UX mapping
Background
I worked for a product team that is responsible for a kids website targeting all kids between 7 to 12. Since kids are different from each other, there is a big difference between their online behaviour and interest. Thus, it is essential to group different types of kids into segment, and investigate the user flow of each segment so that the product team can find pain points and improve the user experience for each of them.
Iteration 1
Based on previous research, kids can be grouped into four different segments regarding their online behaviour. I started, therefore, mapping the user flow of a specific kids segment. While I looked at the different stages of the user flow, I noticed that there is other important factors that also affect the user flow. These factors are brand awareness and whether it is first time visit or returning visit. To include these factors, I created the first version of the user flow mapping of a kids segment, as shown on the picture below. I divided the map into three sections with different colours and linked the user actions with different colours of link representing the type of users:
- Green: users that don't know the brand and neither been to the website
- Orange: users that know the brand but haven't been to the website
- Red: users that know the brand and have been to the website
First version of user segment flow mapping
Iteration 2
After I finished the first version of the user segment flow map, I felt the map is still unclear and didn't provide a comprehensive overview of the user flow. Therefore, I reached out to another researcher and discuss the map together. During the discussion, I reflected on what factors I want to highlight and how I should map it out. It resulted in I decided to take a step back looking at the brand awareness and first time vs. returning first. In this way, I created a simple mapping of the general user flow focusing on whether the user love or don't love the brand and whether it is their first time visiting the website, as well as at which point of the journey there are possibilities for drop out of visiting the website.
For example a user that don't love the brand will start exploring the website during their first visit. Then, the user will find relevant content that interested him/her and engage with the content. After that, depending on the user experience of the content the user will possibly revisit the website or drop out.
Based on the simple generic user flow, I created four tables corresponding to the four kids segments and listed what types of contents are relevant for them.
Simple generic user flow and contents table based on the four segments
Iteration 3
Afterwards, I presented the simple map and tables to a designer from the product team and asked for feedback around it. Based on the feedback from the designer, I iterated and refined the map. Thereby, It shows a clearer connections between the different steps in the user flow and outlines the goal of the flow such as the goal of a non-brand lover goal is to make him/her to become the brand lover and the goal of a brand lover is to make him/her keep revisiting our website.
Based on this refined simple generic user flow map, I created four expanded maps each focusing on a kids segment. In these expanded maps, I described the interest and motivation for each kids segment and elaborated on what kinds of content are relevant for this segment to engage with on the website. These relevant contents were then listed in a table with brand awareness as row and first time or revisit as column. In each cell, I also grouped the content with whether it is available with and without a login account.
Final version of simple generic user flow map, as well as expanded maps and contents tables based on the four segments
Contribution
The final map provided a comprehensive overview of the user flow on the website and well received by the designers from the product team. It helped the designers understand the user flow between different user and make decisions in what types of content can be added to improve the user experience.
