This project was unusual in that the product and price were already defined for an under-sink water filtration unit. So the question became: who is the best user, and will additional services be needed to bring value to them?
First Steps
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS
Since this was an unusual case where product was less flexible and success was going to come in finding user fit and service design, I needed to know everything about the client’s goals and restrictions.
I interviewed the client to determine her goals and limits in terms of both money and effort she would be willing to expend to determine the user so I could know the scope of my project.
I interviewed the US distributor of the water filters to determine product/packing flexibility, pricing and distribution options so that I could better understand my options in designing a service for the client’s eventual customers.
TESTING CLIENT ASSUMPTIONS
Knowing the client’s proposed users – current college students and condominium owners in Los Angeles – represented a difficult and saturated market, my first step was to ensure that this user fit their product through discovery interviews. After several interviews with people who fit the client’s descriptions, it became apparent that these were not the best users for this client and this product.
DISCOVERING USER
It was actually by chance and keen observation that the clients best user was discovered. I was driving up Hoover Street one day when I passed an elderly Hispanic man carrying a five gallon jug of water. As I waited for the light to turn, I watched him struggle to carry it uphill on his shoulder and thought of a Hispanic friend who I had also seen struggle with cases of water every time she went to the grocery store. I immediately thought of the water filters, and called my friend that night to see if my hunch about these water filters helping lower income Hispanics might be correct.
Discovery Interviews
My call with my friend gave me the research questions I needed to begin researching this user. Immigrant Hispanics come often come from countries with water they don’t trust. The habit of buying bottled water stays with them when they come to the US, so many Hispanic families with little money to spare will make room in the budget for bottled water. My client’s units would be a money saving option in the long run, but I had a lot of testing to do to be sure.
At my friend’s suggestion, I went to a laundromat (or lavanderia) in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood to find potential interviewees. Many lower income Hispanics rent their homes and don’t have washers in unit, so they take the weekends to do laundry. Lavanderias become meeting grounds, and with a long task they would have time to talk with me.
With a captive audience and my basic Spanish proficiency, I created an interview guide and spent a weekend interviewing patrons of the laundromat. I was able to develop preliminary personas and a rough customer journey map after affinity mapping and analyzing the results of these interviews.
1st JOURNEY MAP
I spent two more weekends in lavanderias, gathering information to further refine the personas and build a rough sketch customer journey map of their current process. These interviews were also a way to test the additional products and services that were emerging to ease the installation of this product for these users.
Personas
AFFINITY DIAGRAMMING
I reorganized my initial interview responses by various categories. As patterns began to emerge, I created initial sketch personas. These provided research questions to use in usability tests of package add-ons and services that I was developing as well.
PERSONAS
Through subsequent interviewing and user testing, I refined these initial personas into the following two primary personas:
Iterating on Service Design
Together with the client, I outlined the proposed journey map for the client’s water filters and process. This helped me to both inform the client, get buy in, and test each of my ideas against her willingness to “go there” in terms of new services to offer. Next I began to tackle each step in the process, using interviews and usability tests as appropriate to find the pain points and test possible solutions.
USERS' FIRST ENCOUNTER + PRODUCT DISCOVERY
We primarily used interviews to find the pain points, and then used a combination of interviews and usability tests to verify the solutions.
The solutions for this stage were:
Services:
Demonstration Sales + Product Ambassadors: This came as a surprise to me, but proved important in user tests. The client’s water units are expensive, and unable to be returned once installed for safety reasons. Thus, users wanted to be absolutely sure that they would be able install and use the product. Additionally, for those for whom taste was most important, a demonstration was a must. Through my interviews and through a few existing customers, I was able to test the demonstration method and it proved to be successful. There were numerous users who were willing to be neighborhood demonstrators for discounts on their unit payments or referral bonuses. This also built upon the target users current method of relying on recommendations from close friends or family for large purchases.
Payment Plans: Many users lacked the credit or the upfront cash to afford to purchase outright, and many others prefer to use payment plans. To capture a larger number of this user base, the client would need to either create a partnership or their own payment plan system.
Spanish Language Customer Service + Web Services: To be able to best serve this user and prevent frustration for both the customer and customer service employees, Spanish language services will be necessary.
Package Adds:
Landlord FAQs: Most of the target users rent their homes, and they need to be able to communicate effectively to the their landlord that this unit is not permanent and will leave no lasting effects – this included flyer answers all the landlords’ questions revealed in the research.
Leak Guard Auto-Shut Off: One of the primary fears and dangers of a plumb-in filter system users mentioned is leaks – by offering a device that senses leaks and can turn off the water supply to the filter automatically, the client can alleviate these fears and dangers for the users, and help earn their landlord’s approval.
PURCHASE + INSTALLATION
These phases were explored using interviews and usability testing. Usability testing was particularly important for the installation phase discoveries, as I observed several users install the filters. Solutions:
Services:
Spanish Language Installation Video: The client has access to one in English, but I suggested either adding Spanish subtitles or, better yet, recreating one in Spanish. For the majority of users, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home and the English video proved to be more annoying than helpful, as they had to keep pausing it and replaying it to understand.
DAILY USE + REORDERING
Many of the solutions needed for these two stages were developed in earlier stages. The unique solution found for this stage was:
Package Adds:
Expiration Stickers: With limited online communication methods and pay-as-you-go phones, these users can be hard to maintain contact with a year later, when the filters will need replaced. By sending a sticker with both the month and year to replace the filter and the company’s phone number, the replacement process is still easy if the company loses contact with them.
The Outcome
Ultimately, the client decided not to pursue this business for their own personal reasons. They were very satisfied with the results from my work, and I was grateful for the opportunity to learn about a new user base I hadn’t explored. I learned an incredible amount about co-creating with both clients and users to increase buy-in, and solutions. It reaffirmed for me that one of the most valuable skills I have as UX designer has is my ability to listen.
I actually had a lot of fun in those laundromats.