Defining User Pain Points to Increase NIAMRRE Member Engagement

Defining User Pain Points to Increase NIAMRRE Member Engagement

Research, Strategy, UX Design, Copywriting

Problem: As a start up, NIAMRRE membership was low and it was unclear why users weren't interested in joining the organization.

Goal: Conduct UX research to determine what products or services would be most beneficial for potential members.

My Role: UX researcher and brand designer designing the membership experience as part of a small team. I conducted interviews, created brand guidelines, outlined business strategy, and wrote web and print copy.

The Process

When NIAMRRE was just getting started as a membership-based organization, I introduced the team to the business model canvas to plan and identify the most important features of the business. Using the business model canvas as a blueprint, NIAMRRE leadership needed to provide a valuable product or service to their academic stakeholders to increase membership. One idea was to build a member extranet.

Empathize: To validate that assumption and gain insights, I facilitated 15+ user discovery interviews to identify key academic stakeholder values and messaging and compiled them into a report for leadership to view.

Define: After analyzing the qualitative research, we found that an extranet would not be valuable at all, but instead most institutions wanted help spreading the word about their achievements or needed a way to find other scientists from across the nation doing similar work.

Iterate: Based on our user feedback, we began investigating what an online scientist directory might look like to meet those needs. Since we also heard during the interviews that many people were confused about what/who NIAMRRE was and how they were going to participate, we also needed to revisit the website experience and design an onboarding experience that clarified expectations.

Prototype: I created digital mockups and revised website copy to better clarify who and what NIAMRRE was about, while other members of the team gathered content for the scientist directory. In addition to digital content, I designed print and branded marketing materials, including coasters, banners, apparel, folders and brochures to give a cohesive look and feel to all promotional efforts.

Test: We tested the external branding and prototype scientist directory with key stakeholders and began to see an immediate increase in NIAMMRE member engagement.