By focussing on what their users needed, Hays made a real improvement to their bottom line.

Hays wanted to improve the relevance of candidates responding to positions advertised on their web site. This would help their consultants to be more efficient -- and have a positive effect on the bottom line.

They asked Flow to undertake a user-centred redesign of their site. We started with some light weight contextual research with job seekers. Our research showed us that job seekers would often apply speculatively for jobs when they found the details irrelevant or incomplete. It was these speculative applications that were becoming expensive and time consuming for Hays to handle.

Working with our favourite agency Splendid, we designed a new user experience: easy to use, appealing to look at and really suited to the needs of job seekers. It helped people to find jobs using criteria that mattered to them, and see the details they really needed.

This user-centred approach had a very positive impact on business. The number of relevant applicants increased by up to 24%. The number of irrelevant applications decreased by 12%.

It's a great illustration of a classic customer experience mantra: "You get the customers you deserve." Hays took the time to understand customer needs, then empowered their customers to make the right choices for themselves. The reward: lower business costs.

Read the full case study here.