about the project

The current trial software journey illustrated a generic experience for all customers. At the time of the trial software inception this experience made sense, but as customers get smarter they expect more personalized experiences. Using data and design I strived to answer the question, How might we make trials more relevant to customers adding more value when converting from trial to subscription? Therefore, a core team was created to lead an effort to envision more tailored experiences using conversational AI chatbots leveraging Drift’s AI technology.

I lead the experience design strategy and service design for this multi-disciplinary team which comprised of a UX designer, data expert, business architect, PMs and e-commence engineer. We looked to understand what is important to customers when evaluating a product before purchasing. Our goal was to not only solve the relevancy problem for customers, but also provide sales agents more quality help as they work to convert trialers to purchasers. In the end the ultimate mission was to increase product conversion and trial engagement.

The project timeline consisted of many phases including a vision workshop, testing a concept through user interviews, a storyboard workshop, and a final prototype to use for a pilot after a second round of unmoderated user testing.

• Title: Envisioning a New Trial Experience

• Company: Autodesk, Digital Platform Experience Group, Experience Design Team

• Role: Lead XD Strategist and Workshop Facilitator

• Core Team: Williams Garcia (UX/UI Designer), Adam Smith, Renee Anderson, Heather Voden

• Date: July 2018 - June 2019; over a year of work

the design + research process

the current experience

the problem

the design workshops + prototype study

The initial kickoff workshop look at the current experience and visioned an ideal tailored experience for customers. After the workshop, a concept was prioritized to prototype and test with several users. The prototype utilized a virtual agent named Ava, to guide users to a customized relevant experience. It was then tested at an Autodesk University Conference (large conference with customers) with users in 40-45 minute interviews.

final concept + testing of new experience

The final concept placed a message window (chatbot) in the software to provide a tailored experience. Insights were taken from the research study and used in a workshop to begin to design a concept for prototyping and piloting. The concept took many extensive strategy sessions to build out the workflow and was design in partnership with the UI/UX designer. The prototype had 77 screens. The research study was done on Usertesting.com, with unmoderated interviews and tasked-based actions to gauge ease of use and overall experience.

*All UI screens created by UX designer, Williams Garcia; however prototype concept, user workflows, strategy, research guide, and interviews were co-designed and lead by myself.

Workflows and XD Adobe prototype

Collaborative research synthesis sessions using mural

Key insights

Learnings + Takeaways

This process use a framework to build a strategic vision and then develop research and design concepts to eventually become a pilot. Not all design processes get to control the vision to inception process because of the way companies work in silos. I learned through this project it is quite important to have solid frameworks to reference that can ground the objectives and the mission. Frameworks are just as important as data because they help build the experience principles.