Understanding the Client Journey
Background
This was an exploratory, generative research project that was proposed prior to H2 planning to inform the prioritization and scoping of project proposals.
As a new startup, Cerebral had not yet done much user research which meant we had little to no insight into the client experience. Projects were prioritized based on business metrics without any input from user needs. This project aimed to further inform projects by providing an overview of our clients’ experiences and needs.
Disclaimer: This research was done while under a non-disclosure agreement with Cerebral. This is a very high-level review of the project to give you a sample of the type of users and questions I worked with. Please schedule a case study review with me to get the full story.
Goal
Gain an initial broad understanding of the current client experience at Cerebral. Identify what is working and what needs to be improved.
Understand existing and prospective clients’ needs, behaviors, pain points and whether these differ by service line or payment type.
Timeline
4-6 weeks
Role + Team
My role was the lead researcher for the project. The team consisted of a lead product designer along with the support and leadership from my manager.
Methodology
Given the generative nature of the research goals, we decided we needed to talk to people by method of user interviews. The team had historically done some interviews with various client types, so we only needed to interview active insurance clients to get a broad representation.
User interviews with active insurance clients (7 total)
Secondary research from two previous projects
User interviews with active self-pay clients with 3+ months of experience with Cerebral (8 total)
User interviews with canceled or churned clients (4 total)
This gave us a total of 19 user interviews to synthesize.
Outcome
The outcome of this research was detailed in a written report. Overall, we identified 8 key insights about the patient experience and 9 areas of opportunity. I will share one example of an insight and recommendation.
Insight: Many clients end up signing up for the wrong plan or misunderstand their financial obligation during the intake.
Customer quote: “"When I first signed up with the account, it put me on this prescription plan. But I didn't need medication, I just wanted to talk to somebody"
Recommendation: Improve the intake process so clients are empowered to select the services they want at a price they can afford. The “Recommended plan” screen is a dark UX pattern that is not a true recommendation for the client and hides alternative plan options. Make true recommendations based on client needs and allow clients a clear choice in plans.
Impact
The findings were utilized to prioritize projects for the 2022 H2 roadmap and again for H1 2023. The findings continue to be referenced and utilized as a baseline understanding of the client experience for product managers and designers when embarking on new projects.
The findings have also been translated into several shorter “finding nugget” reports. These reports are more focused and deeper dives into specific topics people are interested in. One example is “Client insights about sign up”.
Since this was one of the first generative research projects at Cerebral, this was extremely influential in gaining stakeholder support for UXR. Prior to this project, the vast majority of product work was launched without doing any type of user research. After this project, PMs were requesting research for the majority of their projects before launching.