

Marketing Manager

Sales Manager

Business Owner

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Bridebook Venues Key Personas

Our first step was to look at who uses the B2B platform in detail. I took on the role of refining these existing personas, adding detail from feedback from previous user research as well as my own knowledge from working directly with venue partners as an Account Manager. From this I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the needs and goals of different B2B users and start to brainstorm how we can use the dashboard meet them.

Overarching pain points across all the personas was clarity of data as each person needs access to very clear and specific data to execute their role. For example, the Business Owner may need to view Enquiry to Booking conversion rates over a quarter, whereas the Wedding Coordinator may need to see the uplift in enquiries following the launch of a new wedding package. Understanding these nuances was critical to this design sprint, as each user provides unique input into how Bridebook is perceived as an overall platform.

Introducing B2B Dashboards

Bridebook Existing Dashboard (Dummy Account)

The original B2B dashboard was over complicated, clunky and failed to provide an overall view of venue performance. This lead to many venues reaching out to their dedicated Account Manager to help interpret dashboard data wasting valuable time. It also meant that venues were more likely to interpret their performance as negative, as a lot of the data was portrayed as absolute values without a point of reference or comparison.

It included a lot of static content that users couldn't interact with or easily interpret, for example 'Conversion Funnel insights' which was intended to show users how couples are progressing from each stage of the booking process. However use of the bar chart doesn't show the continuous flow of couples through these stages.The excess of white space also makes it hard for users to focus on any one particular metric, which degrades the importance hierarchy that we wanted to create.

Internal Stakeholder Workshop

Existing Features - Dash_edited_edited_e

Dashboard Workshop - Bridebook Existing Features

As part of our next phase of research, we conducted an in-person workshop with internal stakeholders from the Product Design and Commercial teams in which we outlined the current issue, proposed new/modified dashboard features and asked them to participate in a ‘build your own dashboard’ activity. This session was highly successful in validating our initial ideas and supporting the creation of our early dashboard prototypes.

Proposed New Features - Bridebook Dash_e

Dashboard Workshop - Bridebook Proposed Features

We first highlighted existing features (Blue) and new/proposed features (Green). Among the new features included a Task Assign function, which would help tailor the dashboard experience to specific user types e.g Marketing Managers can assign Wedding Coordinators the task to add additional photos to their Bridebook profile or to update the templates they use in couple enquiry responses. This ensures better visibility on how the venue is maintaining their profile, keeping them accountable and creating a more dynamic user experience.

Dashboard Workshop - Team 'Build your Own Workshop' Activity

The activity took place on Zoom and involved putting participants into groups of three where they would collectively decide on a heirachy of widgets from the existing and new features shown above. Using this each group would create their own dashboard with a total of 9 widgets placed in the 3 x 3 grid. We then discussed this heirachy as a team and collated the resultiing insights.

Following the workshop we collated our findings and put together a top, middle, bottom hierarchy of dashboard features based on our overall aim which was to improve value perception amongst our venue partners. Amongst our top features was a notification centre which would highlight new features and prompt users to complete and update their Bridebook profiles where necessary. This helps to create a more interactive user experience. In addition, clarifying the Profile Score and how to improve this value as was introducing a Lead Close Rate metric were flagged as priority features.

Initial Dashboard Mockups

Dashboard MockUp 2

Dashboard MockUp 1

Dashboard MockUp 2

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Initial Dashboard Mockups

Our first low-fidelity mock up focused on priority and layout. We pushed the 3 most important widgets, Profile Score, Enquiries and Reminders to the top. We also added a Your Tasks widget to better direct users to interact with different parts of the B2B platform. Finally,
we added average competitor data to couple insights such as enquiries, bookings, impressions to give context and meaning to this data. As well as the ability to filter this information by timescale. One thing to consider was the actionability of this data, as we needed to ensure each data point had a clear action to follow in order to improve it.

Our second mockup included the addition of a bookings calendar. This provides an organisational element to the B2B platform, helping users to plan in-person couple engagements (e.g showrounds and bookings) but also visually showcases the value Bridebook is providing. We also replaced Your Reminders with Couple Trends, as it was too similar to Your Tasks. Couple Trends will help direct users to under utilised widgets such as special offers, helping to boost motivation to interact with the Bridebook profile.

Testing Prototypes with Users

Improved Dashboard Mockup for User Testing

We created our Improved Dashboard prototype on Figma (left) to be used alongside interview questions (right) for user testing. Our aim was to get a top line overview if this is visually more attractive than the existing dashboard. Does it make the user want to engage more? To play around with new features? To improve their profile? And ultimately does this this tell a convincing story of where the venue sits in terms of performance and the role Bridebook has played in this journey.

User Testing Script

We took users who represented our key venue segments through some introductory questions to understand what their day to day role included, what existing technology they use and what role Bridebook currently plays in their role. We then asked them to walk through the existing dashboard and improved dashboard thinking aloud as they did so.

Prototype to Live Launch

Following this round of user testing we received strong positive feedback regarding the dashboard mockup. We conducted an internal SWOT analysis using the data from user testing and felt it was positive enough to live launch this protoype.

Strengths - visuals were clearer, more engaging and more relevant to their daily tasks, e.g new Tasks widget

Weaknesses - Competitor data was good but not detailed enough to be actionable, e.g venues asked - 'if another venue has had more Showrounds, what does this mean and how can I improve mine?'

Opportunities - Venues wanted more insights around couple searches, behaviours and preferences. For example, knowing the keywords couples searched for prior to contacting their venue would help them to sell exactly what a couple is looking for and improve enquiry to showround conversion.

Threats - if the venue has completed their tasks and profile updates but is still low in the county rankings or their data shift is negative this may reduce their perception of value. It may also cause frustration if their movement is capped, whilst they are still putting work into their profiles.