Discovering a product’s true audience with personas and journey maps
The Challenge.
A fitness startup had just developed and launched its wall-mounted smart weight lifting machine. Despite the impressiveness of the product, they struggled to capture market share. This was due in part because they did not understand who their ideal user was: avid, gym-going powerlifters, or novice users who would like to try lifting, but might be intimidated by the traditional weight room culture?
We visited the homes of 12 owners and observed them completing workout sessions.
The Action.
I was joined in the field by a rotating cast of client stakeholders, as pairs of us visited user homes across the country, interviewing users about their experiences, and observing them as they conducted workouts.
I then facilitated 2-day workshop to lead the client team to develop personas and journey maps based on what they observed.
Why collaboration is key:
Many UX consultants conduct research and analysis in a black box, finally delivering a summary report to the stakeholder. The problem with this is that without the stakeholder encountering the user themselves, the researcher is the messenger, and often is the bearer of bad news.
I favor a more collaborative approach. By inviting stakeholders into users’ homes, by encouraging other stakeholders to watch research session recordings, and by facilitating a collaborative process to synthesize the research and develop the personas and journey maps, I ensure that the research is internalized before a report is ever delivered.
The Result.
The resulting UX artifacts were not only tied to key business objectives, but were also instantly actionable across the company. Because representatives from all departments took part in the creation of the personas and journey maps, they acted as advocates and ambassadors on their individual teams.
In this case, we took the extra step of “prettying up” the personas and journey maps, at the client’s request. In general, I recommend against doing this, and am in favor of leaving artifacts rough and easily alterable. Read why in my articles, The Best Personas are Ugly and Personas Are Living Documents: Design Them to Evolve.
For more info…
Read a full case study on this project: