Generative UXR leads to Strategic UX

Strategically, the first thing you want to do is find out if there is a high value opportunity for specific impact points for for specific personas. In this case, my stakeholders believed that New Moms were a good customer target for us, and it was my job to investigate that intuition with customers. I started with current in-house analytics and knowledge. While the quantitative data that was available already pointed to a good opportunity, it was my UXR interviews with the Obstetricians and Obstetric nurses that yielded the most compelling insight.

INTERVIEWS

Why were the obstetrician doctor and nurse interviews so compelling? First, they told us a stat we didn't have -- that 50% of women don't yet have a pediatrician ready to book for the 5-day and 14-day follow-up exams for newborns. So a program designed to generate new mom loyalty could start with obstetrics and connect right to pediatrics. Second, the pediatricians mentioned that every time they get a newborn patient... their practice really gets three new patients. Why? Because dad never went to the doctor, so he doesn't have a doctor yet. When mom and dad start bringing the first and second babies to the pediatrician, they inevitably pick up the dad as a customer in their local practice, too.

THAT'S VALUE

NOW the stakeholders saw dollar signs and ROI in this customer segment. The notion (which proved successful) was that if we could earn mom's loyalty through the birth experience, we could get her entire family as customers. With this initial research, I started formal UXR into the new birth experience.

IDENTIFYING CUSTOMER PAIN POINTS

By collecting feedback and data from customers, you can uncover pain points in their journey. Whether it's a cumbersome checkout process on your website or a lack of personalized communication, addressing these pain points can lead to a better overall customer experience. One method you still HAVE to use for UXR? Simple surveys of your key market segment customers. I brainstormed with stakeholders 30 products or service enhancements we thought pregnant women might like, and let them rank. That showed:

Once I knew what they wanted, I tried to find out more about them.

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMERS AND PREFERENCES

By analyzing customer behavior and preferences, you can tailor your products and services to better meet their needs. For example, if you find that a segment of your customers prefers a certain feature, you can prioritize its development to enhance customer satisfaction. With hospitals that are funded in large part by Medicare and Medicaid, we had to take the low income Medicaid patients along with the higher margin commercial insurance paying patients. So I needed to make sure the experience could be as equal and as kind for several types of new moms. While new mom's had different preferences for engagement, they had similar needs --

• they were exhausted

• they were overwhelmed

• they consumed vast amounts of any information they could find

• "this is my first rodeo," as one interviewee put it, "and I don't know this rodeo yet."

Four original personas were made but for the future-state CX journey, we focused on two -- the furthest apart. We used the confident digitally savvy and empowered new mom, and the other, didn't read or speak English and was a stay at home mom without education or much connection to friends.

PREDICTING CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR

With these data-driven personas and journey moments, and, our assumptions about what they may need equally (but served in different ways), we constructed a future journey story where all moms were empowered to be educated about the necessary medical follow-ups the newborns needed AND the questions the doctors would ask at those moments. Physical cards were printed and handed out to low-tech moms; a stand-alone online portal for digitally savvy moms was made. In both cases, since we knew the due date, we could send customized personalized experiences to both women in strict cadence with the developmental milestones of their very own new babies. This slide deck story is what got us the funding for the portal, cards, and CRM tracking.

KEEP ITERATING

Experience research and design should never end. Have a long term plan and get their in stages. This project had clear deliverables and successes in 30,60, and 90 days; and had a successful growth campaign a year later; it became a loyalty pilot program the next year, and then, I folded three loyalty programs into one single one stop shop customer account a year later. That loyalty program grew by 1400% upon re-launch.

Incorporating customer experience research into your decision-making process can lead to more informed and data-driven strategies. By understanding your customers on a deeper level, you can make decisions that are more likely to resonate with your target audience and drive business growth.

I specialize in helping businesses leverage customer experience research to make better decisions. With over 15 years of expertise, I offer strategic guidance, impactful design directions, and data analysis to help your teams and clients clients succeed in today's competitive market. Contact me today to learn more about how we can help your business thrive through improved decision-making.