Data Heavy Users need
Advanced Search
PROBLEM
When scanning through hundreds of Invoices, Owners know exactly what they are looking for when they need to complete a task. FreshBooks’ Data Heaviest customers were having trouble finding exactly what they were looking for, and the existing Keyword search was not cutting it. More and more customers had a need for a multi-parameter search when the existing search didn’t offer that.
WHAT CAN I SEARCH BY?
We observed that owners were unclear how they might search all the different parameters available even though the existing keyword search allowed for that.
THE NEED FOR MULTI-PARAMETER SEARCH
We observed that when owners were looking for something specific, they needed more ways to narrow it down. Instead of just searching one thing in keyword search, they needed more, usually a client, an invoice status and a date range would help them get what they needed.
“How can I search for a paid invoice, in this date range for a particular client?”
—Customer
OUR OBJECTIVE
How might we enable customers to find exactly what they’re looking for as quickly and easily as possible — so that they can move through their Invoice management
with ease.
Getting it wrong first, helped us get it right.
Test. Iterate. Repeat. It took us a couple iterations before we got this right. We failed some user tests with very clear success criteria. We simplified it as much as we could, and we actually learned, that by oversimplifying it for the advanced folks and overcomplicating it for the regular folks, we were making the experience less usable for both. We needed two distinctly different experiences.
The Solution
In the end building two distinct experiences for two very different types of users was the best path forward. We had to find a way to build on the existing platform without adding complexity for the users that relied on and used regular keyword search with no issues. We went with an advanced search that allowed multi parameter searches, using quantitative data to guide us to the most common search queries.
A new pattern that can be applied across the rest of the app.
By Getting it right, we created a scalable pattern.
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OUTCOMES:
Significant drop in support caseload related to search needs, Google heart analytics showed a high google heart score, with engagement and adoption and task success. We also saw a lot of happy tweets from users that were stoked.