Customer Success Story
Increase Data Literacy and User Adoption Using Storytelling Principles
We revamped a large luxury retail chain’s complex analytics through data storytelling and boosted its user adoption by 32% in three months
The InfoCepts team designed multiple dashboards and visualizations for an analytical platform by following data storytelling techniques. This approached helped users gain actionable insights from data which resulted in increase in user adoption by 32% in just three months.
The Challenge
Presenting a complex analytical platform, the retail chain used multiple analytical web applications built using MicroStrategy. Multiple dashboards were used by various user groups. Most users had data access, but faced challenges in identifying insights. In auditing the dashboards and reports, InfoCepts uncovered the following challenges:
- Inappropriate information hierarchy
- Ineffective use of visualizations
- Inconsistent and poor user experience
These led to poor application adoption across the organization. The travel retailer reported to us that 62% of reports and dashboards weren’t being used, leading to poor ROI from its analytical investments.
The Solution
An InfoCepts advisory team made up of data storytelling and technology experts came in and defined a strategy to implement a data storytelling approach within the existing reporting platform. Our project team subsequently deployed it.
Through a four-step “Design Thinking and Data Storytelling” workshop, InfoCepts identified specific user adoption-related challenges and their reluctance in using the analytical applications. Empathy, Define, Ideate, and Design stages define this process.
Empathy – Using a Lean Canvas approach, this first step holistically reveals a 360-degree perspective of all challenges from the users’ perspective. Also assessing existing analytical reports and applications, the team fleshed out strategic, analytical, and operational personas to understand users’ analytics experience.
Define – Next, a card sorting activity combined three stakeholder aspects – user, need, and insight – providing an actionable problem statement that drives the data storytelling effort. Essential in revealing similarities/differences between multiple user groups, this yields “Must Have, Good to Have, Good to Have on Demand, and Prefer Not to See” buckets. It identifies and groups datasets, then prioritizes and sequences data to lay out the visual analytical application hierarchy.
Ideate – To provide a visual depiction of screens, information, and actions in sequential order, we then conducted multiple storyboarding sessions. Radical application design alternatives were considered, this resulting in a blueprint that considers different user groups and their journeys (navigation flow). It sets the stage for how decision-makers will receive, view, and interact with essential business information.
Design – Partnering with our client and following best practices, our data storyteller team leveraged their visualization and UI/UX knowledge to prototype compelling data visualizations and interfaces for its multiple analytical apps. Sparking conversations and resolving disagreements among users, prototypes represent data in a meaningful way and assist with getting early buy-in from stakeholders.
InfoCepts then provided development support through to go-live, then helped socialize the new apps within the organization. Post-launch, we closely monitored usability to measure user adoption and record business benefits. Considering its iterative approach, InfoCepts helped assure project completion within the planned timeline.
The Customer
As one of the world’s leading luxury travel retailers, our client sells as well as leases space to 700+ global marquee brands. Its stores are found at airports and downtown gallerias in major tourist attractions in over 28 countries. Its 9,000 people are dedicated to creating inspiring retail experiences for the company’s customers.
Industry
Retail
Business Functions
Sales
Solutions
Data Storytelling
Technologies
MicroStrategy
Geography
APAC
Year of Deployment
2019
I’m really Impressed with the new analytical application UI. All dashboard visualizations are actionable and the interface is highly intuitive.”
The Result
InfoCept’s involvement resulted in the following customer benefits:
- Our Design Thinking and Data Storytelling workshop helped the stakeholder become more user-centric and reduced requirement gathering efforts by 50%
- User-friendly interfaces helped boost user adoption by 32% in just three months
- Applying UI/UX best practices provides a consistent analytical application user experience, boosting our client’s customer satisfaction index 15%
- New visualizations help its users analyze data quickly, accelerating their decision-making speed by 2X
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