Business communication desktop app — User’s problems and needs definition — Part 1.

Persona Workshop

A planned persona workshop was conducted following the completion of user interviews, serving as a vital platform for consolidating the knowledge gathered by the UX team. The primary objectives of this workshop were to establish a shared understanding of the potential users of the desktop app, comprehensively identify their needs and challenges, and ultimately lay the foundation for the development of a product that offers an exceptional user experience.

The workshop involved the collaborative participation of both the UX and Product teams, ensuring a holistic approach and leveraging the diverse expertise and perspectives within the teams. By collectively pooling their insights and analysis, the teams aimed to create well-defined and detailed personas that accurately represent the target user base.

The workshop was divided by a few parts:

User Research Results

Persona Development

During the persona creation workshop, each participant contributed their perspectives by describing a representative user based on their unique viewpoints and focused on relevant use cases. Through this collaborative exercise, the participants collectively explored and gained valuable insights into the target user base. Following the individual presentations, a collective discussion ensued, enabling the team to refine existing personas and develop new ones by synthesizing the accumulated insights.

By leveraging the collective knowledge and expertise of the workshop participants, the team refined the existing personas, ensuring their alignment with the user research findings. Additionally, new personas were created to encompass any previously unidentified user segments that emerged from the workshop’s discussions.

Persona Open Questions & Ideas Generation

During the workshop, a proactive approach was taken to capture all the questions that arose during the discussions, highlighting areas that require further research beyond the workshop’s scope. These questions served as valuable prompts for future investigation, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the user base and their needs.

Additionally, the workshop fostered a creative environment where innovative ideas were generated and shared among the participants. To ensure these ideas were not lost, diligent efforts were made to document and record them for future reference. These ideas were considered valuable contributions that could potentially shape the development of the product or inform future iterations.

1. Target Audience: What specific information do we need to gain a deeper understanding of our target audience? How can we identify their demographics, preferences, and usage patterns?
2. External User Behavior: How do external users currently utilize the application? What are their primary use cases and pain points? How can we tailor the app to meet their needs effectively?
3. Technical Possibilities: What are the technical capabilities of the application? What features and functionalities can be achieved technically? How can these capabilities enhance the user experience?
4. User Behavior and Feature Needs: How will users utilize the application? What are their specific feature requirements and preferences? Do they desire an all-in-one communication app? How can we ensure that this integration simplifies their lives?
5. Quantitative Research: How can we gather more quantitative data to validate our assumptions and gain a broader understanding of user preferences? Would conducting surveys be recommended to collect relevant data?
6. Video and SMS Usage: How do users want to utilize video and SMS functionalities within the app? What are their expectations and preferences in these areas?
7. Persona Development: With the existing data, should we create additional personas to represent our users more comprehensively? Should we consider creating a Customer Service Persona to address specific user needs in that domain?
8. Interaction with External Users: How will users interact with the app when communicating with non-app users, such as in the scenario of a user wanting to video call a non-app user? What considerations need to be addressed to provide a seamless experience in such interactions?

These open questions highlight the need for further research, user testing, and data collection to deepen our understanding of the target audience, refine the features, and create a more comprehensive user experience.

1. Simplicity: Maintain a focus on simplicity throughout the app’s design and functionality. Streamline the user experience by eliminating unnecessary complexities and minimizing cognitive load.
2. Micro-interaction Animations: Incorporate subtle and meaningful micro-interaction animations to enhance the user interface and provide visual feedback for user actions, creating a delightful and engaging experience.
3. Customer-Centric Features: Continuously strive to understand customer needs and prioritize features that directly address their pain points and provide effective solutions. Regularly gather user feedback to inform feature development decisions.
4. Clear and Understandable UI: Ensure that all elements of the app, including error messages, are communicated in a manner that is easily understood by the users. Clear and concise messaging should guide users in rectifying errors and understanding the app’s functionality.
5. Prominent Display of Main Functionality: Present the main functionality, such as the dialpad, prominently on the first screen to minimize the need for additional clicks and navigation. Facilitate quick access to essential features to streamline the user’s workflow.
6. UI Delighters: Incorporate small UI delighters, such as subtle animations, emoticons, and thoughtful use of colors, to create an enjoyable and engaging user experience. These subtle touches can enhance the overall satisfaction and make the app more fun to use.

By implementing these ideas, the app can be transformed into a user-friendly and engaging platform that effectively addresses customer needs while offering a visually appealing and intuitive interface.

Next Steps and Takeaways

1. Gather Target Audience Information: Conduct targeted research to gather specific information about the target audience. This may involve surveys, interviews, or data analysis to gain insights into their demographics, preferences, and usage patterns.
2. Utilize Comcast User Research Data: Explore existing user research data from Comcast that can provide valuable insights into user behavior, needs, and pain points. Analyze this data to inform the design and development of the app.
3. Conduct More Interviews with External Users: Schedule additional interviews with external users to gather deeper insights into their usage patterns, preferences, and pain points. These interviews can help uncover specific needs and expectations that will inform the app’s features and functionality.
4. Define User Goals and Objectives: Conduct research to define clear user goals and objectives. Understand what users need from the app and what they aim to achieve by using it. This information will serve as a foundation for designing a user-centric app experience.
5. Assess Business Needs and Target Audience: Determine the underlying business needs and objectives for creating the app. Identify the specific target audience and their key characteristics to align the app’s features and functionalities with their requirements.
6. Develop User Journey Map: Create a user journey map that outlines the various touchpoints and interactions users have with the app. This visual representation will help identify pain points, opportunities for improvement, and areas where user needs can be better addressed.
7. Formulate Problem Statement: Clearly define the problem statement that the app aims to solve. This statement should articulate the specific challenges or pain points experienced by users and provide a clear direction for the app’s design and development.
8. Create Scenarios: Develop scenarios that simulate real-life situations and use cases where the app will be utilized. These scenarios will help envision how users will interact with the app and identify the necessary features and functionalities to support their needs.

1. Avoid Overcomplicating the App: Focus on developing an application with essential features that address user needs first. Avoid adding excessive features that may overwhelm or confuse users.
2. Align Business and User Needs: Gain a deeper understanding of both the business needs and user needs to identify areas where they intersect. This alignment will guide the development of features that are valuable to both the business and the users.
3. Target Audience Definition: Reassess the target audience profile to ensure it accurately reflects the intended users of the application. Align the features and functionalities of the app with the preferences and requirements of the target audience.
4. Value Simplicity: Participants expressed a preference for simplicity, even if the existing app lacks certain functionalities. Emphasize simplicity in the design and ensure that the user experience remains straightforward and intuitive.
5. Clearly Define the Problem: Maintain a clear focus on the problem that the app aims to solve. Align the design decisions with this problem statement and ensure that the app addresses the specific pain points and challenges faced by the users.
6. Frictionless User Goals: Make sure that user goals are clear and that the app provides a frictionless experience in achieving these goals. Streamline workflows and minimize unnecessary steps to enhance user satisfaction.
7. Research Compilation for Design Decisions: Compile and analyze the research findings to guide design decisions. Leverage qualitative research to understand external users’ needs and preferences, and utilize quantitative research to gain deeper insights into internal users’ problems and needs.
8. Fresh Opportunity for Comcast/Blueface Product: View this app as an opportunity to create something fresh and innovative, which can serve as the new face of the Blueface product. Strive to develop an application that stands out and offers a unique user experience.
9. More User Research Needed: Conduct additional user research, both qualitative and quantitative, to gain a comprehensive understanding of external users and internal users’ challenges, needs, and preferences. This research will inform design decisions and ensure that the app caters effectively to user requirements.

Persona

Persona: Sales Connector

Demographics:

• Name: John Doe
• Age: 28–35
• Occupation: Sales Representative
• Industry: Technology Sales
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business or Sales

Goals and Motivations

• The user is motivated by efficiency and time-saving. They express frustration with having to switch between different tools and desire a solution that eliminates the need for such fiddling.
• Portability is a key motivator for the user. They want an all-in-one application that can be easily accessed and used across different devices.
• The user seeks a convenient way to contact both existing customers and prospective customers. They value an app that enables them to reach a large number of contacts easily and efficiently.

The user wants to accomplish the following tasks when using the product:

• Making and receiving calls: The user wants the ability to initiate and answer phone calls using the product. This could include both audio calls and potentially video calls.
• Transferring calls: The user wants the option to transfer calls to other team members or departments when necessary.
• Informing the team about availability: The user wants a feature that allows them to indicate their availability to the team. This could be important for coordinating communication and ensuring that team members know when the user is accessible.
• Being reachable on laptops/desktops: The user expects the product to be accessible on laptops and desktops, enabling them to use it in any way they prefer. This suggests a desire for a versatile and adaptable application that supports various platforms and devices.
• Interacting with calls or video: The user wants to be able to engage in interactive communication during calls or video meetings. This may include features like screen sharing, file sharing, chat functionality, and other collaborative tools.
• Contacting customers and team: The user wants the product to facilitate contacting both customers and team members. This implies a need for a robust contact management system or integration with existing customer relationship management (CRM) tools.

Needs and Expectations

• Clean, simple, accessible UI: The user prefers a user interface that is visually clean and uncluttered. They want a design that is easy to navigate and understand, with a minimal learning curve.
• Easy to understand for non-tech-savvy users: The user expects the product to be user-friendly, even for individuals who may not be familiar with technical terminology or complex interfaces. It should be intuitive and straightforward to use.
• Approachable: The user wants the product to feel approachable, meaning that it should be inviting and not intimidating for users. It should create a positive user experience and be welcoming to all levels of technical proficiency.
• Strong integration between features: The user values seamless integration between different features of the product. They expect all the functionalities to work well together and complement each other, providing a unified and cohesive experience.
• Easy to add a contact form Voicemail: The user wants a simple and straightforward process for adding contacts to the system, including the ability to add voicemail functionality for missed calls.
• Easy to phone back missed calls in History: The user expects an easy way to access and return missed calls directly from the call history section of the product. This feature should be intuitive and not require unnecessary steps.
• Converter of the voice message to text option: The user desires a feature that can convert voice messages to text, providing an alternative and more convenient way to access and review messages.
• Easy to understand Call History: The user wants the call history section to be clear and comprehensible, displaying different calls and using distinct icons or indicators to differentiate call types.
• Mobility: The user expects the product to offer mobility and flexibility, allowing for easy switching between different devices such as mobile, desktop, and even hard phones. The transition should be seamless and user-friendly.
• Fast and easy call making: The user values a user interface that is not overly complicated when it comes to making calls. They want a streamlined process that allows for quick and efficient call initiation without unnecessary complexities.

To help the user complete tasks more quickly and accessibly, the following features would be beneficial:

• Contacts: Integration with the user’s contact portal would streamline the process of managing and accessing customer and prospect information within the app.
• Settings: Providing a settings section with options for managing profile information, customizing notifications, and setting availability status would enhance the user’s control and customization.
• Availability status: Allowing the user to easily indicate their availability to the team would facilitate effective communication and coordination.
• Customer query integration: Integrating with another app where customer queries are stored would enable the user to access and respond to inquiries without having to switch between different tools.
• Note-taking during calls: Including a feature that allows the user to take notes while on a call would enhance their ability to capture important information and improve productivity.
• Team member availability: Enabling the user to check the availability status of their team members would help them determine the best time to contact and collaborate with colleagues.
• Quick customer contact: Offering a streamlined and efficient method to contact customers would expedite the user’s outreach efforts. This could include features like quick dialing, saved contacts, or recent contact suggestions.
• Anywhere, anytime access: Ensuring the app’s availability across different devices and platforms would provide the user with the flexibility to connect and use it from anywhere at any time.
• CRM integration: Integrating with popular customer relationship management (CRM) platforms such as Zendesk, HubSpot, Salesforce, etc., would enable seamless data synchronization and enhance the user’s ability to manage customer interactions.
• Good call quality: Providing a reliable and high-quality call experience, including clear audio and minimal disruptions, would contribute to efficient and effective communication.

Behaviours

• Utilizing Zendesk for obtaining customers’ numbers: The user relies on Zendesk, likely a customer support or ticketing system, to access customer contact information, including their phone numbers.
• Using the CP app when working remotely or traveling: The user opts for the CP app when they are working remotely or while traveling. This indicates a preference for a mobile solution that offers flexibility and accessibility.
• Making calls to customers and internal numbers: The user engages in both outbound and inbound calls, contacting both customers and internal team members within the organization.
• Not utilizing Contacts in the CP app: The user does not utilize the contact management feature within the CP app. This suggests that they might rely on alternative methods or tools for managing and accessing their contact information.
• Calling from call history: The user frequently initiates calls directly from the call history section of the app, indicating a preference for quick and convenient access to recent or missed contacts.
• Not using Settings: The user does not actively utilize the settings section of the app, possibly indicating that they have not explored or customized the app’s configuration to their preferences.
• Preferring voice calls for extended conversations: The user shows a preference for voice calls over other modes of communication, particularly for longer conversations and discussions. This suggests that they find voice calls to be more suitable for in-depth and comprehensive communication.

Pain Points and Frustrations

• Inability to see peers’ availability statuses: The user is unable to determine the availability of their team members, which can hinder effective communication and collaboration.
• No access to Portal contacts: The user does not have the ability to access their contacts stored in the Portal, which may cause inconvenience and difficulty in managing customer and prospect information.
• Lack of ability to change caller IDs/lines: The user desires the functionality to change caller IDs or lines, a feature that is available in competitor apps. The absence of this capability may limit their flexibility in managing and presenting their contact information.
• Unclear error messages: The product provides error messages that are not clear or informative, making it challenging for the user to understand and troubleshoot issues that may arise.
• Difficulty finding the warm transfer feature: The user encountered difficulty in locating the warm transfer feature, suggesting that it may not be easily discoverable or well-explained within the app’s interface.
• Absence of a voice message to text converter: The lack of a feature that can convert voice messages to text makes it inconvenient for the user to review and respond to messages efficiently.
• Unintuitive call history icons: The icons used in the call history section of the product are not easily understandable, which can lead to confusion or difficulty in interpreting the call log.
• Inability to set user availability status: The user considers the ability to set their availability status as an essential feature. However, it appears to be missing from the product, which may limit their ability to communicate their availability to the team effectively.

Empathy Map

Continue reading … Business communication desktop app — User’s problems and needs definition — Part 2.

Business communication desktop app — User’s problems and needs definition — Part 2.