UserTesting success story: how Helen Keller International boosts engagement through digital UI/UX redesign

UserTesting recently awarded Helen Keller International, a nonprofit organization that works to prevent blindness and reduce malnutrition for the world’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged people, a grant of pro bono studies through our OneWorld program for nonprofits. Andy White, Digital Communications Manager at Helen Keller International, recently shared his team’s success leveraging customer insights to better the overall messaging, design, and experience of their website. Through their partnership with UserTesting OneWorld, they hope to convert more donors that will help further combat the causes and consequences of blindness, poor health, and malnutrition.

Before UserTesting, how did you know what was working and what wasn't on your website?

We relied on standard metrics from Google Analytics and identified KPIs around engagement, donations, and other conversions. This is definitely helpful but didn’t always help us understand the ‘why,’ or provide clear feedback from our visitors.

What were some of the insights that you learned?

Hearing directly from our target audience allowed us to immediately identify points of friction or frustration in the user experience. We not only saw the challenges they faced but also heard them describe how it felt and what improvements they’d like to see. In some cases, we realized that we needed to adjust our messaging, in others we needed to adjust our UI or UX.

What are you planning to improve with the insights you’ve gained?

These insights, combined with the expertise of our team and supporting agencies, will directly inform our new website and brand messaging. We regularly reference feedback from UserTesting when discussing the ideal user journey and pathways, and plan to test iterations of the new website and brand assets to ensure we’re making the correct adjustments.

How will these improvements impact your bottom line? 

Our hope is that we’re able to share our work and extend our message to an even greater audience. We’re proud of what we do, and if we can use these improvements to engage more visitors, generate more leads, and convert more donors we’ll be able to further combat the causes and consequences of blindness, poor health, and malnutrition.