Exploring and Reimagining Cross Product Connections at GoDaddy
During summer 2023, I worked as a UX Design intern at GoDaddy and led a cross-product UX optimization project to streamline user navigation and improve product consistency. Through testing, user journey mapping, and data-driven design recommendations, I identified and solved key pain points, enhancing the overall user experience and laying the groundwork for future product alignment.
Timeframe
May - Aug 2023 (12 weeks)
UX Design Internship at GoDaddy
Skills
Information Architecture, Product Audit, Agile, A/B Testing, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Storytelling
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Jira, Confluence, Loom, Trello, Google AdSense, FullStory, UserTesting
Note: My work removed confusion about the navigation complexities for domain products, and identified opportunities for designers and developers. It laid the foundation of 2023 Q3 Northstar company initiative. Some details are omitted due to NDA.
Think about this scenario…
This is Harry Potter’s first time going to school, and Harry needs to find his way to Platform 9¾. However, he does not know the exact directions. Think about the feelings he might have: probably frustrated or confused?
You might never need to go through platform 9 and 3 quarters like Harry, but you probably have been on poorly connected subways at some point. And if so, you might remember going through some extra routes, doing 2 or 3 transfers, and trying to figure out the pricing direction of the train, before tracing your route or even reaching your destination.
GoDaddy encounters similar problems…
As the world's largest domain registrar, GoDaddy owns multiple product surfaces relevant to domains. However, there were a lot of inconsistencies across surfaces, making it difficult for users to navigate and find essential features. This can lead to user churning and turning to other platforms for similar services.
Business Goal: Prevent User Confusion & Churning
We want to drive domains experience consistency across surfaces, so that the users are less likely to feel frustrated or confused as they navigate through our products. Standardizing the domains experience is an opportunity for GoDaddy to boost customer retention and satisfaction, thus increasing revenue.
This standardization effort also helps all teams become more efficient: Product teams get clear patterns to follow, Support handles fewer confused-user tickets, Sales has an easier product to sell, Design works from unified standards, and Engineering maintains a more consistent codebase. The end result is less time spent dealing with inconsistency-related issues and more time on actual innovation and improvements.
Key Question:
How might we drive the domains experience consistency across different product surfaces at GoDaddy?
Limited Product Understanding
In today's "test more and fail fast" product development culture, many design details were embedded in the code without clear documentation, making it hard for team members to grasp the overall user experience.
No Clear Ownership of Some Product and Use Cases
With numerous teams and products, a lack of clear ownership also creates a cascade of inefficiencies: Teams end up in endless discussion cycles without decisive direction, leading to diluted communication and stalled progress. Without a clear product vision or dedicated ownership, different groups make independent decisions that may conflict or overlap, wasting both time and resources. Most critically, this fragmented approach often results in building features that don't actually solve real user needs, since no single owner is deeply connected to and advocating for the customer perspective. Teams essentially build in a vacuum, disconnected from clear user outcomes or strategic direction.
Product Testing
I thoroughly tested the products, considering various scenarios to understand potential user challenges. Meanwhile, I communicated with all the members on my team to further understand our users and products.
Mapping User Journeys
I created detailed maps of how users interacted with different products, highlighting areas where they might encounter difficulties.
Pinpointing the Inconsistencies
In need of more segmented domain management
Users struggled to manage their domains efficiently.
This is a high-level map of how users can manage their domains. There is no direct path from Commerce Home and Venture Home Dashboard to Domain Portfolio or Domain Overview (takes at least 4 clicks to navigate), causing user confusion and frustration.
How might we give users a streamlined path to easily manage their domains?
Add segmented domain management features on Venture Home Dashboard and Commerce Home, allowing users to navigate to domain management with one click.
In need of smoother transitions
Switching between different services was often confusing.
An example of where we can improve: on these 6 key screens, the global navigation bars appear differently in different locations of the screen, causing confusion.
How might we give users more confidence navigating through our products?
Standardizing our general navigation bars to create a more consistent experience
Informing the user as they transition from one platform to another to minimize confusion
Adding the platform name to the left bar consistently across products
In need of more guidance
Users needed more help to navigate complex features.
Directional tactile paving in subways can provide a sense of direction for people who are visually impaired and those who are otherwise distracted. To build a sense of easy navigation in the complex architecture, we want to provide the "directile tactile paving" for our users with different expertise.
How might we give the user a sense of easy navigation in a complex architecture?
Reviewing earlier cross-product research on the subject to build on prior knowledge
Monitoring user recordings and quantitative user drop on the funnel to determine priorities
Conducting more experimentation to try different combination of cross-product connections
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Team-Specific Workshops
I documented my questions and comments about the product surfaces, and mapped the insights into different themes and translated them into actions.
Then I met with fellow designers, product managers, and engineers at that team to propose the design recommendations and gauge their feasibility.
Align Our Vision Across Teams
Building on earlier effort, I also conducted a workshop with 3 product design teams to align our vision on understanding the navigational complexities across surfaces, while brainstorming opportunities to tackle the inconsistencies.
Through the workshop, I also call for teams to continue working on understanding and documenting the overlapping areas across product surfaces. As we identify opportunities, we also hope to involve different teams together to align our vision, propose action items, and implement an iterative collaboration cycle.
Create Accessible and Scalable Documentations
I documented my cross product exploration effort on Figma, Confluence, and Loom. Throughout the process, I made sure to double check with designers (my documentation users) to see if my storytelling/my way of presenting the information is clear. I ended up creating artifacts with varying levels of detail to cater to different users.
I presented my work with the team and the Design VP. My work was also featured in the internal team newsletter and shared with all the designers at GoDaddy.
My work removed confusion about the navigation complexities for domain products, and identified opportunities for designers and developers. It was the precursor of the 2023 Q3 Northstar company initiative.
Rahul Rahate
Director of User Experience, GoDaddy
“From day one, Ariana immersed herself in her assignment objectives and quickly grasped the intricacies of the different products in the teams space. She exhibited a strong work ethic, consistently delivering high-quality designs and going above and beyond. Her ability to learn quickly and adapt to new challenges was truly impressive.
She seamlessly integrated with our team, actively participating in the team process. Her proactive approach not only facilitated seamless collaboration but also showcased her commitment to continuous improvement and growth.
I have no doubt that Ariana will excel in her future endeavors, and I wholeheartedly recommend her to any organization seeking a talented and driven individual.”
Fernanda Martinez
Senior Product Designer, GoDaddy
“Ariana is a quick learner and a problem solver, from the beginning of her internship went full hands on committed to the project and the team goals. With minimal direction, she was able to take on complex tasks. She did exceptionally well in getting to the root of the problem and presented actionable insights. I can only wait to see all the amazing things she'll build in the future.”
Reflections
Product Thinking
Creating and iterating on the documentations was a great practice of product thinking: I need to look at the big picture that the product is in, and always keep in mind the customer goals, business goals, and development feasibility and bandwidth in mind. In other words, for whatever I make, I need to consider its users and make sure that it is easily accessible for them.
Fostering Collaboration
I initiated collaboration with 3 product design teams, facilitating discussions on creating a more consistent experience across products. Through meeting with cross-functional partners, I got exposure to different team’s work styles and gained a deeper understanding of how designers could better communicate with them.
Documenting the Information Architecture
Because the domains products have a high level of complexity, and the teams are moving in the Agile setting, it is important to document them so that we can have a clear baseline of what we have and see the areas that need potential experimentation or updates. As I was documenting and creating the artifacts, I abstracted user flows from the products and create flows with varying levels of details to cater to different stakeholders' needs. These flows have been particularly effective in presenting the inconsistencies across products and the edge cases that need more consideration.
Immersing Myself in the Agile Setting
Actively participated in weekly standups, retros, and plannings in the Agile environment
Facilitated a feedback meeting for internal design critiques
Tracked progress and workload via Jira
Supporting Other Designers' Work
Examined experimentation data and conducted A/B testing for ad monetization.
Supported a Lead UX Designer in their documentation of design components.
Worked on the empty states feature and participated in the end-to-end design process.
Intern Events
Attended the intern events, participated in a 1-day hackathon, and made new friends!
