Supporting Business Owners through the County Website

with Montgomery County Business Center Team

PARTNER
Montgomery County Business Center Team

SECTOR
Economic Development

SKILLS UTILIZED
User research
UX/UI
Prototyping
Project management

THE CHALLENGE

Small businesses are known to have a high probability of closing within the first 5 years and more than 95% of business located in Montgomery County, MD can be considered small businesses.

County leadership wanted to find a way to improve its support of small businesses in the County and they reached out to us to help them do that.

PROCESS

Heard Directly from Business Owners

County leadership wanted to hear directly from business owners. We started our research by engaging leaders from chambers of commerce to get their perspective and to ask them to find business owners who would speak to us. In addition, I spent a couple weeks roaming various parts of the County, walking into businesses and asking to speak to business owners. After reviewing past research and listening to more than 40 business owners, we aligned on three pressing needs that business owners had of their County government:

Step-by-step instructions on County requirements & processes
Better access to resources (funding & connections)
An easy way to reach someone in the County who can help

My values in action: Lived experience is expertise.

Created Prototypes

In conjunction with County leadership and the director of the County’s Business Center Team, we determined that the most immediate and impactful improvement we could make was to redesign the County’s business website. The website had been built with minimal resources and it was difficult to navigate and understand.

While the website redesign team was being assembled, I built an interactive website prototype (only 4 webpages) in Figma to test some of my assumptions about what business owners would consider an improved website. I went back to some business owners and asked them to do a simple card sorting activity and share their thoughts while testing website prototype. They provided valuable insight into how they organized information and what they needed the County’s business website to have and do.

My values in action: Make to learn.

Built the Website

The website redesign team consisted of 2 business experts from the Business Center Team, 1 UX designer/web developer, and me. I led the project as the project manager and lead UX/UI designer. We started by aligning on a timeline of pages we’d update, including periodic pauses to get feedback on our pages from business owners. I created a few different page layouts and we aligned on one. Then the Business Center staff started cranking out webpage content. I led a weekly meeting with the whole team as a space to ask questions and make decisions on the pages assigned for that week.

After 7 months of intensive collaboration, we launched a beta version of the website alongside the old website. A banner at the top of the old website invited visitors to explore our new website. We also included a feedback form at the bottom of each new webpage to get feedback on specific pages. Once my role ended, the Business Center Team and the UX designer/web developer continued their collaboration to maintain and update pages with new content.

My values in action: Build ownership in others.

OUTCOME

A Better Resource

In addition to an updated, more modern look, the County’s new business website delivers on all 3 needs we heard directly from business owners.

All sequential processes have step-by-step instructions, especially the guide to starting a business.
Licenses/permits and funding opportunities are listed in a searchable way that is more organized than before, including their related departments or organizations.
A contact form has been added and the multiple points of contact have been removed. In the first month, 63 contact form submissions were received, validating that website visitors want to reach someone who can help them. Call outs to the contact page are also strategically placed on every webpage.

See the before-and-after of the website below: