User Experience Content Strategy

Ecommerce SEO Tip: REI's "Expert Advice" feature is a brilliant example of how to integrate expert content + a commerce page. One question we get asked a lot by eCommerce clients is how to better optimize their category pages. Oftentimes, optimizing these this content is limited since stores are limited by their SKUs, filtering options, existing modules and more. A suggestion that commonly comes up is how to integrate existing informational content such as buying guides and blog posts on relevant category pages. While the suggestion is interesting, oftentimes there's pushback since this type of content could infringe on the purchasing experience. REI has a fantastic solution of creating a separate tab at the top of their category pages that includes the "Expert Advice" heading. This allows for an easy connection to informational content. Clicking this module expands related articles to the category page (Best Hiking Boots, How To Break In Hiking Boots). To me, this is one of the most creative integrations of informational content and a commerce page. It allows for users and search engines to connect the informational content to the core page without interrupting the shopping experience.

Consistency in community-led Go-to-Market (GTM) doesn't mean bombarding. After observing countless product communities, here's a revelation: To 10x your community-led GTM efforts, it's sometimes more effective to... focus less on frequency and more on quality. 1. Pre-launch co-creation ↳ Involve your potential community early. Co-create the product, from features to marketing. This builds ownership and excitement. ↳ Example: Figma engaged designers early through access programs, allowing feedback that shaped development, ensuring it met user needs. 2. Gamified onboarding ↳ Replace boring tutorials with engaging, game-like experiences. Points, badges, and rewards make learning about your product fun and rewarding. ↳ Example: Grammarly boosts engagement with "daily goals" and streaks, fostering a habit of good writing practices through a fun, rewarding system. 3. Micro-influencer partnerships ↳ Leverage micro-influencers within your community. Their genuine connection with followers can authentically showcase your product's value. ↳ Example: Ahrefs partners with industry bloggers and micro-influencers for tutorials and reviews, effectively expanding brand awareness and trust within the SEO community. 4. Community-driven knowledge base ↳ Encourage users to build the knowledge base. User-generated content and peer-to-peer support enhance engagement and collective wisdom. ↳ Example: Zapier leverages its community forum for users to exchange automation workflows and solutions, enhancing the platform's value through collective wisdom. This approach doesn't require daily actions but involves strategic, meaningful engagement that fosters a strong, vibrant community around your product. Remember, quality over quantity always wins. ❤️♻️ P.S. How often do you engage with your community? I think we should aim for meaningful interactions 4-5 times a week. __ 📌 If you found this helpful, reshare this to your network and follow me Joseph Abraham for daily Go-to-market insights, frameworks, tools, and tips

If you want to leverage community power for your business, take a page from IKEA’s playbook. For the brand’s latest campaign, IKEA managed to attract community members from around the world to help them sell, of all things, mattresses. Actually their entire sleep collection. IKEA sent out free blackout roller blinds to a short list of brand advocates for use in their windows. One one side was a shade, on the other, an advertisement for IKEA’s bedroom spread. Everytime the blind was shut, the window served as ad space. From there, users sent in photos which IKEA shared online and turned into video content. This campaign brilliantly combines influencer marketing with user-generated content and experiential advertising, and it does so across multiple platforms, creating a cohesive experience. It taps into the brand’s community, fostering a sense of camaraderie among customers. And btw, this couldn’t have cost that much compared to other marketing efforts…which also fits within a key tenet of IKEA’s brand: good on a budget The campaign is just another testament to the power of community. It shows how to creatively activate fans and ambassadors who believe in your mission, and utilize them to drive engagement. IKEA may be the master of this… The brand’s Ambassador Club, which launched over four years ago, has developed over 9,000 pieces of content, generating 63 million impressions and leading to 5% increase in sales. When people feel genuinely connected to a brand, they’re not just customers; they’re collaborators.

Your research findings are useless if they don't drive decisions. After watching countless brilliant insights disappear into the void, I developed 5 practical templates I use to transform research into action: 1. Decision-Driven Journey Map Standard journey maps look nice but often collect dust. My Decision-Driven Journey Map directly connects user pain points to specific product decisions with clear ownership. Key components: - User journey stages with actions - Pain points with severity ratings (1-5) - Required product decisions for each pain - Decision owner assignment - Implementation timeline This structure creates immediate accountability and turns abstract user problems into concrete action items. 2. Stakeholder Belief Audit Workshop Many product decisions happen based on untested assumptions. This workshop template helps you document and systematically test stakeholder beliefs about users. The four-step process: - Document stakeholder beliefs + confidence level - Prioritize which beliefs to test (impact vs. confidence) - Select appropriate testing methods - Create an action plan with owners and timelines When stakeholders participate in this process, they're far more likely to act on the results. 3. Insight-Action Workshop Guide Research without decisions is just expensive trivia. This workshop template provides a structured 90-minute framework to turn insights into product decisions. Workshop flow: - Research recap (15min) - Insight mapping (15min) - Decision matrix (15min) - Action planning (30min) - Wrap-up and commitments (15min) The decision matrix helps prioritize actions based on user value and implementation effort, ensuring resources are allocated effectively. 4. Five-Minute Video Insights Stakeholders rarely read full research reports. These bite-sized video templates drive decisions better than documents by making insights impossible to ignore. Video structure: - 30 sec: Key finding - 3 min: Supporting user clips - 1 min: Implications - 30 sec: Recommended next steps Pro tip: Create a library of these videos organized by product area for easy reference during planning sessions. 5. Progressive Disclosure Testing Protocol Standard usability testing tries to cover too much. This protocol focuses on how users process information over time to reveal deeper UX issues. Testing phases: - First 5-second impression - Initial scanning behavior - First meaningful action - Information discovery pattern - Task completion approach This approach reveals how users actually build mental models of your product, leading to more impactful interface decisions. Stop letting your hard-earned research insights collect dust. I’m dropping the first 3 templates below, & I’d love to hear which decision-making hurdle is currently blocking your research from making an impact! (The data in the templates is just an example, let me know in the comments or message me if you’d like the blank versions).

"Most companies' onboarding sucks!" "40–60% of users leave an app forever after signing in just once." Here's why, from onboarding expert Ramli John: — 1. Why Onboarding Fails and How to Fix It The biggest onboarding mistake? Skipping the basics. Too many teams jump straight to flashy product tours without understanding what success looks like for users. Start with user research: What are their goals? What challenges are they facing? Onboarding is like building a bridge. If you don’t know where users want to go, you’ll lead them to the wrong place. Make sure the “promised land” in ads matches the actual onboarding journey. Key tips to avoid failure: → Use research to identify user pain points and objections. → Build flows that guide users step-by-step to their goals. — 2. The Secret to User Addiction: Personalization Great onboarding systems treat users like individuals, not clones. Not everyone needs a basic walkthrough. Some want advanced tools right now. → Take a page from Duolingo: assess skills and tailor lessons. → Or Miro: recommend templates based on user roles. Even CrossFit nails this — personalized welcome sessions create an experience that adapts to user needs. The result? Faster “aha” moments and reduced friction. — 3. Onboarding Is the Key to Unlocking Revenue Growth Onboarding doesn’t just help users succeed; it drives revenue. The trick? Identify the right upgrade moments where users see value and are ready to pay. → Canva introduces Pro features while users wait to download designs. → Triggers like multiple signups from the same company? Perfect for upsell opportunities. Great onboarding creates value, then monetizes it. — 4. Emails: The Untapped Engine Behind Explosive Growth Behavior-driven emails are a game changer. → Example: Phantom Video emails users when they remove the tool during a call. These emails don’t just engage — they build trust and guide users to the next step. The secret is context. → Reach out after users hit errors, milestones, or moments of success. → Focus on high-fit, high-engagement users for value-driven touchpoints. — 5. Mastering Metrics and Leveraging PLG for Seamless Onboarding Metrics drive onboarding success. Track key metrics like time-to-value, activation rates, and drop-off points. But here’s the problem: without clear ownership, teams lose momentum. The solution? Cross-functional alignment. Here’s how to make your onboarding intuitive: → Adopt PLG principles: remove friction and deliver immediate value. → Personalize onboarding to user needs. — Check out the full episode for many more insights: Apple: https://lnkd.in/eX2sWuuH Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eyt7agKj Youtube: https://lnkd.in/eWWqSgzM This will take your onboarding game to the next level.

Sometimes suffering needs a companion, other times it needs a solution. A community can help you get both. Bad puns aside, if you are a D2C brand focusing on niche solutions, you need to build community as a part of your offering. Let me explain why with example of a IVF clinic. We'll call it Beyond The Stork aka BTS. Let's understand the user PoV first! Imagine this - you are one half of a couple who is struggling with infertility issues. It's mentally exhausting, financially draining and definitely doesn't make up for a great tea time conversation. You are visiting doctors, trying all sorts of treatments but it's taking longer than you would want. You feel lonely and helpless and even though your inner circle is empathetic you don't have a support system because they can't relate to you. Cue: A community of people who share your pain, your struggles and have found success through the same doc/clinic/offering as the one you are being recommended now. Would you prefer BTS or rely on the ads that started showing up to you thanks to the non-stop intrusive listening of social media platforms? Quite a picture eh? Let's look at how you can utilise this behavioural insight and create communities with very specific biz objectives, without diluting the humanity of your customers!! 👉 Acquisition - Word of mouth is the most reliable source followed by user generated content (UGC) including reviews, tips and tricks to make the journey more bearable and a general support system who won't judge your users' 3am rant. 👉 Content & information distribution - A community, specially if it's a private kind is a safe space for people to open up and discuss things that matter. It also provides a venue for anyone in a fix trying to navigate the complex journey to parenthood. The same content may be utilized to create awareness on more public platforms across formats such as website articles, podcasts, social posts and success stories. 👉 Product and feature request - Building is hard, getting real insight into user behavior is harder. Communities allow you to get the pulse of users because of the pull mechanism. You can analyse data, understand patterns in the discussions and interactions. An already engaged person will have a higher motivation to share feedback than whatever controlled group study you conduct.While I have taken an example of a fertility clinic, the fundamental idea will apply to everything niche. What do you think? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, I am Nipun - a lifelong community first founder with a successful exit to my name. If you are exploring communities for your app, want to understand the right use case or want to figure out community strategy, slide into my DMs. We can help you integrate social community features in your app in way lesser time than it takes to determine if IVF is a suitable solution for someone or not.

When I was head of growth, our team reached 40% activation rates, and onboarded hundreds of thousands of new users. Without knowing it, we discovered a framework. Here are the 6 steps we followed. 1. Define value: Successful onboarding is typically judged by new user activation rates. But what is activation? The moment users receive value. Reaching it should lead to higher retention & conversion to paid plans. First define it. Then get new users there. 2. Deliver value, quickly Revisit your flow and make sure it gets users to the activation moment fast. Remove unnecessary steps, complexity, and distractions along the way. Not sure how to start? Try reducing time (or steps) to activate by 50%. 3. Motivate users to action: Don't settle for simple. Look for sticking points in the user experience you can solve with microcopy, empty states, tours, email flows, etc. Then remind users what to do next with on-demand checklists, progress bars, & milestone celebrations. 4. Customize the experience: Ditch the one-size fits all approach. Learn about your different use cases. Then, create different product "recipes" to help users achieve their specific goals. 5. Start in the middle: Solve for the biggest user pain points stopping users from starting. Lean on customizable templates and pre-made playbooks to help people go 0-1 faster. 6. Build momentum pre-signup: Create ways for website visitors to start interacting with the product - and building momentum, before they fill out any forms. This means that you'll deliver value sooner, and to more people. Keep it simple. Learn what's valuable to users. Then deliver value on their terms.

A client came to us frustrated. They had thousands of website visitors per day, yet their sales were flat. No matter how much they spent on ads or SEO, the revenue just wasn’t growing. The problem? Traffic isn’t the goal - conversions are. After diving into their analytics, we found several hidden conversion killers: A complicated checkout process – Too many steps and unnecessary fields were causing visitors to abandon their carts. Lack of trust signals – Customer reviews missing on cart page, unclear shipping and return policies, and missing security badges made potential buyers hesitate. Slow site speeds – A few-second delay was enough to make mobile users bounce before even seeing a product page. Weak calls to action – Generic "Buy Now" buttons weren’t compelling enough to drive action. Instead of just driving more traffic, we optimized their Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) strategy: ✔ Simplified the checkout process - fewer clicks, faster transactions. ✔ Improved customer testimonials and trust badges for credibility. ✔ Improved page load speeds, cutting bounce rates by 30%. ✔ Revamped CTAs with urgency and clear value propositions. The result? A 28% increase in sales - without spending a dollar more on traffic. More visitors don’t mean more revenue. Better user experience and conversion-focused strategies do. Does your ecommerce site have a traffic problem - or a conversion problem? #EcommerceGrowth #CRO #DigitalMarketing #ConversionOptimization #WebsiteOptimization #AbsoluteWeb

Telling a compelling story with UX research has nothing to do with flair and everything to do with function, empathy, and influence. One of the most critical yet underappreciated lessons in UX and product work - beautifully articulated in It’s Our Research by Tomer Sharon - is that research doesn’t succeed just because it’s rigorous or well-designed. It succeeds when its insights are heard, understood, remembered, and acted upon. We need to stop treating communication as an afterthought. The way we present research is just as important as the research itself. Storytelling in UX is not decoration - it’s a core deliverable. If your goal is to shape decisions rather than just share findings, the first step is to design your communication with the same care you give your methods. That means understanding the mindset of your stakeholders: what they care about, how they process information, and what pressures they’re facing. Storytelling in this context isn’t about performance - it’s about empathy. The insight must also be portable. It needs to survive the room and be retold accurately across meetings, conversations, and documents. If your findings require lengthy explanations or rely too heavily on charts without clear conclusions, the message will fade. Use strong framing, clear takeaways, and repeatable phrases. Make it memorable. Avoid leading with your process. Stakeholders care far less about your methods than they do about the problems they’re trying to solve. Lead with the tension - what’s broken, what’s at risk, what’s creating friction. Only then show what you learned and what opportunities emerged. Research becomes powerful when it forecasts outcomes, not just reports behaviors. What will it cost the business to ignore this behavior? What might change if we take action? When we can answer these questions, research earns its place at the strategy table. Treat your report like a prototype. Will it be used? Will it help others make decisions? Does it resonate emotionally and strategically? If not, iterate. Use narrative elements, embed user moments, bring in supporting visuals, and structure it in a way that guides action. Finally, stop thinking of the share-out as a one-way street. Facilitate instead of presenting. Invite stakeholders to interpret, ask questions, and explore implications with you. When they co-create meaning, they take ownership-and that leads to real action. Research only creates value when it moves people. Insights are not enough on their own. What matters is the clarity and conviction with which they are communicated.

It will happen slowly, then all of a sudden. Your customers will shift how they search for information about your products. They will use: 1) Decision engines like Google, designed to help them compare products, confirm product details and make purchases. 2) Information engines like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews that feel more like a conversation with a trusted expert or knowledgable friend. Traditional search engines hand you a research project — many pages to sift through to find the information you seek. Generative AI search engines give you direct answers — with a chance of hallucination and inaccuracies. Here's what marketers need to understand: 🔹 Acknowledge the shift: Your customers are learning how/when to use two different types of search engines. There's the traditional "decision engine" like Google, and the "information engine" like chatGPT. 🔹 Accept that humans are lazy: Humans will choose the most convenient option. It’s human nature. Your customers prefer speed and convenience over absolute precision. 🔹 Information queries are moving to AI: When your customers want to learn about their problems, they’ll have conversations with AI instead of reading your blog posts. If your brand isn't appearing in these AI responses, you're becoming invisible to a growing audience. 🔹 Prepare for reduced website traffic: Expect fewer visits from basic informational queries as AI handles these directly. However, the traffic you do receive will be higher-intent visitors, closer to making a decisions, that should convert better. 🔹 Update your content strategy: Create different content for different search engines — intent-targeted informational content for generative AI search, and conversion-focused content for traditional search. 🔹 Build content AI can't summarize: Create interactive content, like calculators and data-driven content that requires user input. This ensures your brand stays visible even as AI handles informational queries. 🔹 Focus on intent, not keywords: The old approach of targeting high-volume keywords is outdated. Instead, understand and align with your customers' search intentions. The key takeaway? Humans are lazy. Your customers will consistently choose the convenience of direct answers from generative AI, even if those answers are sometimes inaccurate. They want to avoid sifting through pages of search results. As marketers, we need to adapt to this new reality. We must create content that caters to both types of searches: (1) content that helps your brand appear in generative AI responses for informational queries and (2) content that attracts and converts for decision searches on traditional search engines. How are you starting to search differently with generative AI?