Challenge and Selection

Storytelling is a technique which I think is the most powerful one. The main reason is  that storytelling, if implemented with the right way, will always make people listen. I  work fοr a big online betting company.

The challenge we faced, was to improve the user experience of our site. I used to be  myself an online player, so I felt that i could be in their position. That was the reason  that i chose the technique of storytelling to help the team reach its goal.

Application

What i did was to explain to the team, from the scope of the user, the whole process  of online playing, from the beginning to the end. At first i explained to them the  problems and the difficulties i faced and sometimes made me change the platform  that i was playing in. I shared my personal experience for every stage of the process,  from the verification stage to the stage of playing itself. I also felt that it was important  to share my thoughts about the feeling of injustice that i sometimes had, because  some betting companies did not always treat the players the way they should, for  example sometimes they find excuses not to pay the players winnings or sometimes  they pay the players with very big delay. I also shared my thoughts and experiences  about the functionality and aesthetics of our online platform and I suggested some  changes that i, as a user, would suggest.

Insight

By applying the storytelling tool, i managed to explain my team my thoughts, not only  as a member of the company, but also as a potential user. The team acknowledged  the need for changes and adjustments in the way out platform works and in the way  we treat its users. At first some changes were maid for certain users only just to get  some feedback. We preffered to make a small and quick bet than to change the  platform for the all the users with the risk to lose many of them. Some of the changes  were welcomed by the players and some did not. The changes that the users found  to be positive were implemented in a bigger sample. The conclusions from this stage  of testing were implemented in the final product.

Approach

From the results that we got from the users of the platform and from the way out  team worked and welcomed the design thinking tool of storytelling, I can surely say  that is is a very good and effective way of making the changes that should be made.

In the end we must not forget that the products we design are meant to be used and  judged by people like us, so our experiences are very important and need to be  shared and heard.

