Baddies in Tech empowers Black, Latina, and Native American (BLNA) women in tech by providing career support, networking opportunities, and professional development resources. Their offerings include a robust career resource database, a career quiz, and community-building events such as conferences and workshops.

The Problem

BiT’s website was experiencing a high volume of support queries, with users expressing frustration about navigating the site and finding critical information. Key pain points included:

• Difficulty locating information about events
• Uncertainty about joining the community or Discord and understanding membership benefits
• Challenges in finding and posting job opportunities
• Lack of clarity around mentorship programs
• Confusion about who to contact for specific needs

These issues were particularly pressing ahead of BaddieCon ‘24, a major opportunity for the organization to attract new members and showcase its updated offerings.

Our Approach

Content Audit

To understand the website’s current state, we conducted a full content audit, which revealed:

• Overly verbose content: Key information was buried in long paragraphs, making it hard for users to find what they needed.
• Unclear headings: Page titles and subheadings lacked descriptive language, hindering quick scanning and navigation.
• Inconsistent style: Errors in capitalization, punctuation, and tone diluted BiT’s brand identity.

Actions Taken:

We identified pages that required restructuring, prioritized condensing copy for clarity, and flagged opportunities to improve tone and alignment with BiT’s mission.

Writing Style Guide

To ensure consistency and efficiency across our team of seven writers, we developed a comprehensive writing style guide. This served as a reference for all contributors, focusing on:

• Voice alignment: BiT’s tone is relatable, supportive, and empowering—a sisterhood approach that resonates with its community.
• Stylistic rules: Guidelines for capitalization, punctuation, and formatting to maintain professionalism and cohesion.
• Scannability: Best practices for writing clear, concise headings and subheadings.

Navigation & Information Architecture

BiT’s existing navigation and sitemap didn’t reflect the range of new features and resources available on the site. To address this:

• We restructured the sitemap, grouping pages logically and renaming them to be more descriptive.
• Collaborated with the design team to redesign the navigation menu for clarity and accessibility, incorporating section-by-section breakdowns in the sitemap to define what information would appear on each page.
• Improved on-page navigation by writing descriptive headings and subheadings to guide users seamlessly through each page.

Result: Based on an internal card sort, we determined that users could more easily locate information about events, membership options, and career resources—key drivers of engagement for BiT.

Website Copy

Once the style guide and navigation updates were in place, we crafted web copy tailored to BiT’s audiences. Our approach emphasized clarity, brevity, and BiT’s empowering voice.

Key Examples:

1. Hero Section: Replaced generic taglines with a compelling hook and concise description of BiT’s mission.
2. About Page: Condensed a text-heavy narrative into a scannable, user-friendly format, highlighting BiT’s impact.
3. Membership Pages: Clarified benefits and next steps for joining the community or mentorship program.

Usability Testing Results

The UXR team conducted usability testing with ~20 participants to assess whether the homepage met our objectives of improving accessibility, scannability, and clarity of messaging.

Scannability

‍Six participants noted that the homepage was well-structured, consistent, and easy to navigate. They appreciated the clear sections, which made information easy to locate. This aligned directly with our goal of reducing confusion and improving the accessibility of key content.‍

Messaging impact

‍Five testers highlighted the homepage's content as being community-focused, inclusive, and supportive for individuals exploring or advancing their tech careers. This feedback validated our approach to align BiT’s voice with its mission of empowering BLNA women in tech.

Positive user sentiment

‍Several participants commented that the homepage effectively communicated BiT’s offerings and purpose, contributing to a sense of trust and belonging.

Takeaways‍

The usability testing results confirmed that our content strategy and design enhancements significantly improved the user experience by meeting our primary objectives:

• Making information more accessible and scannable
• Creating a warm, empowering tone that resonates with BiT’s target audience
• Reducing user uncertainty about navigating the site

These insights reinforced our confidence in the redesign’s potential to reduce support queries and boost engagement ahead of BaddieCon ‘24.

Results & Next Steps

Though our work concluded before launch, the anticipated outcomes included:

• Improved user navigation: More descriptive headings and better-organized pages reduced the cognitive load on users.
• Fewer support queries: Clearer information and navigation were expected to minimize confusion.

Next Steps:

• Metrics: Analyze support query volume post-launch to assess success.
• Content prioritization: Develop a plan to address gaps in content for different personas.
• Conversion strategies: Explore ways to drive membership sign-ups and long-term engagement.

Key Takeaways

1. Content-first design: Starting with content strategy, rather than adapting to pre-designed wireframes, would have allowed us to prioritize user needs more effectively.
2. Collaboration matters: Close coordination with design and dev teams ensured alignment on goals and execution.
3. Clarity is key: Concise, actionable content is essential for empowering users and reducing friction.

Key Collaborators

Stephanie R., UX Writing Co-Lead

Pritha Bhandari, UX Writing Apprentice

Ha Do, UX Writing Apprentice

Alexis McCartney, UX Writing Apprentice

Mariam Saïd, UX Writing Apprentice

Crystal Pugh, Product Management Lead

Caroline Pereira Gomes, UX Design Lead

Bhavani Sree, UX Design Lead

Oya Muslu, UX Research Lead

Jessica Garcia, UX Research Lead

Jenetra Jackson, UX Research Apprentice

Kornelija Anttila, Product Strategy Lead

Darlyze Calixte, Development Lead/Client