Royal Navy: Product Definition For The Future Of The Royal Navy's Website

Background and Challenge
The Royal Navy has been facing mounting recruitment challenges, primarily due to strong competition in the job market and evolving perceptions of military careers among Gen Z. Tasked with securing 25,000 applicants annually, the Royal Navy aimed to modernise its digital recruitment approach to attract the attention of this digitally native generation while distinguishing itself in a crowded job landscape.

In partnership with Great State, an agency responsible for driving the Royal Navy’s broader digital recruitment strategy, The Product Bridge contributed  expertise as contractors in user research, design direction,  prototyping and product management to support a comprehensive transformation of the Navy’s online presence.

Our Role
As contractors to Great State, we delivered targeted support for this initiative, concentrating on the aspects of the project that informed the direction and usability of the Navy’s recruitment platform. Our efforts focused on:

• User Research: Conducted in-depth research to understand the values and motivations of Gen Z, mapping these insights into personas and experience maps to underpin the redesign of the Navy’s website.
• Prototyping and UX Design: With a mobile-first approach, we worked with designers to rapidly prototyped and iterate designs based on the research findings. The aim was to ensure the platform captured the range of career paths offered by the Navy, from engineering and healthcare to unique opportunities across the globe.
• Product Scoping & Definition: Translating user insights into actionable design briefs for developers, thus ensuring the designs were both user-focused and technically feasible.

Outcome and Impact
As a result of this collaborative approach, the redesigned Royal Navy website, coupled with Great State's development and campaign efforts, achieved impressive results. Traffic to the site increased by 93%, and applications rose fourfold year-on-year. The website saw a 150% increase in user engagement, with a significant reduction in recruitment costs per expression of interest, highlighting the success of the initiative.