User research & persona creation
User research study for the Alcumus client portal
Introduction
The Alcumus Client Portal allows companies to manage and see the status of their supply chain, as well as find new contractors and suppliers. It helps companies ensure that everyone working for them has the right business credentials and is an ethical business.
The portal design is several years old and in advance of an upcoming redesign I was asked to carry out user research to find out:
- Who the users are
- Why they use the portal
- What are their key journeys
- What issues are they having
- What could be done to improve their use of portal
My responsibilities
- Liaise with stakeholders for requirements
- Create & manage online survey
- Arrange & conduct user interviews
- Communicate findings to stakeholders
- Present recommendations
- Create personas
- Implement design improvements
Research plan
This was the first user research for the Alcumus client portal. I created a research plan to share with stakeholders and get buy-in.
I implemented two streams of research: Quantitative data in the form of an Online survey, and qualitative data in the form of User interviews.
User interviews
The user interviews were carried out online. I asked the user to share their screen and I used a pre-prepared script to guide the conversation but encouraged open and honest comments.
Findings
I collated the research using Condens and presented the findings to internal stakeholders.
The findings:
- For the first time gave us a good insight into who our users are, including their job roles, technological expertise and site usage
- Showed us the main reasons our customers use the portal, the key user journeys and the main pain points they experienced
- Gave us a wealth of knowledge as to what customers want to see in the portal
- I used the findings to create a set of user personas. These are now used to benchmark any development decisions we make.
Personas
I used the findings to create a set of user personas. These are now used to benchmark any development decisions we make.
I also mapped out the key user journeys the personas made.
Stakeholders were pleased with the results of the research. It helped confirm assumptions about user issues but also highlighted for the first time the specific problems users were facing. The research led to several interfaces being redesigned based on actual user feedback.
Users said they found the experience beneficial, and I really enjoyed talking to them.