Info
About
Elementor is a leading WordPress website builder platform, enabling web creators to build and design professional websites with ease. Elementor serves a wide range of users, from professional designers to small business owners.
What
This project involved a comprehensive redesign of Elementor’s knowledge base and learning platform. The goal was to improve access to information, streamline support across multiple product versions, and create an intuitive experience that supports users in finding specific answers and facilitates continuous learning.
Why
As Elementor’s product offerings expanded and became more complex, users encountered difficulties in finding accurate and relevant information within the help center and academy resources, leading to frustration and inefficiencies.
The existing help center and academy were causing frustration for users due to inconsistent search results, layout issues, and irrelevant content. This redesign aimed to streamline the user experience, improve search accuracy, and ensure that users could easily find relevant information, thereby reducing the burden on customer support.
Team – UX Lead and UX Research – Aviya, Design Team Managers – Erez, Ronit
Redesigning a Knowledge Base for a Multi-Version Product
A knowledge base isn’t just a support tool, it shapes user trust and experience.
When information is hard to find, frustration rises, and reliance on support increases.
Elementor’s growing product complexity made it difficult for users to access the right answers, causing inefficiencies and friction in their workflow.
This case study explores the UX challenges of structuring knowledge for a multi-version product, focusing on how users search for information, how to deliver content tailored to their state of mind, and how to combine didactic methods that support both quick troubleshooting and deeper learning.
Research
The research aimed to identify and understand the specific pain points users faced while navigating the help center and academy within this increasingly complex ecosystem.
Here are the key areas of focus that were addressed during the research process:
Identifying Key User Types
To fully understand the challenges users faced, I collaborated with the education and content teams to analyze user interactions with the help center and academy. This analysis focused on identifying how different types of users navigated the system and where they encountered difficulties.
Two primary user types were identified:
- Users Seeking Specific Answers: These users needed quick and accurate solutions to specific problems. Often, they were in the middle of building a website and needed immediate answers to keep working without delays. They required precise information without having to sort through unrelated content.
- Continuous Learners (Including New Users): These users, including those new to the product, wanted to build their skills over time, moving from basic to advanced levels. They needed a structured learning experience that allowed them to explore the product at their own pace.
Analyzing User Behavior
After identifying the user types, we closely examined how these users interacted with the help center and academy. This analysis was supported by data analysts, the SEO team, and a user behavior tracking tool:
- Navigation Paths: Using data from the user behavior tracking tool and similar resources, we tracked how users navigated through the help center and academy. We identified common paths and places where users got lost or diverted. This analysis showed where the content structure was confusing or led to dead ends.
- Search Term Analysis: With input from the SEO team and data analysts, we reviewed the search terms users frequently used. This analysis helped us understand what information users were looking for and whether they found it, revealing gaps in the search functionality and areas where users didn’t get relevant results.
- Content Engagement: By analyzing data, we saw which content users interacted with most and how long they spent on specific pages. This information highlighted which resources were most useful and which were underused, indicating potential issues with how content was organized and discovered.
This detailed analysis, combined with insights from data experts and advanced tools, gave us a clear understanding of user behavior. It became evident that the existing system wasn’t fully meeting the needs of these user types, especially as the product offerings became more complex. These findings were crucial in guiding the redesign process, focusing on improving navigation, search functionality, and content structure.
Integrating User Feedback
We gathered feedback directly from the customer support team to understand the most common issues users were facing. This feedback was crucial in identifying the specific pain points that users experienced while navigating the help center and academy.
- Common User Complaints: Users frequently reported difficulty finding relevant information, especially when dealing with multiple versions of the product. The feedback highlighted confusion over which articles applied to which version, as well as frustration with the navigation and search functions.
- Prioritizing Issues: Based on this feedback, we prioritized the most critical areas that needed improvement in the knowledge base. This included enhancing search functionality, refining the content structure, and ensuring that users could easily find version-specific information.
Competitive Analysis
To build a comprehensive understanding of how the knowledge base could be improved, I conducted an in-depth analysis that extended beyond similar products, incorporating insights from various learning platforms and other relevant systems.
Drawing Insights from Related Platforms: I explored a variety of platforms, including knowledge bases from different industries, search engines, customer support platforms and more to uncover best practices.
Incorporating Insights from Learning Platforms: In addition to analyzing related platforms, I studied various learning platforms to understand alternative approaches to information retrieval, course structures and learning methods. This analysis focused on how these platforms organized content into units or chapters, integrated exercises within the course flow, and utilized features like class environments and interactive elements. The insights gained from these platforms revealed effective strategies for structuring and presenting educational content.
Key Findings from the Current System
Inconsistent Content Structure Across Versions & Misused and Misleading Side Menu
Users encountered difficulties navigating the knowledge base due to inconsistent content organization, especially when searching for version-specific answers.
In some screens, a list of unrelated topics was incorrectly presented as a side menu, confusing users since it appeared functional but was irrelevant to both the content and the overall knowledge base.
Inefficient Internal Search Leading to Reliance on External Search Engines
The search functionality often returned outdated or irrelevant results, particularly for newer product versions.
As a result , users often turned to external search engines (e.g. Google) to find relevant answers, suggesting that the internal search system did not effectively meet their needs.
Static and Outdated Tagging System
The tagging system was static and did not update according to user needs or new product developments, making it harder for users to find relevant content, particularly across multiple product versions.
Main Insights
Inconsistent and Irrelevant Search Results Cause User Frustration
Why it’s important
User-Specific Content May Lead to Better Navigation and Engagement
Why it’s important
Guiding Users Through the Learning Curve Could Improve Retention
Why it’s important
Continuous Feedback Could Ensure Content Stays Relevant
Why it’s important
The Need for Scalability in a Growing Product Ecosystem
Why it’s important
Suggested Solutions
Designing a Scalable, Trustworthy Knowledge Base for an Evolving, Multi-Version Product Support
The core challenge was building a system that could provide quick access to information, support continuous learning, and scale as the product ecosystem grew. Additionally, the system needed to rebuild user trust by offering reliable and contextual information based on user needs.
Delivering Fast and Reliable Access to Information Across the Knowledge Base
Reminder & Approach
The key challenge was to design a system that provided quick, reliable answers to users’ queries.
Users needed to easily find accurate, relevant information tailored to their product version, without being overwhelmed by irrelevant results.
My approach focused on creating a user-centered, scalable knowledge base, ensuring that information was organized dynamically to support both current and future product versions.
By streamlining navigation and search functionality, the system empowered users to quickly locate the right answers while fostering trust in the knowledge base as a reliable resource.
Home Page Structure
Desktop Hierarchy
The home page is designed to provide immediate access to the most relevant information for users, reducing time spent searching.
- Scalable Side Menu: A dynamic side menu organizes content by categories, ensuring that users can quickly find topics while easily accommodating future product versions or updates – This menu is designed to scale seamlessly as the company releases new products or versions.
Popular Tags and Current Bugs
- Popular Searches & Tags: Directly below the search bar, popular tags guide users toward frequently accessed content, ensuring users can find answers without frustration.
- Known Bugs Banner: To further reduce customer support burden, the banner below the search field highlights current bugs and performance issues, offering transparency and proactive assistance – This ensures users have immediate visibility into any known issues, building trust and confidence in the system.
In-Article Navigation
Quick Navigation for Immediate Solutions
- Version-Specific Content: Delivers personalized answers based on product version.
- Featured Snippets: Essential information summarized clearly at the top, enabling quick answers without reading the full article and enhancing SEO visibility.
- Anchor Menu: Jump directly to key sections, avoiding long scrolls.
- Highlighted Sections: Emphasizes the most relevant parts of the article based on the user’s query and product version.
Encouraging Continuous Learning
- Persistent Side Menu for Exploration: While users focus on their immediate query, the side menu remains visible, offering a clear path for further exploration. This encourages users to dive deeper into related topics.
- Related Learning Suggestions: After resolving their primary query, the system presents personalized learning recommendations, guiding users toward related content based on their product version and proficiency level.
User-Driven Content Improvement
Each article includes sticky feedback options to keep content relevant:
“This article was helpful” – Tracks usefulness.
“Suggest Edits” – Allows users to request missing information or improvements.
This feature relies on our active community to keep content up to date, reducing customer support load and ensuring the content team stays connected to user needs.
Search Results & Suggestions Page
- Featured snippets displayed at the top of each suggested result – The search system offered instant suggestions as users typed, summarizing key information so users could often receive a solution without needing to click through.
- Enhanced autocomplete – provides relevant queries based on the user’s product version, with hover-over video previews for quick evaluation.
These features speed up the search process, helping users find answers faster.
- Feedback buttons – Recognizing that users might find their solution directly in the search results, feedback buttons were added below to capture user input at this stage.
FAQs
The FAQ page and section were redesigned to help users find answers more easily while improving overall information organization, incorporating SEO query research and user data.
- Categorized by Topic: FAQs are organized into popular subjects, accessible through dedicated tabs for quick navigation.
- Product & Version Filtering: Users can refine FAQs by product and version to find more relevant answers.
Optimizing Complex Navigation for Mobile Devices
Navigating the knowledge base on mobile devices presented significant challenges due to the complexity of the system and the limited screen space. The key focus was ensuring users could quickly locate the information they needed, while minimizing excessive scrolling and managing complex hierarchies on smaller screens.
Mobile Hierarchy
Floating Table of Contents Button for Easy In-Article Navigation
- The anchor menu was adapted into a floating button on mobile, allowing users to tap and view the table of contents for quick navigation between sections. This minimized scrolling while keeping the screen clear.
- Tapping the floating button expanded the full content structure, allowing users to jump to specific sections of the article. The menu collapsed after use, maintaining a clean interface.
Mobile-Optimized Hierarchical Structure
- Main menu – The desktop content hierarchy was adapted for mobile, enabling users to reach deeper content layers directly from the main menu while keeping navigation clear and efficient..
Next Step Toward the Vision: Expanding the Knowledge Base to Include Both Help Center & Courses
The future of the knowledge base goes beyond answering questions—it’s about empowering users to learn, explore, and grow within a single, trusted environment. The vision for the next step is to merge the Help Center and Academy (Courses) into one seamless platform, allowing users to transition effortlessly between troubleshooting and structured learning.
By bridging the gap between two user types—those seeking specific answers and continuous learners—this unified approach would build trust in the system while fostering deeper engagement and confidence. A fully integrated knowledge base would ensure that every user—whether solving a problem or developing new skills—finds the right guidance without friction.
The proposed design explores how this vision could take shape, maintaining intuitive navigation, smarter search, and a structured learning experience within a single platform.
Building a Cohesive Learning Flow
Navigation
Centralized Navigation: The header menu includes Home, Courses, Knowledge Base, and Support, making all resources easily accessible.
Consistent Structure & Learning Flow: The side menu follows the same structured approach as the knowledge base articles, ensuring familiarity and ease of use.
Progress Tracking: Unlike the knowledge base, users see a checkmark icon on completed content, helping them track progress and discover suggested next steps.
Supporting Learning Tools
Bringing Class Structure Into the Interface.
Below each video, familiar class-based tools support deeper learning:
- About: Video overview and context
- Notebook: Space for personal notes
- Community Chat: Ask and answer peer questions
- Exercises & Uploads: Practice tasks and example files
- Highlights: Easily access all saved moments
Search & Highlight for Video Accessibility: Videos include searchable transcripts for quick topic access. Users can highlight key moments to revisit later.
Conclusion
The redesign of the knowledge base was driven by the need to address key user challenges, such as finding quick, reliable answers and navigating through complex content hierarchies. By focusing on both personalization and scalability, the new system provides users with a streamlined, intuitive experience across desktop and mobile platforms.
Key Success Factors: Flexibility and User-Centric Design
The key to the success of this project was its forward-thinking, flexible structure, designed to grow with the company. By allowing the knowledge base to seamlessly integrate new product versions and updates without overwhelming users, we ensured that the system remained relevant and useful over time.
The emphasis on quick answers through features like featured snippets and personalized content helped build user confidence, while clear navigation paths supported both beginners and advanced users in their learning journeys.
The result is a knowledge base that not only solves current challenges but is also adaptable to future demands, establishing it as a central, trusted resource for users seeking information and learning opportunities.
In the long term, the redesign aims to lead to improved user satisfaction, reduced customer support dependency, and the ongoing success of the company’s product ecosystem.
© 2024, Aviya Serfaty | Built by David Gershon