Compatibility Tool Product Design & User Testing
Challenge
North America’s largest food redistributor needed to understand what was required from its diverse user types so that its users could effectively perform key tasks and be migrated on to the new B2B ecommerce site while still maintaining the integrity of the features already created for its base user group. This challenge became rather exceptional due to the amount of variations around product types, pricing models, and checkout methods to accommodate the different aspects of the users and supply chain.
My Role
Lead the user experience research and design for user migration of 6 unique user types to the new ecommerce site while continuing to improve MVP
Plan, conduct, and synthesis user interviews, stakeholder interviews, and customer surveys
Create flows and high-fidelity prototypes to communicate new features and experiences to designers, developers, business analysts, product owners, and stakeholders
Provide planning and strategy recommendations for the new site as it relates to the end user experience and business goals
Deliverables
Flows
Hi-fidelity Wireframes
Prototypes
Interaction Design
Requirement Gathering
User Interviews
Subject Matter Expert (SME) & Stakeholder Interviews
User Surveys
Research Reports
Planning
For each new leg of work, I was in charge of preparing and presenting kick offs where we would better define the goal of the work and what was needed in order to achieve that. I would prepare by doing some initial discovery on my own by going through existing information and start to formulate what Introductory questions were asked to the product owner and SMEs and recommendations on the best way to approach the work, such as if research was needed and the proposed methods or if features and requirements can start being defined.
Defining goals and agile sprints:
Initial Discovery. New phone/OS launches are key events that cause an increase in traffic/calls from customers looking for when new compatibility information is available. This causes increased stress and pressure on the internal Cochlear support team.
Research Recommendation. Internal business processes for translation and testing hinder the ability to get information out in a timely manner to users, even for minor updates.
Defining requirements & MVP goals. Users struggle to understand if their devices are compatible with the information provided, resulting in increased support needs from professionals and Cochlear internal staff.
Defining Requirements, MVP Goals, and Success
Our team followed a double diamond process and lean UX approach so that we could incorporate discovery, definition, ideation, and solutioning to ensure we deliver the best product possible.
For the define phase:
I developed use cases for each user group (customers, professionals, and internal support team) to focus the experience design and gain empathy towards the users
I outlined the MVP goals and what was out of scope for MVP to focus the team’s efforts and gain a group understanding of what we are building towards.
Wireframing and Prototyping
New phones launches
A design decision I made was showing phones and other devices that are new or in the process of being tested to cover the main use case so users had their questions answered quickly and customer support would not receive so many inquiries.
Information heriarchy
I grouped relevant supplemental information and documentation, such as pairing instructions, together on the results page so that users did not have to search for it and could maintain the current position in the page.
Sound processor identification
I included a link for users to identify their sound processor because it was one of the main challenges users had to overcome to understand what the hearing devices compatible with.
Prototyping to improve communication
I also created a prototype to better communicate the flow and interaction design to the product owner and development team.
User testing
Next was developing a test plan and a high-fidelity prototype for user testing.
Testing at this point was crucial because I had completely redesigned the page flow and information architecture. We wanted to make sure that this process was more intuitive before dedicating development resources.
The high-fidelity prototype saved the participant’s selections for a more realistic feel to help product more accurate results.
Research synthesis and iteration
After I synthesizing the research, it was found that overall there was an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the new flow and UI, with users finding it more intuitive. This meant it was safe to put in the design and development effort for the project. One of the findings that led to change was creating less technical wording. For example, on the homepage we changed the language from “Sound Processor Compatibility” to “Get the most out of your technology” to be more approachable.
"I think it's easier to find the pairing instructions. If they were on the previous compatibility page, I never did find them.”
“Yes, I did think it was very intuitive. So very easy to understand, even for people that perhaps aren't that tech savvy."
“Smart bimodal. That's confusing… It should just say stream to your hearing aid as well.”
After making some small changes based on the research findings and getting final approval, I updated annotations to include the intent, functionality, and interactions so that there was a record of decisions made. From there I collaborated with visual design so to communicate intent and review areas that needed more visual exploration. During development, I supported story grooming and any questions that came up during the build.
Design & development collaboration
Final designs
Case Studies
Digital Transformation through Product Design
Product design for transforming the relocation process to the digital age with an iOS app and progressive web app.
B2B Ecommerce Strategy, User Research, & Wireframes
Leading the agile user experience research and design for user migration of six unique user types to a new site while simultaneously creating incremental improvements
Get in Touch
Have a question or just want a chat? Please send a message if you’d like to work with me or want to learn more about me or my work.