It was clear that the content and UX strategies employed over the years were lacking careful consideration. This stemmed largely from a previous lack of any real UX influence or expertise. With new disciplines in the organization we were able to advocate for some better and real insights. A focus on user testing was therefore integral for the discovery work of this huge initiative.

However, internal relationship managers, employer admins, and our supported advisor network meant reaching end users/members was particularly difficult. These connections were clutched very tightly, and instead we needed to rely on these middle layers to relay user insights and desires in place of direct interviews.

Given the influence that the company had across Canada and the spread of user types, UX found value harnessing online testing tools for gen-pop input through Userzoom/Usertesting.com. This included my help in the first true card sorting exercises for Great-West Life to kickstart months of work for the new complex information architecture. Careful pruning and grafting, business reviews, and revisions with over a dozen stakeholders tamed hundreds of pages and the IA was finally decided upon.

After some low-fidelity wireframes were constructed there were also several rounds of user interviews to capture further comments. I was one of only two designers trusted by UXR with a licensed seat so I built various prototypes and authored the usability testing parameters in our online testing tools myself. Later moderated tests also helped to get some invaluable qualitative feedback about the direction the team was heading with product page layouts, way-finding, and navigation habits.