Researching GoDaddy's new Link-in-Bio feature
I led user research for GoDaddy’s first mobile website builder that we internally called a Bio Site.
In late 2020, I joined a team at GoDaddy that was tasked with exploring a new feature that would let small businesses quickly and easily build a website to connect with their customers from any mobile device. This was a unique project because of the technical complexity and because it would add a brand new capability to the GoDaddy Studio app. As a result, I wanted to make sure that user research was embedded with the team from the very beginning.
The Process
Animated Timeline
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Discussing the problem with the team
I began by talking with our PM, designer, engineers, and the Director of Strategy to get a sense of what our assumptions were.
By starting the conversation within the team first, I was able to surface our ideas and preconceptions about the problem.
Before:
Knowledge and ideas were siloed and each member of the team had a different idea of what the problem was.
After:
Hunches and ideas were turned into testable hypotheses and the team had a single source-of-truth document.
Tools: Zoom, Confluence, Miro
Talking to the experts
After we formulated our hypotheses, I asked the team for introductions to anyone who matched our target customer.
Leveraging the team's existing network meant that we were able to move quickly and talk to five ideal customers that week.
Before:
We had a document with all our assumptions and hypotheses, but no data on how accurate they were.
After:
We had initial validation (and invalidation) of some of our core hypotheses, giving the team confidence to build a prototype.
Tools: Calendly, Zoom
Testing the MVP and finding 10 ideal customers
With a better idea of the problem we were solving, I recruited 10 customers to help with ongoing testing and interviews.
This initial group was a bit like an informal customer advisory board, and it let us get feedback on our first prototypes.
Before:
We had a few anecdotal pieces of feedback and needed to expand our research in order to test our first prototype.
After:
Each new version of the link-in-bio feature was tested with this same group, allowing us to see what resonated and what didn't.
Tools: Figma Prototypes, Zoom, Calendly
Continuous testing
Over the next few months, I continued to test new versions of the feature and gathered quantitative data.
Combining qualitative interviews with quantitative surveys and usability tests gave us a comprehensive view of the feature.
Before:
We had an initial prototype that had been tested with a small handful of people we thought would be our target users.
After:
Feedback from our advisory board was combined with surveys, panel testing, and market research to increase our confidence.
Tools: UsabilityHub, UserTesting.com, Survey Monkey, Zoom, Braze
Naming the feature in coordination with PMM
A key question that came up from the PMM was how to name and position the feature once it was ready for launch.
I worked closely with our PMM and the Director of Strategy to test possible feature names and RTBs (reasons-to-believe).
Before:
The link-in-bio feature had been thoroughly tested from a product standpoint, but we didn't know how it should fit into marketing.
After:
Large-scale quantitative naming studies and concept testing gave the marketing team the data they needed to prepare for launch.
Tools: GoDaddy Customer Council, Braze, Survey Monkey, Alchemer
Using quantitative methods to size the opportunity
Once we had our positioning, I ran a series of surveys to get a sense of the market size and perception of our mobile app.
This allowed the team to view the feature in context of the overall benefit and which RTBs we should highlight.
Before:
We had a series of validated RTBs and a good understanding of the value the Bio Site feature provided customers.
After:
The team felt confident that they were going after the largest opportunity first.
Tools: Alchemer, Survey Monkey, External Testing Panels
Readiness testing
With the link-in-bio feature nearing completion, I conducted 15 user tests to identify any remaining issues.
I identified and presented critical issues to the product team and engineers in time for them to be addressed before launch.
Before:
The launch date was fast approaching and the team felt nervous about releasing such an early version.
After:
The team felt confident about the release and the feature was rolled out with very few issues and a lot of excitement.
Tools: UserTesting.com
Soft launch
🚀 LINK-in-bio site launches
The team rolled the feature out to a few users and I sent out surveys and set up interviews with the early adopters.
Since the initial test group was relatively small, I used qualitative data from surveys and interviews to keep the team informed.
Before:
Data dashboards are inconclusive because of the small sample size and don't explain why people are trying the feature.
After:
Automated surveys bring in new data every day and interviews told us what was going well and what wasn't going well.
Tools: Braze, UsabilityHub, Survey Monkey, Zoom
"With my responsibility as a Product Manager, I was heavily reliant on qualitative and quantiative customer feedback for the initial launch. Working with Patrick was a dream as he made us all feel closer to the customer and helped to identify the customer pain points and opportunities on an ongoing basis.
"Not only was he helpful in setting up interviews that took away any feature biases, he also helped to prepare and present the research to the relevant C-suite stakeholders.
"If I ever had the opportunity to work with Patrick again, I wouldn't hesitate a bit!"
Gary Wilmott, Senior Product Manager at GoDaddy
Zooming back out
With the feature launched, I ran a survey to understand what customers thought of GoDaddy's mobile offering now.
We wanted to understand how the link-in-bio site builder had changed the value proposition of the GoDaddy Studio app.
Before:
We had a new feature that was gaining adoption and many ideas of how to work it into our marketing efforts.
After:
We had a winning concept that had been thoroughly tested with our customers by geographic location and ready to implement.
Tools: Survey Monkey, Braze, GoDaddy Customer Council
Today
The GoDaddy Studio team launched the free link-in-bio site builder in early 2022 and continues to build on it.
Thanks for taking the time to read through my case study. I think this particular project is a great example of how UX research can work alongside an agile team that's tackling an important and ambiguous new opportunity for a company.
By continuously testing new versions of the feature (first with prototypes, but later through TestFlight and Firebase), the team was able to course correct before too much time was spent on an idea or element. I also got to see how regular customer feedback helped improve team morale and keep spirits high during a challenging project.
What went well:
- I worked with a hugely collaborative team, from engineers, designers, PMs, PMMS, all the way to strategy and C-Suite.
- This project re-emphasized to me how crucial clear and readable documentation is. After dozens of surveys and even more interviews, there was a tremendous amount of data that needed to be organized. Keeping on top of it from the beginning proved key.
- All user research was run alongisde the team in real-time, so there were no unpleasant surprises when it came time to launch the feature.
What I would do differently:
- It would have saved a lot of time if I had kicked off conversations with other functions sooner in the project. In particular, there were some great questions that marketing had which could have been included in earlier researcher to give us a head start.
- Having a group of users who represent your target customer to test multiple prototypes with was very helpful. I would have leaned into that even more and doubled or possibly even tripled the group from the very beginning to give us more opportunity to get feedback.
- I would take more breaks! It can be tempting to always be sprinting, but long projects need to be treated like a marathon where consistency and pace matter more than raw speed.