The challenge

Support was a key pain point for all employees. Locating the correct service ticket to request help was confusing and time consuming. It also led to low adoption and was prone to errant requests.

The goals

  • Simplify the process of finding the correct online service request “ticket” and reduce help calls to IT and HR

Hypothesis

Reduce “pogo-sticking” and errors

To achieve our goals we would need to replace the hierarchal drill-down navigation with a search driven solution. If we could reduce the number of irrelevant, confusing, or similar tickets we could surface the right ticket faster and reduce errors and drive adoption.

User research

Performed usability tests to discover primary friction points within the process. Hierachal navigation was confusing and page load times were slow which compounded the frustration of “pogo-sticking” up and down through the content.

Process

Co-create, reduce and optimize content

Worked closely with content owners to consolidate and eliminate over 40% of the existing tickets. Trained the content creators to use page tables and set prioritized objectives for each page to ensure focus and search engine friendliness.

Backstage Support landing page

Before

Not unlike the main intranet landing page, this link farm was difficult to navigate. Search got little use, most didn’t see it. The categories were ambiguous and confusing which resulted in employees drilling down and up and down and up (pogo-sticking) many times. Often opening the wrong support request. Key support task we lost in the link farm.

After

Search-centric UI increased search use. Heavy content editing and removal improved relevant results. the most common support needs placed right below the search field.

Backstage Support ticket page

Before

Lack of description led to incorrect request submissions or calls to support for assistance. Lack of DIY content resulted in unnecessary tickets being opened when employees could solve the problem on their own.

After

Including a description and providing a link to DIY content reduced submission errors and raised satisfaction with the system.

The results

  • 54% more tickets open online while reducing calls by 24%

  • Nearly $400K in cost avoidance YoY due to call reduction

  • 88% of employees reported improved satisfaction through eNPS study