W+M Recommendations

Corporate Work @ GoDaddy

Overview

W + M, Website + Marketing is our website-building tool that helps small business owners create their online presence. I created a strategy and revamped over 70 recommendations on the user dashboard to make them more personalized and engaging. The first recommendation launch resulted in a 7% boost in user engagement, giving the team confidence to roll out the full redesign.

MY ROLE

Lead Designer, Researcher

COLLABORATION

Product Manager, Content Designer

CONTEXT / EXISTING EXPERIENCE

W+M guides small business owners through tailored recommendations

Small business owners juggle multiple responsibilities. Our product supports them by providing research-backed recommendations—actionable steps proven to drive business success.

CONTEXT / PROBLEM

Users are not engaging with recommendation content

Currently, despite placing recommendations in highly visible areas, they receive minimal user interaction.

PROBLEM / STATEMENT

RESEARCH / CARD SORTING

Uncovering business owners’ diverse priorities based on their business stage

To identify the most relevant recommendations for users, I conducted a card-sorting study with 10 participants. The findings revealed that business needs vary significantly:

New businesses prioritize foundational tasks like setting up a business email.
Established businesses focus on expanding through new sales channels.

RESEARCH / AUDIT

Inconsistent recommendation design across the system

Recommendations appear across various touch points—from the dashboard to individual pages—yet lack visual consistency in layout, imagery, and illustration styles.

DESIGN / GOALS

Creating a tailored, unified, and digestible recommendation system

DESIGN / PERSONALIZATION

Using a question card to tailor recommendations based on business stage

Recognizing that business stage is a key factor in determining relevant actions, I designed a question card for first-time users to provide input for personalized recommendations. This format can also extend to factors like business category and location.

DESIGN / ANATOMY

Standardizing the structure of recommendation cards

I defined a consistent card structure, incorporating tags for categorization to improve clarity and organization.

DESIGN / VARIATION

Flexible recommendation formats to meet different needs

To accommodate various use cases, I designed multiple card formats, including:

Simplified cards – No descriptions or illustrations for quick actions.
Insights cards – Focused on business metrics.
Enhanced cards – Visually prominent to highlight key actions.
Carousel cards – Scrollable to showcase multiple items.

DESIGN / ILLUSTRATION

Establishing illustration guidelines for visual consistency

I refined the illustration style to ensure uniformity, readability, and seamless integration with the surrounding interface.

THE SOLUTION

A tailored, unified, and digestible recommendation system

Learning a user’s business stage through a question card

The distinctive design, elevation, and animation of the question card make it stand out, encouraging engagement. Users can also dismiss it to receive default recommendations instead.