MagiCX: Voice of the Customer Design Research

My Role: UX and CX Design Researcher and Consultant

Timeline: 1 Year 

Objective: Enable client to identify and evolve relevant “in-the-go digital wellbeing solution pilots: How, if and why will individuals want to use, on an ongoing basis, a digital mood alteration solution?

Client: BAT British American Tobacco (for new product investment- name of product removed due to NDA.

"In developing our project, we leveraged the design thinking process as a guiding framework to steer our research, ensuring a human-centered approach throughout."

Methodology

Prework

Emotiva Ethno™️

EMPATHIZE. TUNE INTO HEARTS & MINDS

At Imagio Northstar we use our emotiva™️ methodology to study how people feel, think and behave when they interact with a company or brand.

Participant Recruitment Using social media campaigns and our extensive partner network in healthcare, we are able to quickly identify & recruit participants for the disease area and conditions you are looking for

Netnography Collection and analysis of behavioral data online, through conversations, interactions and user generated content across the web, blogs and social media

1:1 Empathy Interviews1:1 in-depth interview format, diving into the participants’ world, to understand hidden dynamics, behaviors, thoughts and feelings. Can be followed up with online surveys

Mobile EthnographyParticipants self-track their activities over a period of time, and create a diary of their own experience using text, photos or videos, also possible using mobile tools. Can be followed up with online surveys

Online Research CommunitiesCollect experience data over a longer period of time, in a closed online community of research participants, and connect with that pool on an ongoing basis

1:1 Empathy Interviews

Interview Pathways

Image: The XX Labs wearable that connects to provide users with a data based approach to chronic pain

User Interviews

Introduction

XX Labs has developed a wearable device as an alternative solution to chronic pain symptoms. With approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide suffering from chronic pain and seeking pharmaceutical aids for relief, the demand for innovative approaches is substantial. Concurrently, there's a rising trend in leveraging wearable data for pain management and overall health and wellness strategies.

The wearable by XX Labs is designed to target pain by emitting electromagnetic pulses to the wrist while also collecting data such as heart rate to help users return to a baseline state.

During their initial research, XX Labs discovered that mood management plays a crucial role in how users integrate technologies into their health and wellness routines. Activities like using meditation apps for tracking physical activity often resulted in improved mood.

Interestingly, users showed reluctance towards technologies that directly intervene biologically to alleviate pain and improve mood. However, their attitude shifted when they considered the journey of incorporating pharmaceutical aids or counseling techniques, such as psychological or psychiatric counseling, to manage pain and emotional distress.

The client approached us to understand the user mood or emotional journey. 

Our design challenge was to:

Redesign the mood experience with the emphasis on Stress/calm/Boost/Focus/Performances

“Let us redesign the individual mood experience in a way that allows the shifting from an undesired mood state in a personalized and engaging way… for users who experience undesirable mood states briefly or over a prolonged period of time and want impactful solutions to change their moods whenever the want, wherever they are”.

Goals and Objectives:

Business Goals:

1. Pilot Specific: Understand the consumer mindset, behavior and motivations regarding the band in specific.

2. Mood category specific: Understand consumer mindset, behavior and motivations regarding digital mood alteration.

MagiCX Design team goal:

Voice of Customer CX Design Research across 3 key markets (France, Germany, USA).

My Role:

Utilized the emotiva™️ methodology to distill raw data from user interviews into transformative insights.

• Crafted detailed personas through extensive data analysis, offering profound insights into user needs, emotions, and behaviors.

• Developed customer journey maps and integrated emotions and key insights to capture the entirety of the customer experience.

• Employed empathy, human intuition, and digital intelligence to understand client desires and enhance product experiences.

• Followed a human-centered design approach, incorporating user feedback via usability testing to drive transformative product insights.

• Managed user databases across multiple countries, analyzing user clusters to provide comprehensive insights.

Deliverables

Collaborating with the design and innovation teams at XX Labs over several weeks to gain a comprehensive understanding of deliverables that effectively align with both business objectives and user goals.

Project Timeline

Participant Recruitment

As the lead in customer insights and experience for North America, I oversaw a team and managed the recruitment and coordination of over 50 participants. Through a rigorous selection process, I narrowed down candidates to 20 for in-depth 1:1 interviews, ensuring high-quality data collection and analysis.

Identify Key Characteristics: We note Anna's debilitating sleep issues, which began during the pandemic, and her inability to sleep for more than 2 hours straight due to racing negative thoughts. Her reliance on physical exhaustion, such as running 11 miles, to induce sleep is a crucial behavior.

1. Understand Motivations and Goals: Anna's primary motivation is to find relief from her sleep issues and the associated negative racing thoughts. Her goal is to achieve restful sleep and improve her overall well-being.

2. Explore Pain Points and Challenges: Anna's pain points revolve around the persistent nature of her sleep issues despite trying various remedies like melatonin and therapy. Her racing negative thoughts exacerbate her sleeplessness, impacting her daily life and mental health.

3. Uncover Behavioral Patterns: Anna's reliance on physical activity to induce sleep reveals a pattern of seeking relief through exhausting herself physically rather than addressing the root cause of her sleep issues.

4. Capture Attitudes and Mindsets: Anna's quote about her racing thoughts being exclusively negative provides insight into her mindset and emotional state. This negativity likely influences her perceptions and behaviors related to sleep.

Awareness Stage:

• Anna begins experiencing sleep issues around the start of the pandemic.

• She becomes aware of her sleep disturbances and their negative impact on her well-being.

1. Research Stage:

   • Anna seeks information online about sleep disorders and potential remedies.

   • She tries various over-the-counter remedies like melatonin and explores therapy options to address her sleep issues.

2. Decision Stage:

   • Despite trying different solutions, Anna finds that nothing effectively alleviates her sleep problems.

   • She decides to experiment with physical activity, such as running, to tire herself out and induce sleep.

3. Action Stage:

   • Anna incorporates running into her nightly routine, often running long distances like 11 miles to exhaust herself physically.

4. Experience Stage:

   • Anna finds temporary relief from her sleep issues when she engages in intense physical activity.

   • However, she continues to struggle with racing negative thoughts and interrupted sleep patterns.

5. Reflection Stage:

   • Anna reflects on her ongoing struggles with sleep and the impact they have on her mental and physical well-being.

   • She considers seeking further professional help or alternative remedies to address her sleep disturbances more effectively.

6. Advocacy Stage:

   • Anna shares her experiences and challenges with close friends or family members, seeking support and advice.

   • She may also join online communities or forums to connect with others facing similar sleep issues and share insights.

Next Steps

Conclusion of the Project:

We were successful in developing the Voice of the Customer by meticulously analyzing user feedback, synthesizing insights from customer interviews and testing sessions, and ensuring continuous alignment between user needs and product development efforts.

Next Steps:

• Initiated testing of wearable technology with personas like Anna D and other target users to assess its effectiveness in addressing sleep disturbances.

• Conducted user testing sessions to gather feedback on the wearable's features, usability, and impact on sleep patterns.

• Continued refining and iterating on the wearable based on user feedback and insights gathered during testing.

• Collaborated with developer teams to integrate customer voice into product development processes, ensuring alignment with user needs and preferences.

• Facilitated interpretation of test results and feedback to guide iterative improvements and enhancements to the wearable product.

• Maintained ongoing communication and engagement with target users to foster a user-centric approach to product development and innovation.

Design Process

At Imagio Northstar, our interview process is precise and focused on extracting valuable insights. We meticulously plan topics, ensuring alignment with research goals. During interviews, we maintain a structured yet conversational approach, capturing powerful quotes and stories from participants like L. B in Boston, MA. We document key points and stories, guiding our analysis for informed decision-making and strategy development.

Data Analysis

During the pre-interview phase, our team conducted thorough ethnographic and geographic research to gain insights into the cultural and behavioral nuances of our target audience. Drawing from this research, we collaboratively brainstormed and identified key research themes that would inform the development of our interview pathway and guide.

These research themes were carefully crafted to capture the diverse perspectives and experiences of our participants, ensuring a comprehensive exploration of relevant topics. By synthesizing our findings and aligning them with project objectives, we created a structured interview pathway that guided our conversations and ensured consistency across interviews.

The collaborative nature of this process allowed us to leverage the collective expertise and insights of our team members, fostering creativity and generating innovative ideas. Ultimately, our research themes served as a foundation for meaningful dialogue with participants, enabling us to uncover valuable insights and perspectives that informed our project outcomes.

Our primary objective was to unearth the authentic voice of the customer. Unlike creating a physical prototype, we utilized the design thinking process to prototype frameworks. This involved delving deeply into user stories, extracting nuanced qualitative data to articulate and structure the very personal and subjective elements such as moods, thoughts, feelings, worries, and stresses.