Phase 1: Marketing and Business Assessment
This phase formed the business context for the project and thus helped us to develop the design for the listening labs in Phase 2.

Steps included:

• Corporate strategy review. As a first step in building the business context for the project, Creative Good reviewed AETN's corporate and ebusiness strategy, as well as past and present Web-based initiatives.
   
• Internal stakeholder analysis. Because the organizational and cultural challenges are often the biggest barriers to change, Creative Good interviewed key stakeholders and managers to assess the organizational perspective and uncover critical viewpoints and internal challenges.
   
• Marketing and customer review. Creative Good reviewed market research already conducted, and any other needs assessment or customer segmentation analysis.
   
• Expert review. Creative Good conducted an expert heuristic analysis on the current process and evaluted competitor strengths and weaknesses.
   
• Performance and usage metrics. Creative Good analyzed current site performance, usage metrics and other behavioral data. Because AETN's systems at the time could not produce meaningful metrics, Creative Good reviewed log files and raw data to develop "heat maps" (see photo) and other data snapshots that provided important insights.
   
• Listening lab setup. Creative Good conducted the preparations for the listening labs. This included reviewing customer segmentation, creating a screener, creating the lab design, scheduling the facility and recruiters, and identifying key stakeholders to invite to attend.
   

Phase 2: Listening Labs
Creative Good's version of user tests, listening labs combine the best of traditional usability research and less directive market research methods.

• 8 customers attended one-on-one sessions, each lasting 45 minutes, followed by a discussion among the client team members observing from "behind the glass." AETN had more than 20 members of its management and implementation teams there to observe and participate.
   
• Analysis of the lab results showed, as it often does, the "why" of the Phase 1 analysis. Customers' behavior clearly showed why they weren't able to find or buy products in many cases.

Phase 3: Creation of the Customer Experience Strategy
Creative Good developed a simple high-level strategy to guide the rest of the redesign project, based on everything that had come before in the project: business analysis and expert review, stakeholder interviews, data analysis, listening lab results.

Phase 4: Prototyping
Creative Good created 10 to 15 pages of "wireframe" prototypes to show, tactically, how to implement the customer experience strategy in the redesign.

Phase 5: Advisory Services
Creative Good reviewed finished designs and the beta site to ensure that the strategy was maintained throughout the design and development process.

Implementation:
As stated above, A&E Television Networks measured results after the relaunch, which included Creative Good's recommended changes:

• 50% increase in sales conversion rate (and the original conversion rate was already higher than industry average)
• 15% improvement in average order volume
• 20% reduction in phone-to-Web ratio (a critical cost driver)
• 100% increase in positive feedback from customers