Simplifying Complex Email Subscriptions
The Cisco Support website team wanted to build a new version of their notification system. The goal was to allow users to create fully customized email alerts, sent when new documentation and software was available for their devices. With 5 possible content types and a universe of thousands of devices, there was a real risk of overwhelming users during the subscription process. What's more, such a system needed to reduce the number of emails users received, as compared to the existing system, not increase it.
Approach
To meet this challenge, I drew on my deep understanding of our support content and first-hand experience as a Cisco engineer to think through common subscription scenarios. It became clear that some users needed the same kind of information for many devices, while others needed to know a variety of information about only one, or a handful, of devices. I validated this insight with a number of subject matter experts.
After establishing this general approach, I designed a subscription flow that allowed for flexible combinations of alerts and devices. Usability testing that I conducted before and after launch illustrated that users easily understood the workflow and preferred it to an approach that limited them to making a device choice first.
Impact
The implemented flow shown below mitigates the potential complexity of pairing devices and alerts by giving users a simple choice of how to start: with a device or a type of alert. Each topic selected is then paired with one more sub-topics of the opposite kind. Thus, a chosen device is paired with alert types, or a chosen alert type is paired with devices. Regardless of the topic combinations chosen, users can populate a single email with as many topics as they desire. The subscription tool build with this flow became one of the most important on Cisco.com's Support site.