Session type: Main Conference Talk

We know a user experience focus improves sites, systems, services, products, places, and processes. However, when the UX is divorced from the overall CX (customer experience) even a great UX can lose its strength, its impact, its voice, its power, its income-generating potential, and even its self-worth. UXs and CXs are sometimes so disparate that the CX isolates the UX from its intended users. It can be challenging to bring about a functional union between these Xs. It can seem downright impossible when these Xs are separated and siloed. How do we bring these often distant, sometimes warring Xs to the same table, focused on the same goals? In this presentation, we will turn a user experience research lens on overall CX (customer experience) and learn to create a union between these Xs. By navigating the separations, opening paths between silos, negotiating cross-functional responsibilities and identifying shared goals, we can reduce the dysfunction and move beyond creating great user experiences, to delivering great customer experiences.

The primary function of design is to make something useful. Unfortunately, most products are not accessible to everyone. For adults and children with non-typical cognition and learning styles, technology can help even the playing field. Design can combat negative stereotypes, and take into account an individual's deficits while capitalizing on their cognitive strengths. We will look at design solutions targeting specific conditions like ADHD, dyslexia, and autism, in addition to exploring the core problems technology is trying to solve. We will then widen the lens to compare how many of our most commonly used devices and apps use the same tactics to achieve universal accessibility for all.

The President’s Management Agenda names “Improving Customer Experience” as a major goal. But many government agencies and other organizations around the world have yet to enter the most important gateway to successfully increasing customer satisfaction — formally designing a voice of the customer (VoC) program. Join two CX strategists working to raise awareness for the importance of collecting useful customer feedback, and learn how to design a VoC program that integrates with your planning and design processes. We'll show you how we got started with VoC programs at USDA and the National Cancer Institute.

IA projects often need approval from gatekeepers who don’t fully understand your complex project. In this talk, a product manager and a taxonomist will present a case study of the tools they used to convince executives, engineers, and analysts to buy into a complex data and IA project. Learn how a team of 4 people with no engineers or designers made a business case to launch sitewide filters on Etsy.com. After hearing our story, you'll walk away with a toolbox of tips and techniques from product management and analytics that will enable you, your product team, and finally, your company to say yes.