Optimizing a Non-Profit to Make Data-Driven Decisions
Web Design
Web Development
Branding
Tech Management
The Challenge
POWAN approached us to create a minimum viable product (MVP) that is to be scaled into a full membership platform. While POWAN was growing, they were not growing at the speed at which they wanted. They did not have an existing membership platform through which they could effectively gather feedback from their clients i.e. volunteers/tutors and students. Their existing website was not initially built with user experience in mind, making it difficult for stakeholders to understand their value propositions and opportunities available. The lack of a clear brand, the team’s limited design, and technical expertise all posed challenges to POWAN’s online presence as well as their ability to track and collect data to understand their market.
The Results
Our team redesigned a website with automated backend systems that took key stakeholders’ (volunteers/tutors and students) user experience (UX) into consideration. This allowed students and tutors to join the platform, schedule, and register more intuitively. After having their tutoring sessions, students were also prompted to leave feedback – this feature will help POWAN in understanding the students’ experiences better, and from there improve their platform based on concrete data. Additionally, we worked with POWAN to develop a consistent color palette/branding style and messaging so that POWAN’s impact and potential can be clearly articulated to investors. Further, they were given business strategies that gave them the understanding to establish their non-profit and continuously scale.
“It was great working with Free Logic. They shared all the possible ways to integrate all the functionalities we wanted. Their insights and input helped us make the user journey easier for our students. We greatly appreciate their work on our website! Val and Heidi were great to work with and really helped portray our mission and values clearly into our website. Their combination of business marketing knowledge and technical expertise has launched our nonprofit to the next level! We gained business knowledge as an early stage nonprofit and truly learned a lot from them –in addition to building a really cool website alongside them. Greatly appreciate their hard work and dedication to helping our nonprofit!”
Ankita Ahluwalia
Founder, Tutor, Executive Director of the POWAN Initiative
Our Approach
In order to take POWAN to the next level, we had to focus on functionality and growth. We worked with the team to design branding guidelines and create off site processes, taking into account user experience and customer journey. We built out ways to establish credibility on the website, as well as front and back end functionalities that would streamline the processes for internal users as well as website visitors. We then recommended automated ways for students to schedule and provide feedback that didn’t rely heavily on the involvement of the team.
Through our implementation of email journey automation setups as well as Google Analytics tracking, POWAN was able to gather pivotal data tracking metrics to direct their business approach for their platform. Lastly, we built the platform out to be able to be monetized in the future. That way it would not need to be changed if they decided later on to begin charging people for services.
The Fundamentals of POWAN’S Online Transformation
- Establish a consistent branding with clear articulation of value propositions, especially for an early stage organization to establish credibility and achieve growth.
- Bearing scalability in mind for decisions being made in the areas of business strategy, technical systems, and process automation.
- Create a minimum viable product (MVP) for the membership platform to gather concrete user feedback and data before reiterating throughout the product development cycle.
Creating An Identifiable Brand Persona That Will Resonate With Customers
Our first order of business was to create an identifiable brand for POWAN that would resonate with clients. In order to better understand their target audience, we conducted market research and gained insights about what their clients seek and are attracted to. This new information armed us with what was needed to form a brand that both resembles what POWAN is as well as what their clients need. We also helped them articulate their value propositions by working with the team to establish their brand values, mission, and passions. Through collaboration with POWAN, we created a consistent brand that was needed for them to build credibility. This recognition was what they lacked before. Through this new brand, they were able to express what they have worked so hard to build.
We Handle The Technical Work For You So You Don't Have To
Next on our list was addressing the internal production issues that were preventing them from being able to scale and grow. Their time consuming, manual processes and lack of concrete data of the platform’s functionality needs and of business strategy direction were the root causes. In order to combat this, we automated processes and simplified everything so that the team’s time and efforts could be used in more important areas. We helped create a MVP that would assist in creating a fully functioning platform. We also provided business insights for them to form a more structured approach to their business to continue to expand.
Don't Make Assumptions
The last issue to tackle was gathering data about their current and potential clients. This is vital to growing any business. They were guessing what their clients needed and selecting things by personal preference, but had no actual understanding of their clients needs and issues. Our team provided guidance on how to gather relevant feedback and data on their customers needs and wants so that moving forward, user experience was taken into consideration every step of the way.
Scope of Work
Website
Full-Service Website Development
Wireframes & High-Fidelity Mockups
UX/UI Design
Web Analytics
Data Analytics & Tracking
SEO Architecture
Branding
Visual Identity
Brand Style Guide
Brand Articulation
Strategy
Stakeholder Interviews
Competitive Analysis
Research
End-User Testing
Marketing Automation
Technical Management
Backend Functionality
Membership Setup
Email Automations
