In-Depth Interviews (IDIs): Status Tracking, Search Query, and Reporting Rebuild Features on Corporate Website (3-min. read)
May - June 2022 | Remote | Team: One UX Research and Client Product Team (e.g., UX Designers, Product Manager)
DISCLAIMER: Due to NDA, I cannot publicly mention the name of the Fortune 500 company for which I conducted research.
Due to NDA, no visual research artifacts are presented but a stock image to show the general idea of the platforms key functions for the study.
This Fortune 500 bank/financial services company aimed to gather valuable insights about program administrators using their online platform (i.e., corporate website) to support B2B customers. The client scoped out the type of research method with the business development team to include decided on in-depth interviews (IDIs) because the client wanted to learn how real users would interact with their website and make changes based on the results. The primary research objectives were to understand the preferences and use-cases of program administrators regarding the status tracking and search feature, as well as identify pain points and improvements for the reporting user flow.
Approach
I conducted a week and a half long study consisting of IDIs with (n=6) participants on desktop computers. The IDIs were conducted with two high-fidelity prototypes as stimuli with participants who were program administrators from middle to large market size companies that use the client's platform for daily program management tasks in corporate finance.
The two InVision, desktop prototypes were replicas of specific user flows and pertained to specific research topics. Topic 1 related to the search query feature and status tracking feature. Topic 2 evaluated reporting rebuild feature. The research participants were recruited by in-house ResearchOp teams through a vendor and were current card members of the financial services company.
Process
This June study form part of a Rapid Labs program I had inherited at a UX Research Agency that employs an iterative, fast moving and regularly scheduled scheme to rapid user experience research and testing.
1) Client Meeting
Conducted stakeholder interviews, gaining insights, defining research questions, and addressing technical issues of the digital prototypes.
2) Research Plan
Authored the research plan and the moderator guide for six, 60-min sessions for probing in different areas of the participants’ experience.
3) Usability Testing
Carried out the IDIs with prototype stimuli to gather qualitative data and conduct inductive thematic analysis.
4) Research Readout
Presented findings to the client product team in a readout presentation, providing insights, recommendations, and addressing any questions.
This Rapid Labs program gives a consistent stream of insights and recommendations to clients in order to inform design decisions. While this project was building off of previous work done with the same client product team, the research topics were completely different from the May Rapid Labs study.
Results
DISCLAIMER: Due to NDA, I cannot publicly share specific details findings, recommendations or research artifacts.
Broadly speaking, the study yielded valuable user insights, use-cases, and pain points related to the status tracking and search features, along with the online financial report building. The analysis provided the client's product team with a deeper understanding of the participants' use-cases, their preferences for top vs recent searches, and the value of status tracking in their daily program management tasks. Furthermore, the study revealed the common routes participants took at arriving to previously generated reports, their mental model for how embedded filtering feature functioned while in the reports, and ways to improve the online reporting process.
Some of my recommendations across both topics included:
Communicate to users, through an visual graphic aids, the search and status feature’s functionality and how the features can help users address use-cases in their day-to-day work.
Build functionality that mimics key MS Excel functions (e.g., filtering) into the reporting rebuild feature.
Streamlined data transfer between the online platform and other financial systems used by program manager users.
Impact
Despite limitations in tracking specific metrics and design changes, due to the project-based research agency work model, this research’s main impacts were influencing future product decisions, validating assumptions, and building client trust in the rigor and quality of our research acumen.
Here are some quotes from our client partners that highlight this impact (NOTE: names are aliases but titles correspond to the real stakeholders’ titles).
Anticipated influence on future product decisions and validation of client product team’s assumptions.
Client trust and positive impression of my team’s rigor and ability to execute excellent user experience research.