By J. Singleton, Program Manager
On February 1, 2019, State Support launched a redesigned LawHelpMN.org featuring the new LawHelpMN Guide. Our work didn’t stop there though. Since launch, we’ve continued to improve the website with a dedicated development budget that turns user feedback and website analytics into tangible advancements. For example, we’ve added functionality that allows users to filter their Guide service results based on their preferences, share their Guide results via text or email, and use the Providers and Clinics Directory to print off custom referral sheets.
A key component of our continuous improvement goals is a 6-month review of the Guide’s questions. We use analytics to determine when it seems like users are confused or are not finding the information they need. In one instance, we discovered that most people who chose the “Kids, Teens, and School” legal topic had questions about custody, which is included under the “Family” legal topic. While the Guide was still able to direct users to the appropriate custody resources, it wasn’t the most direct route to those resources. To help users get to the right section of the Guide earlier in the process, we will be changing “Kids, Teens, and School” to “Youth Rights and Education” to make the kinds of issues included in that topic clearer.
During our 6-month review, we also identify and add new resources and adjust the Guide to make sure users can find those new resources readily. In our first six-month Guide revision we wanted to make sure low-income inventors and owners of small businesses and nonprofits knew they might be able to get legal assistance through LegalCORPS. To accomplish this, we are adding a new series of questions to identify people who have a legal issue related to their invention, non-profit or small business. We also crafted questions to identify additional situations in which Community Mediation Minnesota would be a good referral.
If you have suggestions about how to make LawHelpMN a better resource, please let us know!