Raise the Bar Media User Research
In 2019, I wanted to redesign the website for my photography company, Raise the Bar Media. It had undergone a Wordpress theme upgrade that removed all of the custom styling I had added to the site, and I had also decided that I was going to remove design services from my offerings and strictly focus on photography.
In order to design a site that effectively served my target market, I knew I had to start with user research. I wanted to answer the following questions:
What prices are customers willing to pay for photography services?
What types of photography services do they look for?
What are the most important features they consider when booking photography services?
What methods would they prefer to use to cancel appointments?
What are appropriate advertising channels for my ideal customers?
The Process
To answer these questions, I leveraged Facebook and my list of existing clients to recruit Austin-area participants who had booked a photo shoot within the past three years. My research methods included interviews, which explored people’s attitudes and expectations, and surveys, which uncovered quantitative data around preferred prices and perceived value of services. I collected categorical data that allowed me to learn what types of photo shoots people most commonly booked, how they found their photographers, how they typically booked and canceled appointments, and what value they assigned to certain services. I also used an ordinal data collection method to analyze participants’ perceived importance of features like affordable price, customer service, online reviews and portfolio quality when choosing a photographer.
Key Findings
The key things I learned about my target audience were:
The most commonly booked service was family photography
Current pricing matched most respondents’ perceived value of my offerings, but some believed services were worth less
Most participants booked shoots by email and preferred to cancel by text
Customer service and portfolio quality were the most important factors when selecting a photographer
Most customers found photographers through word of mouth and highly regarded their friends’ referrals
For more details on the study and findings, access the full user testing report below.
Results
Based on my research findings, I worked with a Squarespace designer / developer to rebuild the site in a way that better aligned with the needs and desires of RTB’s target market. I made sure to prominently feature family and children’s photography services, keep prices the same but offer occasional discounts, improve the quality of the online gallery, and refine the website copy for a friendlier voice. The new site was redesigned by the talented Nikki Fanshaw (check her out at madebynf.com).
