RealUX for All Things Digital
ZeroDegrees is an agency specializing in user experience strategy, design and development. We have a deep background working with all sizes of companies from small, scrappy startups to Fortune 20 giants. We have strategic partnerships for SEO/SEM, analytics and back-end development to round out the team. If you’re interested in hearing how we can improve your user experience – mobile, web, in store, omni-channel
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Portfolio
Waters, Emerson Ecologics, CVS, Akamai, TripAdvisor, Vistaprint, Collette, Education First, Northeastern University, Blueport, Maxwell Health, Peabody Essex Museum, Natixis
CruiseCritic.com
Complexity, Gone Away
Some users are looking for a review of cabin 8512 on the Carnival Vista. Others have no idea what they want. We built a site to serve them both.
Should I take in European culture or soak in Caribbean rays? Should I go when the kids are on vacation, or when the weather is best? Should I get a nice room on a budget ship, or budget room on a nice ship?And, uh, is it cool to do it on the balcony? (hint: nope)
There are a lot of decisions to make to plan a cruise vacation, and Cruise Critic has more content than anyone to help—articles, expert and user reviews, photos, videos, deck plans, booking, community and more.
Our task was to help put all the pieces together for both an experienced cruiser and a newbie.
The result, an experience that accommodates a multitude of entry points, scenarios and personas—moving users seamlessly through the conversion funnel. Please check out the site at CruiseCritic.com. Better yet, start with Google search like our users do (it does well there, too).
Northeastern - Graduate Studies
No more hard work before classwork
It used to take ten websites to find a grad program. Now students don’t need to think so much.
Professor Plummer in Boston for an Accounting certificate…or, Doctor Scarlette online for a masters in Business Administration? We learned that fitting their life situation is crucial.
We learned that cost is important, but value more so. We learned that faculty members and their research give credibility.
And we learned that no database had all this info.So we built one.Before this project, students didn’t have a clue.
Beginning with in-depth interviews with prospective students, we studied how grad school decisions are made.
The result, a huge success, the site is now the #3 most visited of the university (out of a thousand or so), and mobile traffic especially is up 69%. But most importantly, this foundational project has led to a prolonged partnership with NU. And they just called—actually—to do the next thing.
Northeastern - Graduate Registration
One less test
It’s hard enough these days to get into school. It shouldn’t be to get into class.
We have nothing but respect for the abilities of NU students. But navigating an antiquated system for class registration shouldn’t be a prerequisite to studying here. We established a new platform that empowers students.
We started off with a simple UX idea…What have I taken?
What’s next for me?What are the prerequisites?
What does my schedule look like?…and evolved it to answer deeper questions.
Where did my transfer credits go?How do I substitute a class?
Is my student Visa in good standing?And when exactly do I graduate?
It's a simple idea, but giving students new clarity and control over their classes is making them more successful in their studies.
Vistaprint - Century21 Portal
A Leap Forward
Vistaprint has a long heritage of success and innovation. But sometimes you have to clear a path by starting from scratch.
Emelia starts her first job.
Congrats Emelia!
Penny invites her to the company portal to order business cards.
Emelia logs in…
…finds a nice 2-sided template, all black
…fills in her info til it looks right
…sends for approval
Penny
…gets notified
…views the proofs and costs
…approves
Emelia gets her cards. So proud! So easy.
This story couldn't be told on Vistaprint's old corporate solutions platform, so we helped establish a new one.
The results, a modern, compelling and intuitive commerce experience that is scaling seamlessly as we speak.
Blueport Commerce Checkout Process
The Future is Small
For purchases the size of a truck, we helped create a shopping experience that fits in your pocket.
Becca and her husband are looking to furnish their first home. So exciting. So much to buy!
Thankfully these days, she can do it all right from her phone.
Like buying an 8-piece sectional, with the protection plan—of course—cause of the boys, scheduling delivery for next Saturday, paying half with PayPal, financing the rest, and using a promo code for a free floor lamp.
Oh, the lamp ships separately, by UPS, no rush.
We worked with Blueport to design and test this feature-rich cart and checkout process. These days the question isn’t what users will do with touch screens, but how can we optimize every piece of the experience to make it easy for them.
York Personas
Bringing segments to life
What do you see when you look at a wall? If you said, 'a wall,' then you must not be a York persona. Because they see a canvas, a challenge, an expression of personal style.
How do we know that? Because we spent dozens of hours diving into their heads through virtual ethnographies and large sample quant work.
Going in, York's goals were to:
- Identify key segment types and their purchase drivers
- Understand the customer journey including triggers, actions and emotions
- Develop better-informed market strategies for each segment
- Gain deeper understanding of the risks associated with how to sell designer products online
From the initial workshop, it was clear that there was no shortage of hypotheses about types of customers. York wanted to pressure test those assumptions with a rigorous and scientific research approach. Most importantly, they needed actionable personas that had both substance and style...kinda like their customers.
Interior designers and consumers brought us into their workspaces and homes through webcams. We saw samples and tip sheets and sites they shop. We listened and watched and asked. And then, when the dust settled, we had personas.
But we didn't stop there. To validate the patterns and size the groups, we ran a large quantitative study. We asked them about attitudes and aptitudes.Then we had slightly different personas.
But we didn't stop there. We took the York style guide and mashed it up with the research outputs. What came out was persona designs that met the high bar of style around the York offices.
Now they are looking for that perfect wall to hang them on.
The result, frame-worthy artifacts that are as rigorously researched as they are beautiful.
Reviews
the project
Heuristic Review & Best Practices Audit for Bank
"They have a lot of experience inside and outside our industry, and they brought a fresh take and perspective."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am a VP in our eCommerce department at the bank. I am responsible for oversight of our website, online account opening, online and mobile banking strategy, and some digital marketing efforts and analytics.
For what projects/services did your company hire ZeroDegrees Inc.?
Conducted a heuristic review of our website as well as a general review of our mobile app to support the goal of optimizing key customer journeys. We also had them research and review best practices from other websites and apps to help inform the final recommendations.
What were your goals for this project?
Optimize the user experience for the website and the mobile app and create a source of best practices to refer back to as we move forward with implementing improvements.
How did you select this vendor?
I had done some work with one of the founders in the past when we were both at different companies and we reconnected. He explained what ZeroDegrees did and I brought them in to meet the rest of the team. As with anything, these things take time but they were a natural fit for our team to do a fresh engagement.
Describe the project in detail.
The general process was as follows: ZeroDegrees and Salem Five conducted a workshop to review the website and mobile app and define key personas and scenarios that would inform customer journeys.
ZeroDegrees then conducted a heuristic review of both the site and mobile app, as well as performed a best practices audit both within and outside of the financial industry.
The observations and recommendations from both exercises were then pulled together into a readout document that was presented to Salem Five, along with sketches to illustrate potential solutions. Solutions and fixes were also categorized into immediate-, short-, and medium-term for the Salem Five team.
What was the team composition?
The team consisted of a UX Design Lead, a Strategy & Research Lead, and an Associate Director of Project Engagement.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
It was great working with ZeroDegrees. They were highly efficient and always available. They didn't go into a black hole while conducting their work and were open to additional details and input even when they had completed most of their work.
They provided something like a 100+ page deck with many specific recommendations that we could actually act upon. The team at the bank really got along with them and in fact, we said in a meeting the other day about a decision we had to make "What would ZeroDegrees say to do?"
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
The ZeroDegrees and Salem Five teams worked easily and efficiently together. The ZD project engagement manager was able to propel the project forward without any major hurdles with the help of the project lead at Salem Five. The project stayed within budget and was delivered on time, resulting in a favorable outcome for both parties.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
You work with the top-tier talent, not entry-level staffers. No A team for the pitch and then handed off to another group of not as experienced professionals. They have a lot of experience inside and outside our industry, and they brought a fresh take and perspective to the project and thought process.
Are there any areas for improvement?
As with any agency, it would be nice to be able to tap into top talent for very small questions/engagements but it is often difficult to do as either a retainer or SOW is usually needed. With a small agency like ZeroDegrees, I would have appreciated this type of arrangement if possible.
the project
UX Advisory & User Testing for Retail Company
"They were proactive in asking where we needed more help, and willing to pitch in above and beyond..."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
We provide an online retail solution tailored for the furniture vertical at the enterprise level. I am President & CTO.
For what projects/services did your company hire ZeroDegrees Inc.?
We hired ZD to provide UX design advisory as well as user testing of a prototyped solution.
What were your goals for this project?
A better user experience for the checkout process.
How did you select this vendor?
We had contacts at ZeroDegrees that we'd kept up with over several years. When a suitable project came along, they were able to demonstrate the right skill set at the right price, while meeting our urgency requirements. It was an easy decision and avoided a time-consuming competitive bid process.
Describe the project in detail.
The general process was as follows: ZeroDegrees provided input to the Blueport UX design process for redesigning the checkout process, including brainstorming, reviewing designs created by the Blueport UX team, and sketching.
ZeroDegrees also provided Axure guidance as needed. Once the checkout process prototype was in a good place, ZeroDegrees managed user testing of the prototype, including recruiting, screening and scheduling participants for the sessions. They then conducted 10 one-on-one interview sessions and evaluated the findings from the testing and compiled a readout for Blueport.
What was the team composition?
The ZeroDegrees team consisted of a experience strategist, lead UX designer and a project manager. On the Blueport side, we contributed two UX professionals and I acted as executive sponsor.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
This project was the precursor to the perhaps the most important and ambitious technology re-architecture project the company has ever undertaken.
These projects are hard to estimate, hard to execute and can lead to spectacular failure if dates are missed and clients start adjusting priorities. It was critical to get the UX right from the start and ensure that we had universal buy-in on requirements that wouldn't become a moving target.
By focusing on a prototype that was backed by user testing data, we've been able to not only get comprehensive client approvals on UX, we've been able to keep those requirements fixed and keep our development team moving forward. The overall rearchitecture project is about to launch as a result.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
The project involved a collaboration between our internal UX team and ZeroDegrees on the prototype development, where our team took the lead and ZeroDegrees provided expert support. These roles reversed for the user testing phase. Project management was simple, collaborative and very effective.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
ZeroDegrees was very committed to the success of the project. They were proactive in asking where we needed more help, and willing to pitch in above and beyond while remaining very flexible on timing.
It felt like our priorities were their priorities exactly. This made the project seem straightforward and easy, as we were all able to focus on executing with the same goals.
Are there any areas for improvement?
Things can always be improved, but nothing stands out on this project as an obvious gap.
the project
Technology Discovery for IT Consulting Company
"They truly come to the table with unbiased solutions."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am a marketing consultant that Mosquito Shield has employed as their acting CMO. Mosquito Shield has well over 40 franchise locations, nationally. I strategize annual marketing plans and help deploy them.
For what projects/services did your company hire ZeroDegrees Inc.?
We hired Zero Degrees to review all the software platforms we were using and help us integrate them better into our website so we have a better, more singular source of data and can better automate marketing programs to our leads and customers.
What were your goals for this project?
We wanted a highly connected marketing stack solution that would allow us to better automate marketing programs. Since we use a very industry-specific SAS, it was important to find a CRM solution that would be highly effective with the least amount of custom-api building.
How did you select this vendor?
I've worked with Zero Degrees on smaller, past projects. I felt from their reputation of being technology agnostic and smart solution builders, they were the right choice for this task.
Describe the project in detail.
We have multiple technology platforms; website CMS, business operations SAS, call center software, etc. None of these, due to the nature of our operations SAS being speciality to the industry were connected and API builds were always tens of thousands of dollars.
We wanted Zero to dig in, review all platforms with a critical eye and tell us what we needed to keep, what we could get rid of and how we could connect everything with a relative ease, avoiding custom apis as much as possible so we weren't ever married to one particular solution.
Also, our website was at a critical juncture of needing a massive update and they helped us address what needed to be done to make the load times and conversions FAR BETTER.
What was the team composition?
On the Mosquito Shield side, we had a team of Director of Marketing, Director of Sales and a Franchise Owner that is a highly ranked CIO with the government to determine our Business Objectives.
On the Zero Degrees side, we met with a tech solution architect, a UX/UI director, and a technical project manager. They reached out to our various tech solution contacts to get smart on what they do and how they contribute to our Business Objectives.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Within 2 months, we had a very detailed recommendation on what tech to use, with all the comparisons in the industry in a very unbiased discovery document that we could bring to any other shop to build if we so chose.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
I really loved their communication style. If they needed more information on something, they set up a call. They documented everything, calls, emails etc. It gave me the confidence to answer any questions or objections to the solution they recommended because they were so thorough.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
They truly come to the table with unbiased solutions. I've worked in the web design world and most will sell what they are comfortable with using or who they have coding is the platform they sell. It's refreshing to have a true strategy shop pull together the right solution for the right reasons.
Are there any areas for improvement?
They are an intelligent group of people. Sometimes the vernacular in their documents need dumbing down for the folks that don't have technical knowledge. If I were to advise on anything, I would recommend more simple-speak.
At the end of the assessment, ZeroDegrees Inc. presented a comprehensive deck with specific, actionable recommendations. They worked easily with the internal team, enabling them to think critically about how to optimize their customer journeys. All team members were experienced senior talent.