My UX Process
1. Understand the Problem
Identify the root cause and user needs, values, and expectations.
Get out in the field to understand how people are using and thinking about your product or service.
Lyft Driver
I took a few rides to understand the challenges of a Lyft driver and found out most drivers start out driving at night then switch to day driving. Night drivers encounter drunk and contentious passengers. I'd switch too!
2. Gather Data
With a handle on the problem dig deep into the existing data. Gather qualitative and quantitative data. Find patterns and reoccurring themes. Consistencies are pathways to solutions.
For the lack of data, go out and get it. Use surveys, online tools, customer roundtables, workshops and as we did here, intercept interviews.
Redbox Customer
Each quarter my UX team lead kiosk intercepts with the product team to learn what customers like and disliked.
3. Learn from Competitors
A competitor analysis helps you understand where you stand against the competition. I like to focus on overall design, branding, features, and the ease to convert.
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Tru-Stile
While visiting a Masonite facility, the lobby had a framed before and after photo. Surprisingly, this idea never made it to the website where it has the greatest impact. On a single page, Tru-Stile uses a before and after slider to change the look of the door. I ran with this idea making it a reusable widget on Masonite.com
4. Define Personas
Personas anchor all decisions to a project and keep it on course to delivering a product that solves user pain points. Without established personas, risks are high in delivering the wrong solutions.
Empathy Mapping
When I'm comfortable with the amount of data I conduct an empathy map workshop with stakeholders to discover pain points and opportunities. This exercise is the baseline for the UX Strategy.
5. Journey Mapping
Included in the persona development process is the popular journey map.
The Movie Experience
My research team at Redbox put together this journey map after interviewing 45 customers in 3 specific demographic segments. The results were so well received, the CEO place it in her office.
6. Wireframes
Wireframes are the connective tissue between the business strategy and the real world. These are the blueprint to a digital product helping users navigate and engage with the site.
Thermostat Redesign
After completing the competitive analysis I applied the best UI/UX to my design and refined it through quick cycles of user feedback. In other words Lean UX.
7. Prototyping
After the initial flow and wires are done it's time for testing. I build prototypes ranging from simple click-throughs to highly dynamic prototypes in Sketch or Axure. I use the SUS quantitative scoring model. Successful sites have a rating between 80-100.
Redbox Kiosk Ratings
This comp shows a ratings concept to the browse screen. During testing, customers found it distracting on the box art and preferred it to remain on the title details page.
8. Test & Learn
Without testing your ideas you have no clue what users think. The purpose of these studies sharpen the product-market-fit to increase user acceptance.
ADT Pulse Usability Session
Allan, one of our usability testing participants is completing the assessment form after his usability session. The post-its on the wall are groupings of common issues discovered during the study.
9. Develop & QA
Tweaks are made after the studies and comps are moved to Zeplin for the development team to work from. However, this is not the first time they've seen the designs. I keep the development team connected to my work with series of dev review meetings.
10. Measuring UX
In the UX strategy, KPIs can include a range of measurements that are established early in the project and recorded in the UX strategy.
Common UX/Biz KPIs Cover:
Behavior - e.g. Abandonment Rate
Attitude - e.g. Ease of use
Revenue - e.g. Conversion rate
Loyalty - NPS rating (NPS)
Satisfaction - Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
Usability - e.g. Super-Q or SUS
11. Ongoing UX Enhancements
Improving the customer experience is never done and there's a ton of tools to use to make continuous enhancements.
Measurement Tools
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Regular customer interviews
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Hotjar (heatmaps)
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SMErush (SEO/keyword tracking)
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JotForm (Customer Feedback)
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UserTesting.com (UX Experience feedback)
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NPS (Sharability)
