Bibles for America UX Audit

Bibles for American is A non-profit organization whose mission is to give away free copies of the New Testament Recovery Version and Christian books throughout the United States.

What I did

I had a 3 week interim, so I was a UX consultant for Bible’s for America. I conducted a full UX audit on their website and created a strategy deck for how they can improve the site’s experience:

  • User research to identify major pain points

  • A north star redesign solution

  • Steps to executing that solution in a low-cost way by providing a spreadsheet of UX initiatives, and labeling the priority of each initiative, so they have a clear guide on what needs to be added or fixed to reach the solution.

Results

  • Many stakeholders resonated with the major pain points

  • The research and strategy deck showed stakeholders the clear need for a UX Design team

  • I was invited back to work full time

The goal

Share the Bible with people who are seeking, and provide a community where they can learn about the Word of God.

Who is this for

Believers and nonbelievers who are seeking, who do not meet at a Christian community.

Channels with the potential to have users in this category such as organic search and ads make up 83.3% of BFA’s website traffic (paid search, display, and organic search). 63.5% of traffic on biblesforamerica.org are from organic search.

User Research

To understand the problem space I asked people who fit this category above for their impression of the site

  • Interviewed 8 people for 20-30min

  • 5 agnostics and 3 atheists

  • Went through each key page (Bible, Books, Blog, Resources, About, and Give) and asked for their impressions, thoughts, and questions

Key Findings

Lack of Context

Without enough context, nonmembers feel disconnected and excluded from the site. All 8 participants did not know what the Recovery Version is.

“In terms of content, it’s lofty. I don’t know what a recovery version Bible is. It sounds buzzwordy.”

“Even as someone who was a Christian before I’m getting a sense of vagueness. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been Christian for a while. It's like lacking substances in these general statements.”

“This is just one sentence of the entire section of Timothy. I don’t have context. I feel like this puts me in a box without me additionally me wanting to be in the box. The undertone seems like I’m being talked down to in a way. I know that’s not the intention there’s definitely a point of contention... there’s not a lot of context for this.”

Lack of Transparency

There’s no context that shows the legitimacy of the organization

“Why do you need a non-profit to preach the gospel?”

Past research

People in our current church community find the Bible intimidating to read. I previously conducted user research for BFA’s Bible Reading App. I interviewed believers who have the Recovery Version Bible. Here are some user quotes:

“Many are intimidated by the Bible. They don’t know where to start and often feel overwhelmed.”

“I don’t enjoy reading the Bible because it is hard to understand.”

How can we encourage people to read the Bible?

Hypothesis

Showing an active and welcoming community on BFA will encourage people to read the Word of God

Media interest

I reviewed and pulled out stats from Google Analytics and Hotjar to help direct a solution to my hypothesis

  • Monthly Traffic YoY 653.4K pageviews with 429.6K being blog pageviews

  • Although ‘Bible’ is hierarchically first on the navigation menu, in 2021 there are more clicks on Resources

  • Consistent interest in subscribing to the blog even though it’s at the bottom of the page. BFA currently has 59,200 subscribers.

North Star Solution

Show an active and welcoming community upfront the Recovery Version has brought together

  • Have testimonies of people who the Recovery Version has helped

  • Surface more introductory videos, blogs, and podcasts

  • Show people behind BFA with background highlights

Change the tone to make it more inclusive

  • Provide context about the Recovery Version upfront (e.g. what is it and what is the history)

  • Prioritize top blogs, videos, and podcasts that can reach new believers

    • Search queries with the most impressions;
      ‘consecration’, ‘what is faith’, ‘birth of jesus’

    • Top blog posts from search:

      • “The Deep Significance of the Birth of Jesus Christ”
        939,737 impressions with 4.64% CTR

      • “8 Verses Showing Jesus Lives”
        413,382 impressions with 6.46% CTR

      • “The Difference Between Soul and Spirit”
        277,669 impressions with 8.96% CTR