Website tracking
Problem to solve: Help marketers adopt the features offered by our website tracking pixel
Time to completion: 4 months from research to implementation
Format: responsive web
My role: sole designer
Result: shipped, resulting in a 46% adoption lift over four months
The problem to solve
LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager app had three features reliant on its website tracking pixel: Conversion tracking, Website retargeting, and Website Demographics.
Adoption of these features was low because users were unclear about their value and frustrated with the disconnected adoption flows. Instead of accessing all website tracking after adopting the pixel once, users had to navigate different flows for each feature.
I proposed a unified flow that allowed users to adopt the tracking pixel consistently from any entry point. This streamlined approach aimed to simplify the user experience and enhance feature adoption.
Recognizing the potential for cost savings and improved performance, product management leadership quickly agreed to fund the design work for the following quarter.
Existing user flow: Three features that are closely related have very different adoption and management flows.
My Proposed improvement: the three features now share a single adoption and management flow.
UX Workshop
Once the design work was funded, I organized a UX workshop with 10 cross-functional team members.
We created visual hero flows, crafting ideal user experiences documented on whiteboards. I consolidated these into a user flow diagram, aligning the team and enabling engineering to begin work on technical requirements.
Workshop participants from all functional areas created multiple proposed user hero flows to account for different user needs.
Multiple hero flows from our UX workshop were then combined into one, making it our first design deliverable for the project.
Design: from user stories to screens
Using the diagrams and stories, I created wireframes to propose initial screen designs.
The primary purpose of these wireframes was to visually represent the team's earlier design agreements.
Story 1: Adopting via feature landing pages
As a user logged into Campaign Manager, I need a way to set up my tracking pixels and adopt related features before setting up a campaign.
I want to create website audiences and conversions without being blocked by the status of the tracking pixel. Once my pixel is set up, I want to monitor its status.
When I'm ready to set up the pixel, I want options to either set it up myself, send it to a developer, or see what tag managers are available to me.
If I have an existing pixel but want to use a new one, I want the ability to delete the one already attached to my account.
Story 2: Adopting via campaign creation
As a user, I need a way to adopt website-related features while setting up a campaign.
I want to create audiences and conversions without being blocked by the status of the tracking pixel. If my pixel is working, I should be able to see the status of each asset attached to it.
If I have never set up my pixel, or if it is set up but not sending a signal, I want to create my audiences and conversions without leaving the campaign creation process.
When I'm saving my campaign, I should be reminded of the pixel's status in case I need to take further action to activate it.
User Testing
Wireframes evolved into screens and prototypes for user testing. I wrote a research plan and conducted interviews with ten marketers that had experience in conversion tracking.
Using the RITE method, I made iterative design changes throughout testing. After two days and ten interviews, we were confident in the user experience.
Final designs
Adopting web tracking services from the entity pages
In this page, users can set up their tracking pixel on a dedicated page before creating a campaign. Our research found that this flow aligns with the natural workflow most marketers follow.
After the user successfully installs the tracking pixel, the entity page will start populating with data, displaying its location and signal health status.
When a user views the actual pixel, they are presented with three installation options, designed to match the workflows of the customers we spoke to.
Smaller teams typically want to see the pixel and usually have access to the website, allowing them to install the code themselves.
Larger teams often have a dedicated developer team that prefers to manage the code in their preferred environment. For these teams, we offer an email handoff option.
Tracking-savvy teams managing multiple pixels will want to use a tag manager. For these teams, we offer a variety of how-to articles to help them set up a robust solution tailored to their needs.
Adopting web tracking services from the campaign creation pages
Conversion tracking requires a functional tracking pixel. If a user wants to add conversion tracking while creating a campaign, the design provided a way to do that without a tracking pixel in place. The campaign is saved for future use once the tracking pixel is operational.
After creating their conversions, users can view them in a compact inline table that also displays the status of the tracking pixel.
If users create and save their campaign without a working tracking pixel, the design notifies them of outstanding tasks when they save their campaign.
Once the tracking pixel is operational, campaigns using it will launch. Live conversions will also be available within the campaign creation process, with a signal status display that mirrors the tracking pixel entity page.
The build
I pitched the design to engineering as part of a large code migration project. I could show that the changes were mostly on the front-end, and that helped to get the project funded. In total, three engineering teams built out the experience.
Learnings
This project taught me that a designer is well-positioned to create product requirements from designs, rather than wait for PM to do it.
A collaborative approach can energize your cross-functional partners. We had a record number of team members attend user interviews, take notes and ask questions.
Design-led projects can achieve remarkable results. After shipping, we saw an increase in adoption of Conversion Tracking by 46% in four months, doubling by year’s end. I received a peer and partner-led award for this project, and it was featured as a success model in our VP’s newsletter. 🚀
Thoughts on this project from product leadership
“What caused Conversion Tracking adoption to increase by 46% in four months?
We often find great examples that showcase how simplifying the customer experience can drive step-function improvements in performance and customer value. This is one of those examples.
Conversion Tracking adoption increased from 15% to 22% in just four months after we simplified the conversion tracking flow. The redesigned flow saves advertisers clicks, keeps them in the same workflow without pop-ups and redirects, and delivers more actionable info in better organized format.
This improvement is critical. When customers are able to measure their performance, they are more likely to come back and spend even more.”
— Tomer Cohen, Chief Product Officer @ LinkedIn