UX changes
My initial audit of the proof of concept identified a confusing information hierarchy and static layout that didn’t offer many levers for content or engagement testing.
Ahead of launch, I focused on moving elsewhere any information not an immediate priority to users. The adoption of breadcrumb navigation made the page title a utility, not just a static title. The tab navigation was expanded to give a home for uploaded files so the static document details could be removed from the header.
The funding opportunity cards were the most important UI element surfaced in the Grant Oppportunity Finder. I re-organized the header info so the award details could be grouped. The relevancy score was emphasized as it is the most important metric for users, and it is how the cards are sorted.
The contents of the card could be dense, so I allowed the individual sections to be collapsible. For our first test we displayed the description text while hiding the relevance and modification text. This option gave us the added benefit of significantly improving card load time. The AI-generated content created for these sections was the most time-consuming.
The addition of new features such as favoriting opportunities and deleting cards was incorporated later in the beta.
Copy changes
I wanted our product copy to reflect the language used by our users. In our interviews with beta users I heard them using “funding” more often than “grants” terminology. This led us to change how we talked about their matches across the experience.
One of Grants AI’s differentiators was the use of a ‘relevancy score’ to communicate match strength. I wanted to use this as a throughline to demonstrate the unique value of tool. Therefore, when the tool was offering its expertise, I tied it back to “relevancy.”
The proof of concept used the label ‘projects’ for all individual proposals uploaded that triggered match searches. When speaking with early users ‘projects’ wasn’t an intuitive description. I tested many alternatives during our beta before we landed on Research plans.