MY PROCESS.
Ensure experiences are intentional & tailored to deliver business results.

Historically customer experience has not been tied to business outcomes. However there is universal need for data driven experiences, or measurable user experiences. By combining quantitative and qualitative research and using the findings to drive design decisions quantifiable results are achievable.

If users are honored and managed as assets, they will be seen as the same value and weight as revenue. Interactions that meet or exceed user expectations will increase increase customer satisfaction and, in turn, overall earnings.

There is no exact science to creating data driven user experiences, but the approach below ensures the experiences are intentional and tailored to deliver business results.

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Role: The examples links below are from a variety of projects during my time as the Global Experience Director at Crocs, Inc.

1. Define Goals.
Analyze business goals & translate them into UX KPIs.

Having a deep understanding of the expected outcome of a project or implementation maintains focus delivering results. Experiences that create the right emotional connection between a brand and the consumer goals end in results that delight and convert consumers into loyalists.

2. Benchmark.
Measure the current UX to establish a baseline.

Start by evaluating competitors and innovative brands. Use the competitive analysis define priority and build inspiration. This can be done by qualitatively looking at site analytics to identify opportunities or quantitively running user tests and pinpointing pain points.

3. Forecast.
Predict the likely impact of improvement.

Before you can track results, a decision needs to be made on what to track, and if possible, how those metrics contribute to the initial goal.

Calculating the Potential, Impact and Effort (or PIE) of an idea aids in measuring the projected effectiveness of a proposal. Using the PIE method can be extremely valuable when prioritizing projects if resources and time are limited. However some ideas are simply "the right thing to do" for consumers or regulatory reasons and therefore they won't have a clear and measurable impact on revenue. In these cases, you’ll have to trust your gut.

4. Research.
test and measures the efficacy of user experiences.

Offer data and tactics to improve productivity or to decrease error rates. Research is not something just to be done if your team is feeling stuck. It’s an integral part of the product lifecycle.

5. Design, Iterate, & Build.
Create guided by UX KPIs and Research.

Using your discoveries and research as a foundation, build based on what was learned. At this point an entire feature maybe built, or just a prototype to put in front of testers. Teams don't always agree 100% on a particular design direction. Testing designs and prototypes will keep the voice of the consumer at the forefront of projects and initiatives.

Testing and iterations should be viewed as a part of the everyday process to keep projects on the right track. By building low fidelity wireframes and using testing to guide rounds of iterations, it feeds a healthy design debate. It aids in creative progress without the risk of stalling a project due to costly rounds extra development and release cycles.

6. Measure & Analyze.
Test and collect results data to measure success.

Use results to provide actionable insights, make recommendations and quantify the value of success (or failure). One of the most rewarding aspects of following a consumer driven process is when the original assumptions are validated with results. What’s even better, is tracking those wins over time. Continuous research gives you measurable data to benchmark to feed back into phase 2 of the process listed above.