Become Unforgettable: Design Thinking and User Experience (UX).
User Experience (UX) is becoming a growing buzzword in today’s sales and marketing world, but design thinking is currently #trending. While the headline caught your attention, you may be thinking, “I don’t build websites or do graphic design. I think I may have clicked on the wrong blog. Where is the marketing content?” You’re not lost! In addition to UX, design thinking is an important part of every aspect of your business. Keep reading or fall behind the competition – the choice is yours!
You have my attention. What exactly is design thinking?
Simply put, design thinking is a thorough, human-centric method to solve problems. According to Nielsen Norman Group, design thinking forces you to think outside the box, which increases innovation and is a sure-fire way to differentiate yourself. Coaching your team to utilize this unconventional methodology forces them to question the standard and provides your business with a top-tier competitive advantage. However, design thinking can often feel like an overwhelming process to learn, given there is some argument regarding the formal order and titles for the various steps, depending on which firm you ask. Personally, we’re going to be referencing Nielsen Norman Group’s research, which breaks everything down into three phases:
Phase I: Understand
Step 1: Empathize. When you’re first getting started, it’s important to conduct research to develop an understanding of your customers. What drives them? Why are they researching senior living options? Are you working with family members, stressed from the recent decline in their loved one’s health? Perhaps you’re instead speaking with a spunky senior who wants to spend more time out enjoying everything life has to offer instead of worrying about the trials and tribulations of homeownership.
Step 2: Define. Next, you need to analyze the research you’ve gathered to help narrow down the problems your decision-makers experience. After all, you’re selling more than just four walls and a meal plan – you are a solutions expert, passionate about providing the dream lifestyle. According to Nielsen Norman Group, this is when it’s crucial to begin highlighting your opportunities for innovation.
Phase II: Explore
Step 3: Ideate. Folks – it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for… gather the team and go crazy. I’m not kidding. Give your creativity the freedom to run wild and start throwing out ideas. At this point, nothing is too simple or far-fetched. Right now, we’re aiming for quantity and not quality, because you never know what golden nuggets you’ll uncover when your imagination is fully unleashed.
Step 4: Prototype. Okay, everyone. Let’s simmer down. Now that you have a whiteboard full of amazing ideas (and a few good laughs to reminisce about on rainy days), it’s time to start your ‘prototype.’ Weigh the impact and feasibility of your potential marketing campaigns and custom-tailor your messaging to emphasize the solutions-based services you’ve decided to promote.
Phase III: Materialize
Step 5: Test. You did the research, put a plan in place, and now you’re ready to go. Let’s get this campaign moving, right? Listen, we’re just as excited as you are to hit the ground running and provide excellent solutions to your customers, but let’s not be hasty. Before you spend your entire print and digital budget, we’re going to want to test, first. The beauty of the digital world is that it’s easy to circle back with the decision-makers you spoke with previously while gathering information, as well as run small test focus groups via social media, email marketing, and PPC advertising. Is everything performing as well as you’d hoped? Great! Proceed to the next step. But, if your campaigns are underperforming, do not pass go. Do not collect $200. You don’t have to go to jail, but you DO need to review your data and revisit the previous design thinking steps to understand why your campaign isn’t fairing as well as you’d hoped.
Step 6: Implement. You’ve tested, adjusted, and tested again. Thanks to design thinking, you’re now seeing great results. Wonderful! Let’s turn your plan into a reality and move forward with your full campaign. Supplement your marketing with direct mail pieces, which support your successful messaging, in addition to scheduling out your full digital media budget. Finally, don’t forget to make sure every member of your customer service, sales, and marketing teams has all received thorough training to ensure your decision-makers are receiving the same excellent service every step of the way.
Once you have the steps down, design thinking seems straightforward, right? However, there is one aspect of this method that can be somewhat misleading. Design thinking is commonly shown in infographics as a circular process, giving you the impression that you simply need to go through the motions from start to finish. Instead, it’s important to point out that, much like human beings, designing your business for your customers isn’t always simple and to the point, and every idea may not be a winner. As demonstrated above, once you’ve gathered feedback from testing your prototype and sometimes even after implementation, it’s not uncommon to discover better ways to accomplish your goals and serve your clients. That’s why it’s crucial to remember that design thinking is a non-linear approach, it’s interactive. Be prepared to take steps back throughout the process to adjust your overall strategy.
Keeping the human brain in mind.
As much as we sometimes wish it were different, humans are incredibly complex, constantly evolving beings. What worked before in your sales and marketing strategies may not work today, and it’s hard to predict how long your current tactics will last. While it’s easy to see how humans can change dramatically over generations, there are a few key psychological concepts still applicable today to keep in mind when practicing design thinking.
Understanding and appealing to the brain’s two hemispheres.
If it’s been some time since you’ve studied psychology, you may need a quick refresher regarding left brain and right brain thinking. Studies show that each side of the brain is predictably responsible for managing different types of thinking, such as:
Left brain thinking is typically considered:
Logical
Analytical
Linear
Scientific
Mathematical
Thinking in Words
Whereas right brain thinking is generally classified as:
Imaginative/Creative
Passionate
Holistic
Intuitive
Artistic
Big-Picture thinking
It was once believed that people were considered to be either right brain dominant or left brain dominant, but a 2013 research review from a team of neuroscientists set out to test this premise. While there is currently much debate as to whether there is sufficient evidence to support this theory, what we do know is that it’s important to cater to both thought processes when working with decision-makers.
Mastering mindsets.
In addition to appealing to both the logical and imaginative sides of the human brain, it’s also important to consider how mindsets affect our decision-making. What exactly are mindsets? According to an article published by Benefit Mindset, they are “the underlying beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions that create our everyday lives – and shape our world.” Benefit Mindset further elaborates that mindsets typically fall under three distinct categories:
1. Fixed Mindset: Everyday experts who seek perfection while avoiding failure.
2. Growth Mindset: Everyday learners who seek growth and development.
3. Benefit Mindset: Everyday leaders who seek to ‘be well’ and ‘do good.’
So, what exactly does this mean to you and your sales strategy? When speaking with a prospective client, it’s important you identify their specific mindset and appeal to the side of the brain that seems to be engaged. By listening, you should actively seek to understand their current situation, explore their wants and needs, and materialize an appropriate solution custom-tailored to their life.
For example, if you find yourself speaking with someone who seems to be on autopilot, caring only about the immediate needs at the forefront of his or her mind, you’ll need to understand they’re currently operating under a fixed mindset. Appeal to the logical left side of the brain by facilitating the needs that are clearly important to them, without pressuring them to venture too far out of their comfort zone. Are you instead speaking to someone who seems more fluid to discuss a variety of topics? This growth mindset-er will appreciate a thoughtful approach that engages the topics that are of distinct interest but will similarly enjoy creative suggestions that may also catch their attention. Finally, if you find yourself interacting with more of a big-picture thinker, who alludes to topics engrossed in both logic and emotion, their benefit mindset will greatly appreciate not only how your community benefits them, but also what kind of sustainability and philanthropic efforts you’re involved in as well.
How to enhance User Experience (UX) with design thinking.
Now that you have a basic understanding of some common psychological influences that shape the behaviors of decision-makers, as well as the importance of design thinking, you are better prepared to start optimizing your UX. Bunnyfoot, a leader in the UX industry with more than 20 years of design experience, suggests that UX provides a holistic approach to interacting with a company by taking into consideration how the prospect feels before, during, and after they’ve interacted with your company. While UX can be an elaborate topic befitting of a standalone blog in itself, there are two important UX tools that commonly pair well with design thinking: customer journey mapping and UX experience workshops.
Customer journey mapping.
Customer experience company Delighted defines customer journey mapping as “a visual storyline of every engagement a customer has with a service, brand, or product. The creation of a journey map puts the organization directly in the mind of the consumer, so they can see and understand their customer’s processes, needs, and perceptions.” By creating a journey map, you’re able to identify every touchpoint between your prospect and your company, from how they heard of you, what kind of experience they had on your website or social channels, and even how they were treated by your customer service or sales professionals. By creating this intricate outline, you’re able to best understand what your customer experiences, where they may encounter confusion or difficulties, and how to better serve them throughout your sales funnel.
UX workshops
If you’re encountering specific problems or feel like you’re not making much progress with your UX design, many companies will participate in intensive collaborative sessions known as UX workshops. Nielsen Norman Group describes the five most common types of UX workshops as follows:
Discovery workshops: Communicate the current state and create consensus for milestones and plans.
Empathy workshops: Help a broad team or stakeholders understand and prioritize user needs before designing a solution.
Design workshops: Rapidly generate and discuss a wide set of ideas with a diverse group of attendees.
Prioritization workshops: Build consensus on which features value most and prioritize them.
Critique workshops: Ensure that design decisions align with user needs.
Combining design thinking and UX to create unforgettable experiences.
Interacting with a company, whether independently through your various marketing channels, or directly with a sales professional, can release a myriad of chemicals from the brain, causing a wide range of emotions. A poor experience at a community could potentially cause feelings of stress or fear, resulting in the production of “the stress hormone” cortisol. If triggered enough, this could elicit a flight or fight response, potentially sending your prospective new resident fleeing out the door.
The good news is that you can easily avoid a flailing exit fiasco and leave your prospects with an unforgettable experience with thorough preparation. By harnessing the customer-centric approaches of design thinking and user experience, you can instead guide your prospects to a delightful dopamine rush. Activate the brain’s reward and pleasure centers by empathetically understanding their needs, creating personalized solutions, and providing top-notch service before, during, and after their visit.
Does design thinking and user experience seem like a little too much for your already maxed-out team to tackle? Are you a team of one, desperately in need of someone to help provide outside insight? Being passionate about people, ADage Marketing Group is not only prepared to help – we’re excited to be a part of your sales and marketing strategy. Send us a message to schedule a free walkthrough on how we set our clients up for success with design thinking, journey maps, and UX workshops.
