Discovery Platform

Project Overview

EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) is a research platform that provides a single search interface for accessing a library’s books, journals, and databases. It offers unified search, relevance ranking, full-text access, and integration with LMS and library catalogs, streamlining research for students and faculty.  EDS was first launched in 2010.  In 2023, EBSCO introduced an updated version of EDS with a new user interface and enhanced features. 

Problem: Sales and renewals were in decline.   Win-loss analysis highlighted our dated User Interface as a contributing factor.  Our experience had lost appeal.  The UX team was tasked with revamping the experience.  Business stakeholders asked for a “snap change.”  However, immediate and untested changes could jeopardize the $740 Million in associated revenue.

Approach:

  • Contextual inquiry to...
  • Identify which parts of current experience works, and what fails
  • Understand user needs and preferences – what brings happiness
  • Determine what changes are needed to improve the usability – content hierarchy, navigation, effectiveness, ease of use, satisfaction, etc.
  • Needs-based personas, journey maps and user flows to validate user goals, current practices and challenges.

Outcome

  • Influenced product strategy: Work was planned to address key challenges in the user workflow: Access (eliminate complexity and remove user burden), Search (help users find known items and learn new, relevant things) , Choose (help users scan, refine and select “just right” content), Use (aim to fit better in the larger digital ecosystem)
  • In the second quarter of 2020, we launched our Discovery Platform in an initial BETA phase. We then set out to drive customer adoption and protect renewal revenue.
  • Usability: All scores came in above average with overall 92 SUS score (across all personas). Our initial design showed to be a success, with ease-of-use score of 6.6 (out of 7) and task success rate of 81%.
  • Improve Access: From 115K page views, 80% of Marketing site traffic accessed product though Find-my-Institution page. Of that group, 78% were able to successfully authenticate which led to an uptick in return users (+29%)