Case Study: Rebranding Zmanda’s Webpages to a New Design System

Project Overview

Zmanda, a leader in open-source backup and recovery solutions, was looking to modernize its web presence. Their existing website design was outdated and not reflective of their innovative product suite. The goal was to rebrand Zmanda’s website with a cohesive design system that improves user experience, reinforces brand identity, and increases customer engagement.

Problem Statement

The current Zmanda website was functional but lacked a unified visual and interactive language. The inconsistent design made it difficult for users to navigate between different product offerings, leading to a higher bounce rate and lower conversion rate. There was also a need for improved mobile responsiveness and accessibility compliance.

Old designs

Why rebrand?

Modernization

As Zmanda continued to evolve technologically, its online presence needed to reflect that change.

Consistency

The existing website had a fragmented design with inconsistent typography, color schemes, and layouts.

Improved User Experience

With user journeys being unclear, customers often struggled to find critical information, resulting in lost leads.

Competitor Pressure

Zmanda needed to differentiate itself in a competitive market where other solutions had more modern and user-friendly websites.

Mobile Optimization

With over 40% of traffic coming from mobile devices, the non-optimized mobile experience was becoming a barrier to engagement.

Zmanda Vs Competitors

Zmanda's competitors were way ahead of us in terms
of domain authority and information architecture too!

Project Stakeholders

Users/Customers

The most important stakeholders. We based the rebranding on their needs and behavior, ensuring the new design improved their experience.

Product Managers

To provide input on product-specific pages and features, ensuring that each page effectively highlights key offerings.

Developers

To ensure the new design system is feasible to implement within the constraints of the existing CMS and backend infrastructure.

User personas

IT Manager

John

Age: 35-50

Role: Responsible for managing backup and recovery solutions for mid to large-scale businesses.

Pain Points: Finds it hard to quickly assess Zmanda’s solutions on the website. Needs concise and actionable information to make purchase decisions.

Goal: Find a reliable, scalable backup solution for the company. Needs to access technical details easily.

Small Business Owner

Maria

Age: 30-45

Role: Runs a small business with limited technical staff.

Pain Points: Needs clear, simple-to-understand explanations of services, as well as customer support and resources.

Goal: Compare Zmanda’s offering with competitors and quickly get pricing and features.

Developer/Engineer

Sam

Age: 25-40

Role: Works in a DevOps team, responsible for implementing and maintaining backup solutions.

Pain Points:Needs technical resources (documentation, tutorials) to evaluate compatibility with current infrastructure.

Goal: Look for open-source integration, technical documentation, and API support.

Challenges

Complex User
Journeys

Each user persona had distinct needs—ranging from technical documentation to business pricing details.

Legacy System Integration

The existing website infrastructure was outdated, which limited the design choices and capabilities without a complete overhaul.

Mobile
Responsiveness

With a significant portion of users accessing the website via mobile devices, mobile-friendly designs were a top priority.

Design process

Research & Discovery

• Analyzed competitors' websites and other popular SaaS platforms to study their user flow, design patterns, and messaging strategies. This provided insight into industry best practices and revealed opportunities for Zmanda’s new design to stand out.

• Analyzed website analytics (bounce rate, session duration) to identify problematic areas.

Wireframing

• Created low-fidelity wireframes for different user journeys, ensuring that critical touchpoints (product pages, support, pricing) were easily accessible.

Design System Creation

• Developed a cohesive design system, including typography, color palette, components (buttons, cards, icons), and interaction patterns.

• Ensured brand consistency across all pages, with a modern look that reinforced Zmanda’s positioning as a tech leader.

Development Collaboration

• Worked closely with the development team to ensure smooth handoff and implementation within the existing CMS structure.

Zmanda's website was built on Wordpress, the
proposed designs had to be feasible by the plugins used.

Results and metrics

25%

Reduced bounce rates

by 25% in the first three months due to clearer navigation and more engaging landing pages.

15%

Increased conversion rates

by 15% due to better product visibility and simplified user journeys.

30%

Increase in mobile traffic retention

by 30%. Improved user satisfaction on mobile devices, with a 20% decrease in mobile bounce rates

10%

Average session duration increased

by 10% as users engaged more with the restructured product and resource pages.

20%

Increase in lead form submissions

by 20% Improved call-to-actions resulted in a 20% increase in lead form submissions from small business owners and IT managers.

The new design system

Conclusion

The rebranding of Zmanda’s website was a success, delivering a modern, user-centered design system that significantly improved user engagement and business outcomes. By creating a cohesive experience across the site and catering to the specific needs of different user personas, Zmanda’s web presence now matches the quality of its product offerings.

A Digital Presence for Pannashree Automobiles

Zmanda's Social Media Campaign