Gurumantra UX Research

 Gurumantra is a Pune based, experiential coaching institute mentoring design, fashion and architecture aspirants. In 2018, as a freelance design consultant, I was approached by the founders to look into how they could revamp their website.

“The existing perception of our audience is ‘Coaching Institute’. We wish to revamp the website so as to position our brand as a Creative Collaboration Platform through Mentoring, Research and Consulting."
- Mr.Kiran Sabnis, Founder & Principal Mentor

Key Goals

Based on detailed discussions with the client, the following were identified as their expectations from our engagement, .

• To postulate the core aspects that are to be imbibed in new version of website

• To identify bottlenecks in current modes of service offerings and device suitable aids or interventions.

Approach

• Carried out extensive qualitative user research and competitor analysis.

• Mapped user journeys and touch-points for relevant interventions.

• Made specific recommendations for enhanced service offerings and holistic website redesign requirements to communicate client’s unique mentoring approach.

  Overall the duration of the engagement was 3 weeks onsite + 5 weeks for analysis & documentation.

User Research

Research activity was steered towards inferring the kind of content that would meet the needs of design/fashion/architecture aspirants and their parents. This was in turn done by reflecting on the varied ways in which users had reached GuruMantra(GM) and their highlight experiences at GM.

• Drafting research objectives and interview guides

• Working with staff on identifying participants

• Scheduling and conducting interviews.

11 students and 3 parents were interviewed in person, over a week.

Staff & Stakeholder interviews

These sessions aimed at documenting current state of service roll-out, known touch-points under strain and their vision for the future. 4 staff members and 3 founders were interviewed in person, over a week.

Competitor Analysis

Websites of competitors were also browsed and analysed to understand their USPs and offerings. A parallel activity comprising Enquiry Visits to branches of 4 competitors was also carried out to understand extent of differences in the USPs/differentiators.

User Journeys & Touch-points

Different experiences of users were helpful in identifying touch-points / possible opportunity areas. Their journeys were split into phases -

• ENQUIRY - How the parents/students found out about GuruMantra?

• ADMISSION - How and Why the parents/students joined GM?

• EXPERIENCE - How has their time at GM been?

Analysis

All interviews were transcribed. Respective user perception, relevant insights and recommendations were inferred and noted categorically against applicable touch-points. Below are few snippets from the final deliverable document.