Redefining Customer Engagement
User Research & Design // Microsoft
As Microsoft's cultural transformation was unfolding, it became clear that we needed to better understand our customers, their needs, and how we can improve our engagement with them. A small team and I decided to dive deep into design thinking and implement its practices to transform the way we approached our customers.
Background
My team and I had the goal of redefining Microsoft's relationship with customers. We thought design thinking practices were extremely relevant to our goals, so we leveraged the Stanford d.school design thinking framework to help influence our approach.
Contributions
In a team of product managers, software developers, and designers, I contributed as a researcher and designer in the following areas:
- Research: recruit, user interview, user journey mapping
- Design: personas, storyboards, wireframes, design assets for implementation
- Implementation: provided design guidance throughout website implementation in collaboration with other designer
- Design: personas, storyboards, wireframes, design assets for implementation
- Implementation: provided design guidance throughout website implementation in collaboration with other designer
Our creative workspace where we posted all our ideas, progress, and mantras.
My Process
Research
Research
We knew we needed to understand our customers better so we reached out personally to a range of customers and set up interviews to learn about their goals, frustrations, typical days, and what they wish Microsoft would do to better help them achieve their goals.
As this was an internal and collaborative project, I am only able to show a glimpse of the work.
Personas
Through user interviews, we learned the pain points and frustrations of our users. I aggregated the data and developed a set of personas my team could work from.
Through user interviews, we learned the pain points and frustrations of our users. I aggregated the data and developed a set of personas my team could work from.
Storyboards
Based on user research and personas, my team started to use the data to come up with ideas that could help our customers. These ideas were represented in the form of storyboards.
Based on user research and personas, my team started to use the data to come up with ideas that could help our customers. These ideas were represented in the form of storyboards.
Wireframes
Based on the storyboards, I created wireframes to help bring some of the ideas to life.
User Feedback
I helped my team develop a mini booklet showcasing design concepts to determine if customers were receptive to the work we had done. This was our way of user testing before even building out any real product.
Website
In conjunction with the booklet, my team developed a website that these customers could go to if they wanted to forge a design partnership with us so that we can keep them in the loop as we iterate on our designs and solutions based on user feedback. This was a way for us to have a customer base to reach out to for ideas, co-design opportunities, and general feedback. Here is a glimpse of the website:
Learnings
This was an extremely fun experience. Contrary to what the rest of the company was doing, my team chose to redesign our workspace to make it more open and collaborative (we got out of our individual offices and took over a conference room so we could sit together). This completely changed the way we worked and the results we produced.
Through a shared vision and culture, in a short amount of time, my team and I were able to use the design thinking framework to learn deep insights about our customers and cultivate a better engagement with them.
