Mind Mapping Tool

Challenge

I am a product manager working at a traditional financial services company and a major challenge we  were facing is the low open rate of communications sent to customers via mail. Communications such as  newly launched banking features, active promos that could benefit them, regulatory update  requirement notification on customer accounts and many more, this we believe contributes to low  transaction activity of accounts on the banking platforms.

Selection

We figured attempting to understand why or determining next steps on this assignment presented  special challenges from a research viewpoint as our potential customers were diverse. We have  customers age range from 18 to 70+ who have different motivational levels, bias, and technological  savvy, we wanted to have a creative conversation with our interview subjects, and we knew this would  take a different kind of tool and a different kind of stimuli, so we were ready to use the mind mapping  tool.

Application

We selected thirty candidates representing our customer demography and we gave them some  assignments to complete before their interview. Our first assignment for the candidates was to capture  the measure of their daily lives for a week, asking each person to note how they receive information  generally on a typical day. These could range from information on new updates about their mostly used  products, news, reminders, financial matters etc.

Then after we organized a structured subsequent face-to-face interview to gain more insights, During  the interview, we also used the pin-wheel design tool described as part of this course content where our  candidates were given a pinwheel and asked to draw themselves into the center. The petals of the pin  wheel were for them to draw in friends and family. Then they rated how each of the petals notified  them of new information to create a kind of social graph.

Insights

These interviews helped us create a picture of the kinds of differences in the way people get quick  access to new information. Some patterns started to emerge, and we started to see changes in user  behaviors, some stereotype, attitudes, technology skills levels of the interviewees.  The changes ranged  from the busy executive who receives a lot of mails, to a young teenager who doesn’t check emails as  much as social media, to small business owner who preferred to receive information via SMS and more.

Approach

These insights led us to create different personas where each of the personas needed its own approach  to receiving financial-service related information, and hence, their own medium for the best approach  to reach them. We also used a set of tools for brainstorming as part of asking ‘what if’, using trigger  questions, and multiple rounds of silent idea writing and then sharing, in our data driven and  collaborative sessions. This gave us more visibility as the personas were well descriptive of who our  customers are and how best to communicate with them.


Mind Mapping Tool Challenge I am a product manager working at a traditional financial services company and a major challenge we were facing is the low open rate of communications sent to customers via mail . Communications such as newly launched banking features , active promos that could benefit them , regulatory update requirement notification on customer accounts and many more , this we believe contributes to low transaction activity of accounts on the banking platforms . Selection We figured attempting to understand why or determining next steps on this assignment presented special challenges from a research viewpoint as our potential customers were diverse . We have customers age range from 18 to 70 + who have different motivational levels , bias , and technological savvy , we wanted to have a creative conversation with our interview subjects , and we knew this would take a different kind of tool and a different kind of stimuli , so we were ready to use the mind mapping tool . Application We selected thirty candidates representing our customer demography and we gave them some assignments to complete before their interview . Our first assignment for the candidates was to capture the measure of their daily lives for a week , asking each person to note how they receive information generally on a typical day . These could range from information on new updates about their mostly used products , news , reminders , financial matters etc . Then after we organized a structured subsequent face - to - face interview to gain more insights , During the interview , we also used the pin - wheel design tool described as part of this course content where our candidates were given a pinwheel and asked to draw themselves into the center . The petals of the pin wheel were for them to draw in friends and family . Then they rated how each of the petals notified them of new information to create a kind of social graph . Insights These interviews helped us create a picture of the kinds of differences in the way people get quick access to new information . Some patterns started to emerge , and we started to see changes in user behaviors , some stereotype , attitudes , technology skills levels of the interviewees . The changes ranged from the busy executive who receives a lot of mails , to a young teenager who does n’t check emails as much as social media , to small business owner who preferred to receive information via SMS and more . Approach These insights led us to create different personas where each of the personas needed its own approach to receiving financial - service related information , and hence , their own medium for the best approach to reach them . We also used a set of tools for brainstorming as part of asking ‘ what if ’ , using trigger questions , and multiple rounds of silent idea writing and then sharing , in our data driven and collaborative sessions . This gave us more visibility as the personas were well descriptive of who our customers are and how best to communicate with them .