Microsoft Edge for Business is designed to help meet the evolving security landscape while empowering users to work effectively.
A common behavior among browser users is that they actively separate their personal and work browsing while on their work computer by using separate browsers. This new feature helps by automatically switching profiles for the user in Edge while retaining customers as Edge users for both work and personal usage.
I was tasked with this feature, smart switch, end-to-end.
My Role
Product Designer
Team
1 PM, 1 researcher, 1 engineer
Timeline
2023
Status
Shipped
URL switch hint
The user will see the “Switch to personal browser” button as they’re searching for a site that has been set with personal profile preferences, providing the opportunity for the user to manually switch profiles.
Post switch notification
This smart switch notification brings awareness to the user once their site has been automatically switched over from the work profile to their personal profile; also allowing the user to set site preferences at this level.
User dropdown menu
This drop down menu provides the opportunity to choose their profile settings once the initial notification is dismissed. For easy accessibility, it’s housed within the address bar.
How can we lean into dual browsers where customers can use Edge in both instances?
Current Experience
The only way the user can currently switch between browser profiles is by clicking on their avatar and navigating to their desired profile manually. This is suboptimal because navigating between browsers and profiles builds up overtime, resulting in a blurred and collapsed separation.
Problem: Profile switching efficiency
Full Separator: Used two different types of browsers (one for work browsing and one for personal browsing)
Separation Seeker: Used different windows within the same browser for work and personal
Full Integrator: Non-Separator
Total Separators: 75%
Business Goals
01/ Provide unique productivity value with a separate “work browser”
Drive customers who use Edge for work to upsell Edge for personal browsing
02/ A lightly managed personal browser
Allows users to access their favorite non-work related sites and services without compromising the security or compliance of the enterprise
03/ Auto-Switching Feature
Automatically moves non-work sites to your personal browser and maintains contextual separation between user profiles
Research
Prototype 1
Prototype 2
Synthesize
To find out which browser switching experience is better for helping users automatically open certain websites in their desired browser profile (prototype 1 or 2), and to understand which scenarios users with multiple profiles would prefer.
Hypotheses
We believe giving in-context profile/browser switch mechanisms will help customers stay organized when using multiple profiles in both Personal and Work browsing scenarios.
Method
Moderated interviews
When users type the Target URL, they see the option “Switch to personal,” which opens the site in their personal profile.
Once the new window opens, Edge confirms the action with a message in the top left corner. Users can change their profile preference via a drop-down menu in the same notification card.
The identity control at the top left allows users to manage which profile opens specific websites.
The Edge notification is at the end of the URL bar and the drop-down menu label different. The label is "Choose how this site opens".
In this prototype, the users can also change their preferences by clicking on the icon located at the end of the URL bar.
Final results were split 50/50. We moved forward with prototype 2 with the added button in the omnibox because this pattern was most familiar with users.
Participants found the smart switch valuable for organizing personal activities, saving time, and separating personal tasks from work.
They preferred having an additional window for the other profile for better organization and differentiation.
Most (4 out of 6) agreed that automatically opening sites in specific profiles by default is convenient, as it avoids interrupting their current work.