UX ShowHow

My $40M+ (user-centred) product redesign method.

A simple step-by-step approach for product re-design success.

Over a decade ago I led the redesign of the UK’s leading health informatics product which was deeply embedded in hospitals nationwide.

It was a complex product, but the end result was a huge success.

The fundamental steps I took then are the same ones I would take today.

Why?

Because they work so reliably well.

Here are the steps I took:

1. Discovery

- Face-to-face customer interviews (10+)
- Online survey
- Competitor analysis
- Stakeholder, sales team, and account manager interviews
- Regional insights and suggestions from the sales team
- Insights Analysis

2. Collate Findings

- Present recommendations
- Prioritise actions

3. Initial Designs & Testing

- Design user journeys
- Collaborate with tech for a clickable prototype
- Test with customers
- Record usability issues and satisfaction scores

4. Prototype Refinement

- Adjust designs based on feedback
- Update prototype
- Test again, record findings

5. Drive Design Vision through Development

- Create annotated designs
- Guide development through sprints

6. Iterate Until Launch

- Keep refining until ready for launch
- Include occasional customer check-ins along the way

This process, adaptable to any online redesign, contributed significantly to a $40M company sale soon after the revitalised product was launched.

It baffles me when redesign projects overlook real user input.

Customer collaboration & co-creation is your reliable key to success.

Don't relaunch without it.

During my years in UX & product design, this has been an ongoing debate.

1. Should we invest in up-front research before we kick off a design/re-design initiative?

vs

2. Should we just dive in & adapt as we go (after all we already have a good idea of what our customers want)?

No. 1 aligns itself to a more user-centered approach whilst the 2nd approach leans towards a more agile development approach.

Often it boils down to which process is currently in vogue within a given organisation.

Whilst opinions vary, the process that reliably brings better results may not be so fickle.

And after leading the design effort for quite a few projects, I feel that there is no contest.

Whilst I agree that a healthy process factors in adaption & pivoting along the way.

(Warning, strong opinion coming up).

I’d go so far as to say that for a lot of projects, 'just getting started' without some form of discovery phase, can be a reckless move (even if budgets & timelines are tight).

Why do I say that?

Because if you don’t ‘do your homework’ as we say in the UK (i.e. if you don't find out the pertinent facts upfront) you are disadvantaged in the following ways:

1️⃣ Less clarity on what your audience actually needs (vs what we 'think' they need).

2️⃣ Less ability to prioritise features based on pain/opportunity.

3️⃣ Less understanding of how your target audience would prefer to consume your solution.

4️⃣ Less ability to plan a robust long-term roadmap.

5️⃣ Less/no prospective users that you can collaborate & co-create with through to successful launch.

6️⃣ Less ability to defend design choices & address stakeholder pushback.

7️⃣ Less ability to cement stakeholder support for the long term.

8️⃣ Less ability for your design lead to form a strong design vision based on high-impact insights.

9️⃣ Less clarity of what your competitors are offering & what your customers like about those solutions.

🔟 Much greater chance that you will either create the wrong solution or create the right solution in the wrong way.

This list could go on.

Ultimately, without some degree of upfront research, you set your product initiative on a course without a reliable map.

This increases the chances of straying into hostile waters, wasting precious time, & ending up with a less satisfactory result.

But what about the other side of the argument, just start building & adapting as you go?

My view is that this approach can be summarised well by one of Client Eastwood's most classic lines:

"..you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?"

If you do, just dive in without a map.

Good luck when you hit your first set of rocks.

If so, I'll be ready and waiting to throw you a life jacket.

My simple method for achieving product-market fit more quickly

Time to banish the costly delays..

Delays in achieving product-market fit can have a range of painful implications.

Funding delays are a common one for start-ups.

But it's not just start-ups that can face challenges.

Finding product-market fit can also prove difficult when established organisations launch new products.

And it can also be a problem when current markets evolve causing customer requirements to change.

The reality is that online solutions struggle to gain traction (or even survive) if product-market fit is not achieved quickly enough.

However for me as a user-centered designer, I found this to be a puzzle.

Why?

Whilst achieving product-market fit requires several things to line up, it's generally accepted that the biggest stumbling block is that the product or service being offered is not resonating sufficiently with its intended customer base.

At the highest level there are two reasons for this:

1. The wrong thing has been created.

Or

2. The right thing has been created but in the wrong way.

Both are expensive problems.

So how do you avoid these common issues?

The answer is simple.

Implement a simple but effective user-centred design process.

Here's my simple path to Product-Market Fit:

1️⃣ Deep dive user/market research: unearth hidden needs & opportunities

2️⃣ User-centered design innovation: turn insights (identified in step 1) into intuitive, lovable solutions that match the intended audience's needs like never before.

3️⃣ Co-create & implement a solution alongside a selection of hand-picked customers/potential customers to ensure it will be launched/re-launched to a sea of grateful customers.

If you follow these steps in order then the most common (& costly) product-market fit issues will be avoided and your online product will have a very good chance of success.

5 secret assassins of online customer satisfaction & retention.

Step one is to identify the culprits…

Declining customer satisfaction & engagement eventually impacts retention.

And these are the kinds of things that keep online business owners and product managers up at night.

This is totally understandable.

If not diagnosed and ‘nipped in the bud’ early enough it can lead to the demise of online products & services, and sometimes even the business itself.

Aggressive moves by ambitious competitors rolling out killer new features or more appealing pricing options are common culprits.

But at least these are out in the open and so easier to identify and deal with.

Sometimes though, the issues are not so easy to identify.

Very often they are closer to home.

And as technology and design trends evolve at a rapid pace, what kept customers happy 6 months ago may not be good enough for them today.

Here are 5 things to keep eye on if you want to preserve online customer satisfaction:

1️⃣ Ease of use

How easy and straight forward is it for users of your online solution to get things done?

Are there pinch points that need to be straightened out?

2️⃣ Convenience of use

Is everything easy to find and does your product work in such a way that reduces user effort and eliminates unnecessary clicks/taps/steps?

3️⃣ Enjoyment of use

Do the various steps in user's journey flow gracefully and in a pleasing way?

4️⃣ Time to result

Can the user complete the task that they came to your product to achieve quickly & without unnecessary friction?

5️⃣ Quality of result

Is the user able to achieve the result that they need from your product to a high enough standard?

This one is usually the most important as it relates to the underlying value customers extract from your product.

But get all 5 right and unless your competition has recently launched something truly groundbreaking then customer satisfaction & retention should remain healthy.

However it’s important to stay close to your customers so that any hint of a decline is identified and dealt with quickly.

Here is how you do that:

1. Regular customer feedback sessions
2. Periodic deep dive interviews
3. Usability testing for higher impact changes
4. Constant review of analytics

These are all crucial activities in order to win in this increasingly competitive world.

My simple method for achieving product-market fit more quickly.

Time to banish the costly delays..

Delays in achieving product-market fit can have a range of painful implications.

Funding delays are a common one for start-ups.

But it's not just start-ups that can face challenges.

Finding product-market fit can also prove difficult when established organisations launch new products.

And it can also be a problem when current markets evolve causing customer requirements to change.

The reality is that online solutions struggle to gain traction (or even survive) if product-market fit is not achieved quickly enough.

However for me as a user-centered designer, I found this to be a puzzle.

Why?

Whilst achieving product-market fit requires several things to line up, it's generally accepted that the biggest stumbling block is that the product or service being offered is not resonating sufficiently with its intended customer base.

At the highest level there are two reasons for this:

1. The wrong thing has been created.

Or

2. The right thing has been created but in the wrong way.

Both are expensive problems.

So how do you avoid these common issues?

The answer is simple.

Implement a simple but effective user-centred design process.

Here's my simple path to Product-Market Fit:

1️⃣ Deep dive user/market research: unearth hidden needs & opportunities

2️⃣ User-centered design innovation: turn insights (identified in step 1) into intuitive, lovable solutions that match the intended audience's needs like never before.

3️⃣ Co-create & implement a solution alongside a selection of hand-picked customers/potential customers to ensure it will be launched/re-launched to a sea of grateful customers.

If you follow these steps in order then the most common (& costly) product-market fit issues will be avoided and your online product will have a very good chance of success.

Many people find the creation of successful online products or services to be way more of a challenge than expected.

Here are my 5 secrets to success (50+ projects in the making):

1. Well planned and executed user/market/competition research is the most precious activity that removes most of the risk and puts you on a solid foundation.

2. If your research is solid & implemented in a way that dives deeply in the right places then all the most important customer pain points and opportunities for lucrative innovation can be surfaced.

3. Getting real about which opportunities to explore first and which ones to put on the maybe later (or never) list is a crucial step where clarity of thought combined with a dash of ruthlessness is required.

4. Validating your ideas with an open mind as you start to craft a solution needs to start early in the process and it's important to accept that adapting and pivoting comes with the territory.

5. One person needs to be empowered to champion a solid product vision through the inevitable organisational and technical waves to ensure that it can be launched intact to a sea of happy customers.

Get these 5 steps right and you are on a solid path to success.

Do you agree, what would you add to this list?

~~~

P.S. if this resonated consider checking out my free mini-masterclass for more.

A post I wrote that talks about the advantages of UX design leads that are strong in both research and design and the benefits they can bring to the online products and services that they look after:

Why UX practitioners that are strong in both UX research and UX design can be worth their weight in gold ux leadership Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco…

4 Keys to Transform a Struggling Online Subscription Product or Service into a Thriving, Innovative Market Leader (With Rising Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty & Revenue). Free masterclass where I share with you some of the most precious insights that I've learned over my 17 year career. Go to: https://uxshowhow.com/masterclass/

For those who are considering learning user experience (UX) research &/or design then a blog post I wrote recently may be helpful..

Considering a career in UX? Here’s my take on the personal characteristics that suggest a great fit Considering a career in UX? Here’s my take on the personal characteristics that suggest a great fit by Anthony | Sep 18, 2020 | UX beginner | 0 comments After a 15 year career as a UX researcher and designer working on well over 50 fifty projects and preceded by several years working as a web desi...