Work
Improving the consumers’ search experience on Lawyers.com.
In this project, I redesigned the search result page of Lawyers.com including to improve the lawyers/law firm listings and overall information hierarchy. The goal of this redesign was to increase the product value for our paying subscribers and advertisers, grow consumer traffic and engagement, and incorporate SEO recommendations for better page performance and ranking.
I led a cross-functional effort to redesign these pages, applying a data-driven strategy to address these pain points. This initiative resulted in a 31.3% increase in clicks to all attorney/law firm profiles within one month and a 21.99% rise in page sessions.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Timeline
4 months | Launched Oct 2024
Team
Product Designer (Myself), Product Manager, Multiple Developers
What did I do?
Create research plan, compile research analysis, create prototypes and hi-fidelity mockups for stakeholder review
Before
After
PROBLEM
Scrolling through attorney listings on the page was overwhelming for our users to concentrate on finding a lawyer.
The page needed improvement on information hierarchy. The page was looked overwhelming with ads on the right rail and disorganized content on the page leading to users were having trouble focusing on their goal for this page: Finding an attorney that matches their needs and interest.
What are our main challenges with this redesign?
🤦♀️
Cluttered Interface
Consumers on our site are overwhelmed by the site’s poor information hierarchy, resulting in page drop offs due to frustration.
⛔️
Poor Wayfinding
Consumers who are searching on our site are having a difficult time sorting through their options. Factors affecting this are a poor search/filtering experience.
USER GOALS
As a consumer seeking legal help,
I want to search for attorneys and law firms that practice the area of law I need help in,
so that I may contact or hire them for a consultation to address my legal concerns.
Search & Filter through lawyers/law firms
Click into profiles to learn more
Comparing multiple lawyers
BUSINESS GOALS
As a business, we aimed to drive higher traffic and user engagement and increase revenue through retaining product value for client subscribers and advertisers on our platform.
01. User Research
Building out the journey…
Understanding what are users main goals are during their legal search allows us to pinpoint main actions to highlight.
A user on our website focuses on these goals:
01. Finding the Right Lawyer
Identify a qualified attorney who specializes in their specific legal issue.
Search & Filters (location, practice area, ratings, availability)
Clear Profiles (experience, expertise, education, reviews)
Comparison Features (side-by-side lawyer comparisons)
02. Evaluating Credibility & Trustworthiness
Assess if a lawyer is reputable and reliable.
Client Reviews & Ratings (detailed, verified, and recent)
Case Success Stories or Testimonials
Accolades & Certifications (bar admissions, professional recognition)
03. Understanding Legal Issues & Costs
Assess if a lawyer is reputable and reliable.
Transparent Pricing (hourly rates, fixed fees, free consultations)
04. Contacting a Lawyer Easily
Initiate a consultation or retain legal services quickly.
Clear Call-to-Action (contact button, free consultation prompts)
Multiple Contact Options (phone, email, messaging)
Availability Indicators (online now, response time estimate)
05. Comparing Multiple Lawyers
Evaluate multiple options before making a decision.
Saved Lists of Favorites
Side-by-Side Comparisons
Case Type Matching (showing lawyers with a strong track record in specific cases)
Mapping our assumed pain points
By mapping our our users' journey, we can make a few initial assumptions based on our current design.
Our Initial Assumptions
Visual hierarchy could be improved:
The organization of the page could be better improved and reduce clutter.
For the cards themselves, we have little differentiation between a law firm and attorney.
"Sponsored" cards deter consumers:
The majority of engagement is with organic cards, so often consumers are scrolling far (there can be up to 12 sponsored listings on a page) to skip sponsored listings.
Blindness to Filter Options:
Although consumers generally are looking to hire an individual attorney rather than a law firm, they are rarely engaging with the filters to do so.
02. Analysis
Let's hear from our users
By conducting user interviews and analyzing satisfaction scores and feedback, we uncovered the root causes of low engagement: cluttered display causing users to be overwhelmed, distraction from ads, and the need for guidance with better filters.
Post User Testing Key Insights
First Impressions
The current page is overwhelming with tons of information to process. Their focus bounces between the pictures, ads, and card information. They believe it has quality content, but there is a lot of noise that makes it hard to focus.
Poor Credibility
The right hand side of the page looks crowded with ads and an assortment of links which makes the page look scammy and decreases credibility.
Poor Way-finding
Many consumers had blindness to the ability to filter results, primarily between Law Firms and Lawyers.
Additional information that was blind to our users included:
Filters
Compare feature
Differentiation between Law Firms and Lawyers
"I wished that I could find attorneys right away. The site is named lawyers.com, but I'm getting results for law firms first.”
So What does this all mean?
Now that we have confirmed the pain points on our site, we can pinpoint areas to focus on.
Our assumptions were correct...
Sponsored cards are not engaging to consumers ✅
During the test, users would call out the sponsored listings (attorneys paid to be placed high on the search page) and scroll right past them to the organic listings.
The organization & presentation of the information on the current firm cards is confusing ✅
During the test, users would note that on first impression, the page is overwhelming with a lot of content to sift through
Consumers are looking to hire attorneys, but do not engage often with the “Attorneys” tab ✅
During the test, users would not notice the option to be able to tab between Law Firms and Lawyers, one who did notice called it out that they would like to see Attorneys by default since the site is “Lawyers.com”
03. Solution
Designing through the lens of our users
After getting direct feedback and data insights, key design changes were focused on organizing the information clearly to allow users to see the information they care about in priority and take action.
Emphasize Search Criteria
We defined filtering options available upon first look to consumers
Made it clearer to the user that you can search between law firms and lawyers
Before
After
Reorganized page layout
We removed the right rail to give each card more breathing room for users to scan content
Moved distracting content to the bottom of the page
Before
After
Restyled cards
Reorganized the content to create a clearer relationship between firm & attorney
Focused on the flow of information so consumers are not bouncing around the card as they read
Emphasized important information - Free Consultation, Availability, etc.
Before
After
Improve Visibility of Ability to Compare Multiple Attorneys
Since most users noticed ability to compare multiple attorneys in our usertests, we sought to improve the visual design of the compare functionality.
Before
After
Final Results
This initiative resulted in a 31.3% increase in clicks to all attorney/law firm profiles within one month and a 21.99% rise in page sessions. Across paid sponsored listings, there was an increase of clicks by 82.86% and an increase of sessions by 74.765%. This was a major win for the business goals, as one of our main objectives was to increase overall clicks on the page and especially to the sponsored cards.
Final Results
Before
After
04. Reflection
A big step forward for lawyers.com…
This was a huge effort project and a big step towards improving the user experience of our website Lawyers.com within our company. The site has been outdated for awhile in terms of UX practices as well as branding. I have been itching to improve the site with a large haul redesign so this project was exciting for me!
In the next steps, I would like to retest the page with another round of user testing to determine how consumers are faring with the current tabbing system. I would also like to improve the filter system of the page as well as determine if the cards are being distinguished correctly between law firm and lawyers.
More Projects
Case Study
Clarity
Designing an environmentally conscious online shopping experience.