WIDGEt
ECON DEV�
PARTNERS
Christine Lee | Iryna Shamray | Laura Olson | Natasha Dushkova
THE MIssion
Econ Dev Partners offers an integrative widget that assists small-to-medium businesses access government grants, loans, tax breaks, + cash reimbursements with a goal to distribute funding equally
90%
10%
SMALL BUSINESSES
OTHER BUSINESSES
Small businesses constitute 90% of companies in the United States
�
90%
10%
SMALL BUSINESSES
OTHER BUSINESSES
10%
90%
SMALL BUSINESSES
OTHER BUSINESSES
Yet, SMBs receive only 10% of the �100 billion dollars of economic incentives distributed�
Small businesses constitute 90% of companies in the United States
�
HOW MIGHT WE
help SMBs find access to relevant information about available incentives to equally distribute funding across all businesses + create a more stable economy?
CUstomer user
vs
CUSTOMERS
Local governments, small business associations and chamber of commerce
Customer Research
CUSTOMER RESEARCH
GOVERNMENT SITE NEEDS
Create connection and community with local business to spread funding across their constituents
EASE OF INTEGRATION
Tool needs to be easily incorporated within already existing website
DISTRIBUTE FUNDING
Governments want to more evenly distribute funding to ensure diverse and vibrant local economies
Governments want to increase local business awareness of government funding
INCREASED AWARENESS
CONNECT WITH SMBs
Users
Small and medium businesses looking for help financing their company
INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
CEO of AN E-COMMERCE COMPANY
“I didn’t want to take a risk. I am pretty sure that if you are not a lawyer and you do not know all government laws, you can have huge trouble if something goes wrong.”
VP OF A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
“We have to contract with an outside firm to write our grants for us. Their base fee is usually around $8,000 per grant which can be prohibitive for many organizations.”
3 out of 5 BUSINESSES
2 out of 5 BUSINESSES
BUSINESS RATIOS
USER NEEDS
The platform needs to feel secure and results need to accurate and current
MOTIVATE ENGAGEMENT
Results need to readily available, frequently updated, and free
Users are often unaware of incentives, we need to draw their attention to the widget.
AWARENESS OF INCENTIVES
ESTABLISH TRUST
EASE OF ACCESS
Results need to be gathered in one single source of credibility
Two widgets
Divergent Thinking
THE APPROACH
STEP 1
SMB owner interacts with widget by inputting required information
STEP 2
Econ Dev Partner accesses its database to match incentives
STEP 3
SMB is provided a personalized list of incentives to grow business
Short widget - 3 steps
Extended widget - 6 steps
STEP
1
STEP
STEP
1
2
STEP
STEP
STEP
1
2
3
All required information on one window
For users who have more than one business
Informational Links
Too much information on one module
Changes needed in wording for buttons
Redundant elements
STEP
STEP
1
2
STEP
STEP
Assurance
Low contrast
Difficulty reading test
1
2
STEP
STEP
3
4
STEP
STEP
Cards look clickable
Visually appealing
Loading animation
3
4
STEP
STEP
5
6
STEP
STEP
Easy to read
Feedback to user
5
6
Short widget - 3 steps
Extended widget - 6 steps
Slide-in panel
FLOATING BAR
User Testing
Slide-in panel
One widget
Convergent Thinking
SNEAK PEEK
BUDGET
NEXT STEPS
INTERACTION
LIVE
INTERFACE
EDUCATION
Increase trust, ease of integration, widget introduction + engagement
Engineer code to allow government websites to successfully integrate widget
Filtering option, general layout, styling + landing page
Continue to refine microcopy to define economic incentives
RESEARCH
FUNCTIONALITY
DESIGN
Wording
THANK YOU
Any Questions?
CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik.
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We’re excited to showcase our findings + prototype
Most recent iteration of the EDP widget
What we’ve discovered + our findings
Who we are catering the widget to
Where this project is headed
How divergent thinking led to solutions
WELCOME
PROTOTYPE
RESEARCH
Next STEPS
ITERATIONS
USERS