Advance Local, a digital media company with 18 media groups and over 52M MAU, faced low engagement on article pages with embedded content like newsletter sign-ups and recommendations. This hindered user retention, subscription growth, and content discovery, highlighted a need for UX improvements.
Enhanced article pages by optimizing embedded content and refining visual hierarchy. Used iterative usability testing and design improvements to boost content discoverability and drive key goals like newsletter sign-ups and improved user navigation.
Users are not engaging with embedded content, such as related articles, newsletter sign-ups, and author stories, leading to low click-through rates (CTR). The average CTR for our engagement modules is just 2.9%, compared to the industry average of ~4% for similar content. This significant gap indicates that these prompts are not effectively capturing user attention or driving meaningful interaction. As a result, we are missing opportunities for content discovery, subscription growth, and improved user engagement.
Through user research and usability testing, we identified key improvements in the integration of engagement elements. By aligning these features with the article's tone and brand identity, we made the prompts more relevant and natural for users. This strategic approach enhanced content placement and contextual relevance, resulting in higher click-through rates, increased interaction, and improved content consumption, ultimately supporting business goals like subscription growth and audience retention
The design process was iterative and nonlinear — insights at every stage led us to revisit ideas, refine prototypes, and adapt solutions to meet real user needs and technical constraints.
Our research helped in identifying the following problems with the our embedded content.
The content recommendations closely resembled the ad content, resulting in poor user engagement as they went largely unnoticed
The news widget needed to align with the content recommendations, but it lacked the branding elements, causing it to appear separate and disconnected.
The newsletter sign-up module had a resemblance to ad content and lacked visual appeal, making it less enticing. Additionally, it failed to provide crucial newsletter information that would have informed users about the newsletter's value.
My role initiated with conducting competitive analyses of prominent local news organizations, yielding invaluable insights into their content promotion strategies, content diversity, writing style, user experience, design, and the interactivity of their article pages on digital platforms.
I conducted thorough research to examine how other local news platforms embed content into their article page. This research allowed me to synthesize valuable data and insights, that helped me explore opportunities to increase user engagement and satisfaction.
Each concept focuses on seamlessly integrating the recommendations within the user's journey, ensuring they feel organic and relevant.
Before conducting usability testing with users, I first outlined objectives, goals and procedures in a usability testing plan document. This served as a rubric during testing sessions. A total of 18 participants were asked to complete a series of tasks tied to scenarios during unmoderated testing.
While there was some editorial curation in place, it often felt disconnected and rigid, making it hard for editors to consistently showcase stories in a clear and unified way. Based on insights from usability testing of the content recommendation module, I started sketching out ideas for a news widget that would give editors more flexibility and help readers discover content more easily.
The newsletter module felt a bit disconnected and lacked a clear brand identity, which made it look like an ad. To fix this, I made sure to incorporate the brand name, added info on how the newsletter is delivered, and used the platform's colors to give it a more unified and familiar feel for the readers.
I continued with conducting usability testing with users for the newsletter module, by outlined objectives, goals and procedures in a usability testing plan document. This served as a rubric during testing sessions. A total of 10 participants were asked to complete a series of tasks tied to scenarios during unmoderated testing.
We added helpful error messages for invalid or empty email entries, making it easier for users to fix mistakes quickly. A clear success state confirmed their sign-up, creating a smooth and trustworthy experience.
The redesign of the engagement modules led to significant improvements in key business metrics within the first three months. We saw a 23% quarter-over-quarter increase in click-through rates, directly contributing to higher content discovery and increased time spent on site, supporting ad revenue growth. Additionally, there was a 26% quarter-over-quarter increase in overall interactions, indicating a stronger connection with related content, which in turn boosted session duration and overall traffic. The redesign also resulted in a 17% quarter-over-quarter increase in newsletter sign-ups, demonstrating higher user engagement and interest in continued content delivery. These metrics confirm the effectiveness of the redesign in driving user engagement, ad revenue growth, and subscription growth within the first three months.
My role as a product designer on this project involved skillfully navigating through a range of constraints. This required finding the right equilibrium between technical limitations and user requirements. These challenges compelled me to excel in converting intricate situations into straightforward, comprehensible concepts and design choices.
I picked up this approach from the senior product designer, who consistently emphasized the value of "over-communication" right from the project's outset. It proved invaluable in helping me understand and manage the project requirements comprehensively as a designer at all levels.
To ensure precise implementation by developers, it's crucial to clearly specify padding and margin dimensions in your designs. I've adopted this practice to eliminate ambiguity and attain designs that are perfectly aligned down to the pixel.
