Cozette Kosary, M.A., B.E.D.
UX Researcher and Strategist
Research Process and Tools
Case Study: Move to a New Dwelling
Explore and investigate users moving to a new dwelling. Then lead CX Strategy Leaders in a workshop to ideate solutions to ease the moving experience for users.
My Role: UX Researcher, UX Designer, Ideation Workshop Content Editor, Facilitator, Moderator, and Educator
Workshop Participants: CX Strategy Leaders: 2 Managers, 1 Vice President
Platforms: Zoom and Mural
Methods: Interviews, Empathy Maps, Affinity Mapping, Secondary Research, Provisional Customer Persona, Customer Journey Map, Ideation, "How Might We" Statements, Pattern Ideation, and Effort vs. Impact Chart
Observation Stage
My first stage of UX Research is to observe the users and the experience. I want to learn about an experience and all the components that facilitate the journey.
The best way to observe users is to perform Ethnographic Research and watch firsthand accounts of users perform the task. However due to a time constraint of 5 days and lack of access to individuals moving, the next best thing was to interview people who recently moved.
To demonstrate the users’ perspective, I interviewed four peers that recently moved and asked them to describe their experience. Interviews revealed firsthand personal accounts of moving experience, opinions, attitudes, and perceptions. This technique uncovered two types of movers: those that move cross-country and those that move locally. Both types of moves presented different problems and for this exercise I chose to focus on cross-country movers because of a stronger user pool (3 cross-country vs 1 local).
Evaluation Stage
My second stage of UX Research is to evaluate the users experience and see what problems and patterns emerge.
I then transcribe and analyze Interviews pulling out what users say, how they think, what they do, and how they feels. Findings are compiled into Empathy Maps to build empathy for users and keep the focus on their experience.
Once dissected, information was grouped by using an Affinity Mapping technique to help define personas, and customer journey maps. Similarities and patterns emerged including the concern of cross-country movers (the cost of the move, contracts and agreements, insurance, lost or damaged property), emotions of users (lingering frustrations, dread, hate), and expectations (scheduling, preserving belongings, services provided).
Typically I would introduce Primary Research such as Surveys to see why people are moving, where they are moving to and from, and collect demographics. However due to time constraints and lack of access to users database, Secondary Research provided a quick glance into existing data and helped deepen the understanding of the situation.
Create Stage
My third stage of UX Research is to consolidate data and create a Provisional Customer Persona and Customer Journey Map. These tools will help the CX Strategy Leaders to gain empathy for the customer and visualize their journey.
The Provisional Customer Persona, Jennifer, was a consolidated archetypal description that was built on the understanding and needs of the 4 users interviewed and the compilation of secondary research. It demonstrated needs, experiences, behaviors, and goals of those moving cross-country.
The Customer Journey Map illustrated the steps, interactions, thoughts, feelings, pain points, opportunities, stakeholders, and time to visualize Jennifer’s experience moving cross-country.
Due to time constraint and not overwhelming the CX Strategy Leaders with too much information, I chose to focus on one user and journey for the workshop. Typically research will unveil multiple Provisional Customer Personas and Customer Journey Maps that can act as lens to engage different perspectives of the experience.
Reflect – Brainstorm Stage
The final stage to this case study was to reflect on data with the CX Strategy Leaders and to brainstorm solutions to improve the moving experience.
Ideation is a technique used to rapidly generate solution concepts based on the understanding of a problem and customer needs.
To maximize the 30 minute workshop limit, CX leadership voted to focus efforts on brainstorming solutions for Problem Statement 2: A busy working professional needs an easy, time-efficient way to find good, reliable movers because they often work long hours, are taking care of family, and don’t have time to perform research to vet moving companies.
To begin the Ideation Workshop, Problem Statements were re-framed into “How Might We” ("HMW") Statements to help participants to conceptualize solutions.
Using a Pattern Ideation technique, participants were able to spend one minute pairing each “HMW” Statement with a Pattern Card and rapidly brainstorming solution possiblities. For example: “HMW: Assist consumers on their journey to vet and hire good movers in an easy, time-efficient way that allows them to trust they are receiving the best experience and rates.” + Pattern Card: Application = Solution Idea 1: Plan my Move Feature, Solution Idea 2: Reviews by Type of mover. This exercise generated 32 possible solution ideas.
Solution ideas were then evaluated via the Effort vs. Impact Chart to determine whether or not solutions would take low or high planning effort and make a low or high impact. Items that required little planning and made a small impact became a task to complete now, short-term goals 1-6 months. Items with high effort and low impact became solutions to table. Solutions with low effort and high impact became short projects to do immediately, mid-term goals 6-12 months. Solutions with high effort and low impact became projects to focus on long-term goals 1 or more years.
This exercise overall allowed CX Strategy Leaders to learn about the moving experience, build empathy with users, to ideate solutions and discover ways they compare within company goals and deadlines.