Optimizing Community Engagement with UX/IA Improvements

Fulfilling a Need

Over a decade ago, American truck manufacturer Freightliner Trucks partnered with the financial and business consultant firm ATBS to create a website, Team Run Smart, that serves professional truck drivers across North America. To help truckers successfully operate a small business while maximizing drive time, the site enables members to share business, maintenance, and lifestyle advice for every stage of the trucking career path. The site was a massive success, but by 2019, Team Run Smart’s popularity had become a double-edged sword.

As its content library continued to grow, users found themselves increasingly frustrated by the site’s limited search functionality. The site’s navigation couldn’t keep up with its many blog posts and videos. And modern industry changes and challenges put truck drivers early on in their careers at a significant disadvantage—a topic absent from the site. For help, Freightliner turned to the site’s original strategy, design, and technical development team, now at Refactored.
 

Growing Pains

We began by enhancing navigation through new submenus and subsections and by creating new content categories—Meet the Pros and CAREER Smart—targeted toward new drivers. Next, we commissioned a series of videos by the site’s most popular content creators, boosting brand loyalty and enhancing the feeling of community among existing users while attracting even more industry pros.
 

Newfound Success

As a result of the site refresh, Team Run Smart’s reach and engagement was revitalized. Pages per session increased by 23.18%, while average session duration and older content pageviews increased by 25.31% and 1.77%, respectively. The bounce rate also decreased by 19.94%. The site’s fans are more engaged than ever, and have faster, easier access to a wealth of resources to help them optimize their careers.

Visit the website: www.teamrunsmart.com