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Boardable Beta Testing

OVERVIEW

Boardable is a software company with a mission of increasing board and committee engagement through its application of the same name. Through my role as Associate Product Manager, I worked to empathize with our users and optimize our processes.

Boardable's new UI is scheduled for launch in November 2022.

ROLE

UX Researcher, Product Management // User Testing, Customer Discovery, Enablement Strategy // Figma, Hubspot, Google Suite

DATE

September 2022 - October 2022

New Beta Tester on the Block

At Boardable, we began the process of developing a new user interface for the product in July 2022. As we neared being code-complete in September, we knew the earlier we got this in front of a small group of customers for feedback, the better. 

 

I took on the task of preparing and executing a testing process for our new UI. To accomplish this, I worked cross-collaboratively with the Customer Success, Engineering, Marketing, and QA departments. Through this project I:

📝 Created a beta user testing plan. I went through the product and developed a list of tasks for our beta testers to complete asynchronously, and also prepared questions for a discovery call once they had a chance to try everything out.

☎️ Held six customer discovery calls. I, along with a Customer Success colleague, held six follow-up calls over the course of two weeks with all of our beta testers where we got to hear their feedback on the new interface.

 

🌟 Provided a list of enablement strategies. One of the purposes of the beta testing was to see how easily our customers could adapt to the new interface, and steps we could take to improve the experience when we launched the interface fully.

Securing the Testers

I worked with Customer Success to reach out to customers who serve on Boardable's Customer Advisory Board, a smaller group of customers who have agreed to meet regularly and give us feedback. When they agreed to help out, we sent over the list of tasks to complete, which included tasks like creating a meeting, adding items to the minutes, and trying out our annotations feature.

Customer Discovery Calls

Over the course of two weeks, I had six follow-up conversations with our beta testers who completed the tasks list I sent out. Overall, customers found the new UI to be comparable to the old, and didn't think their organizations would have trouble shifting over.

Compiling the Feedback

After the discovery calls, it was time to parse down all the feedback in an easily digestible and actionable way. Although I can't share the exact document for confidentiality reasons, my themed findings are below.

Working Together

I worked with multiple departments across the company for this project. 

Customer Success

I worked closely with one of our Customer Success Managers to get in touch with customers for beta testing, and then to tag-team the discovery calls. Our Customer Success department had the strongest relationships with customers, so being introduced through Customer Success was a must. 

Engineering, QA, + Marketing

As I analyzed the feedback from our customers, I shared it with the Engineering, QA, and Marketing departments for increased visibility and ability to take informed action.

 

For example, multiple customers struggled to find the placement of a new action button. I relayed this to the Engineering and QA teams so they knew what to focus on first. I relayed to the Marketing team the phrases customers were using to describe the new interface so they would know what phrases would create the highest interest when it was time to announce publicly.

The Proposed Enablement Strategies

Three main themes emerged from customer feedback that could be implemented as enablement strategies. 

A Self-Guided Tooltip Tour

"It doesn't feel like a full, live tutorial is necessary." 

Customers want a way to explore the product with help, but on their own time. The UI is close enough to the old to figure things out, but it might take some time to find buttons that are in a different spot, for example. 

Tutorial Videos

"Reinforce that there is feature parity."

Sometimes people might need more help than a self-guided tour can provide. Video walkthroughs allow users to follow along, pause, and replay. Here's a tutorial video I made for our Minutes feature.

A PDF Highlighting Changes

"Highlight what has moved on the page."

Customers aren't always concerned with looks. While a new UI is focused on modernizing appearance, customers will need to know what's the same and what's different from their original experience - has a button changed location? Note it!

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