I was hired by a small business CEO to advise him. My biggest challenge was to help him see his business opportunity from the perspective of his target customer. Without that, is hard to find, doesn’t resonate as well, and the offering is easy to copy by competitors.
User Stories
There are many stories of travelers buying insurance and still not being covered, like this one:
How might we prevent or help the customer through this kind of situation?
Business Opportunity
My client was developing a business to help people in financial difficulty. They asked for a page mockup to share with their team. To describe the project, I can’t speak about this customer’s actual industry, so I created an analogous scenario about flights. Susan cancels an expensive trip and her insurance doesn’t cover it. Our service steps in to help. I created a service blueprint to provide perspective for this emotionally charged situation.
Wireframing and Framing Value Proposition
I wrote copy to connect the business idea to a strong customer’s story. The client appreciated the story-driven approach, which encouraged them to engage with real customers sooner. In past projects, similar exercises led clients to incorporate testimonials and eventually move to photos and candid videos.
User Advocacy
Clients are rarely eager to get user input to validate assumptions or get new perspectives. I always have to initiate those discussions.
Here’s an example email where I start to raise these issues:
To: Client
You asked me to think through the employer-side of the travel insurance service. How might we get insights from actual "employers"? What past experiences may encourage them or deter them from using a service like this?
Why Start With Blueprint? (1:19 min)
Summary: The blueprint maps the customer experience, identifying all points of contact like calls, emails, forms, and meetings, while separating them from behind-the-scenes processes.
Using a hypothetical scenario (since I can’t speak about the real business idea), I mapped the events leading up to the service to build empathy and highlights stress points. My objective was to encouraging the team to seek real customer feedback:
Emotional Context Walk-through (3:57 min)
Summary: Even before Susan has the big problem that forces her to cancel the trip, there’s emotional history:
When the big problem hits, Susan is dealing with multiple issues: a stressful event, canceling her trip, losing money, limited time off work, and exhaustion from fighting with insurance. She feels powerless when she discovers our service.
Empathizing with her situation can influence how the service is organized, marketed, and how customer service staff are trained. Instead of focusing only on the end result, like Susan getting a partial refund and us getting paid, it’s important to recognize that the solution for the customer begins much earlier. I’m calling this the “small moment.”
After all the stress, Susan discovers our company, sparking a moment of Hope. She feels there might be a way out. The Medium Moment follows, where she starts to regain control. This begins with submitting her information and feeling accomplished. Reassurance comes when she receives confirmation that her submission is being reviewed, bringing her a step closer to a solution.
So in the UI this might be, say, a message like “You’re almost there. You made a good decision. You’ve been heard. We’ll get back to you right away.” These concrete things we can communicate to support Susan at that specific moment.
And next is a stronger reassurance that might say “We’ve reviewed your stuff and we think we can help you.” So this medium moment culminates in this feeling that now someone is on my side, that I’m not alone in this.
Then the company does all the stuff in the background and reaches out to the customer.
Identifying Points of Potential Breakdown
(2:22 min)
Summary: If Susan doesn’t get a positive result, she feels back at square one after all her effort. If the moment of Hope is mishandled—Susan finds the service but the website is unclear—her optimism fades.
The service can also falter at the Medium Moment if Susan submits her info but hears nothing back, leading to a poor experience.
These intermediate points are as important as the final outcome. A good end result doesn’t compensate for a problematic process, much like a reliable contractor who was difficult to work with throughout.
Opportunities and Potential Roadmap (3:44 min)
Summary: A blueprint guides design and acts as a roadmap, helping to identify short-term and long-term opportunities for a holistic solution.
The job definition at the top encourages viewing the service from the customer’s perspective. While we may think we’re selling a refund service, Susan is actually seeking guidance through a stressful situation. This broader view reveals additional opportunities, such as offering flexible flight options, creating a ticket resale marketplace, providing financial counseling, or building software for independent insurance claim evaluations.
An early blueprint should not commit to a specific solution but should address the customer’s situation comprehensively, uncovering both effective solutions and potential business opportunities.
Next Steps
Continuing to get a clearer picture of the target audience, defining constraints (e.g., what type of user story to focus on), and moving along an idea of the solution.