Overview

A few months ago, a friend asked me to help her draft an email she was nervous about writing to her client. She wanted to sound human... but also professional... and also get a quick response. We talked it over, and I used one of my many email templates as a base for writing the email.

Since most of my writing revolves around communication, responses to a lot of my articles include other freelancers asking me for ideas on talking with clients about scope creep, contracts, and missed deadlines.

So, I decided to create UnFuck My Email. This is for freelancers who love their work but struggle with the whole "talking to the client" part. It gives them a quick and easy template that they can use for a great professional, actionable, and human email.

UX

WHAT PROBLEM NEEDED TO BE SOLVED

Freelancers would be coming to use this tool in the middle of their work day, while trying to tackle their emails. So, the site had to be straightforward and free of distractions. It also needed to be fun enough to generate interest. So, I wanted to make sure that the flow of the site was quick, easy, and minimal.

HOW I PLANNED ON SOLVING IT

People will use this site as a supplement to their business and want to use and leave the site as quickly as possible.

WHY I DESIGNED IT THIS WAY

Make the design extremely minimal and very easy to read. The whole site is about communication and copy, so I focused on clear, beautiful typography, and a design that highlights words and white space.

HOW I'LL KNOW THE DESIGN WORKS

My success metric is watching people complete the quiz and copying the template.

Content

WHAT PROBLEM NEEDED TO BE SOLVED

Freelancers need a better solution to creating emails that clearly communicate with their clients.

HOW I PLANNED ON SOLVING IT

Answering a few simple quiz questions and having a short template to copy will help the freelancers with the immediate need of completing their emails so they can focus on the work that they love to do.

WHY I WROTE IT THIS WAY

The content needed to be tongue in cheek, captivating, and fun. People generally don't consider writing business emails a lot of fun, but it's that lightness that makes for great copy, and real human connection. By keeping my the site and template content lighthearted but professional, freelancers will have better relationships with their clients but won't have to actually write the emails themselves.

HOW I'LL KNOW THE COPY WORKS

My success metric is getting feedback and ideas for more templates from my users.

Development

WHAT PROBLEM NEEDED TO BE SOLVED

Keeping the site streamlined, fast, and with a template structure that is easily scaled.

HOW I PLANNED ON SOLVING IT

I could create the site with HTML/CSS/JS, keeping the architecture as simple as possible to perform the necessary functions.

WHY I CODED IT THIS WAY

I used JavaScript only for the template generation, and Bootstrap as the framework for the site. The JavaScript was only used to pull information from the form quiz into the auto generated template, allowing me to easily add and remove forms and templates as necessary.

HOW I'll KNOW MY CODE WORKS

Adding more forms and templates with simple duplication and not creating more code.

Overview

Fix Your Own Back is a health services site that offers physical therapy exercises for people with chronic lower back pain. The demographic is mothers with young children that experience lower back pain after pregancy and child care, middle aged men that were active during college but have become more sedentary due to pain, and older veterans that suffer from chronic pain due to age and previous injury.

In general, the users have been suffering from chronic daily back pain for years, and this was impacting their daily lives so much that many couldn't run around with their kids, or even pick up a bag of groceries. Most ended up on the site after trying numerous options that didn't work. They were frustrated and skeptical, but still hopeful that something could help them.

UX

WHAT PROBLEM NEEDED TO BE SOLVED

Users were reaching the site but not clicking through to the main call to action, which was signing up on the email list.

HOW I PLANNED ON SOLVING IT

After reviewing the project, the biggest challenges were that the site's navigation was too confusing, with too many calls to action. By simplifying the site's architecture and making sure there was very clear path for the user from arriving on the site through completing the 3-minute test, I believed we would see a big increase in conversions, as well as a decrease in drop-offs in the middle of the process.

WHY I DESIGNED IT THIS WAY

Remove extra calls to action so the site was easier to navigate by removing buttons and condensing options into the navigation bar. I emphasized the 3 minute test, which was the beginning of the sales funnel, so that the immediate option for a visitor was to select the test.

HOW WE'D KNOW IF THE DESIGN WORKED

Our success metric would be an increased number of visitors clicking through and taking the 3-minute test.

Content

WHAT PROBLEM NEEDED TO BE SOLVED

Users were reaching the site but not clicking through to the 3-minute test or signing up with their email.

HOW I PLANNED ON SOLVING IT

On top of the site structure, the site was written by a doctor using language that only doctors could understand. By rewriting the language on the site to sound more approachable to someone without a doctorate, we could show people that this product actually was for them

WHY I WROTE IT THIS WAY

I updated the copy on the entire site, removing medical jargon and highlighting the fact that relief was actually possible. I used personal testimonials throughout the site to show proof and create trust.

HOW WE'D KNOW IF IT WORKED

Our success metric would be an increased number of visitors signing up to see the exercise video.

Overview

EffiFit is a personal training business targeted at young women, between 22 and 35 who are struggling to stay fit since beginning full time work. They want to have more energy and look better in the clothes they buy, but don't want to spend a lot of time working out.

Many survey respondents echoed the feeling that they had no time to work out, felt intimidated by difficult exercises, and knew they should be eating better for to stay fit but it was too hard. Most of these women used Pinterest to find exercises and recipes, but had a lot of trouble with consistency and follow-through. What they actually needed to succeed was someone to hold them accountable, encourage them, and support them.

UX

WHAT PROBLEM NEEDED TO BE SOLVED

No audience because this was a brand new business.

HOW I PLANNED ON SOLVING IT

To target the right demographic, I only needed two pages — a sign up page which would push people to the email sign up, and a landing page which would offer for people to call and set up an initial meeting with the owner. We wanted people to be excited to act, and keeping the design simple was the best way to do that.

WHY I DESIGNED IT THIS WAY

Create a clean, scrollable, and easy to read page with only one CTA that was easy to follow.

HOW WE'D KNOW IF IT WORKED

Our success metric would be people signing up for the email list or contacting her for an initial call.

Content

WHAT PROBLEM NEEDED TO BE SOLVED

Since all visitors were going to be new, we needed to capture people's interest and show that EffiFit offered a unique value prop of simple and quick exercises that worked.

HOW I PLANNED ON SOLVING IT

Her ideal clients were women that had tried to get fit before and not gotten very far. They felt guilty for failing and instead needed to feel supported, motivated, and safe so that they would sign up for an initial call. So, I completed copy on the landing pages, created an email funnel to generate leads, and a downloadable gift as a surprised after joining the email sequence.

WHY I WROTE IT THIS WAY

Creating an email sales funnel that showed how you could fit in healthy food and exercises into your every day life would be a low enough barrier to entry that women would try a few of the ideas. Throughout the sales funnel I could add value, support, and create trust so that at the end the reader would initiate a call. The email sequence started off with a nice surprise, the second email tapped into the fear of failure, and the third email was instructional with simple excercises and recipes. The fourth email was science-backed research and the fifth email had resources that would help the users stay active.

HOW WE'D KNOW IF IT WORKED

Our success metric would be people signing up for an intoroductory call.