Background 

My client was a small, woman-owned business offering evidence-based childbirth education and other classes for families with young children. From online reviews and the company’s referral rate, it was clear that they were delivering empowering, deeply meaningful content to their customers. However, they were experiencing two interconnected challenges:

1. Communicating value: only about half of first-time expectant parents take childbirth education (CBE) classes, and many of these families choose hospital-based classes rather than those offered by independent companies. How might the company communicate about its unique offerings in a way that would speak to the needs of non-users in its target audiences?

2. Understanding the On-Demand audience & user journey: The company runs birth education classes live in-person, live online, and on-demand online (pre-recorded)—but On-Demand is the most flexible and profitable product. The CEO had limited understanding, however, of what drew some families to On-Demand and how to increase the company’s reach with this audience. How might we target outreach and messaging to this audience and design a clear, easy, and welcoming user journey for them?

Design Challenge

How might we communicate the value of independent, evidence-based childbirth education—and particularly of on-demand options—to expectant families?

Process

To address these challenges, I designed a research and strategy project involving both past On-Demand customers and pregnant non-customers. I conducted user interviews so I could ask directly about attitudes and experiences, but also ran remote usability tests of the On-Demand purchase journey on the company’s website. I then conducted a thematic analysis (snapshot at right) of my notes and transcripts and distilled actionable insights for the CEO and her team.

Findings: Motivation for CBE & On-Demand

When thinking about birth education generally, potential customers named empowerment and confidence as key desires, and in particular for evidence-based knowledge that would help them self-advocate to medical staff. The company had a clear opportunity here to differentiate itself from hospital-based classes that stick closely to official hospital recommendations.

Further, participants connected their desire for confidence to the post-hospital period, and expressed a desire to take newborn care from the same company as their CBE. This clearly indicated an opportunity to sell CBE and newborn care as a package, and/or to market newborn care to families as they finish CBE.

The On-Demand users stressed a variety of pragmatic reasons (below) for choosing the self-paced format, e.g. the difficulty of clearing their schedules for an entire weekend day, as many traditional classes require. As members of this audience, they also offered targeted outreach suggestions: for example, noting that military families are often physically separated during pregnancy and would likely choose on-demand virtual options accessible to both partners.

Findings: Challenges to the On-Demand User Registration Journey

In addition to the interview, I worked with users and potential users on usability tests of the On-Demand CBE registration process on the company’s website. The goal: pretend you have decided you want to take On-Demand CBE with this company—now find and register for it.

These tests revealed a key pain point: On-Demand classes were not highlighted at all on the company website.  Further, the company’s class offerings were not searchable by location or format. Users would narrate to me, “okay, I’m pulling up the main menu and going to choose On-Demand classes,” only to realize that this wasn’t possible. Instead, had to first navigate to click on “Childbirth Education” under “Classes,” and then click a drop-down location/date menu, within which On-Demand was the very last option (see image below, a screen shot from one of the tests). The fact that even motivated past users could not easily find the product indicated a clear opportunity for a relatively low-lift redesign.

Old Site: On-Demand only accessible by sifting through the “location” menu of the Childbirth Education product page.

After conducting the research, I led the CEO and the company’s marketing specialist in a participatory strategy session based on these insights. The company made changes to the site’s information architecture based on my findings, and incorporated the user motivation insights into its business plan for 2023.

As shown by the screen shot below, On-Demand classes are now clearly highlighted among the company’s offerings, and all On-Demand options are easily found together in one location.

Impacts

My research and strategy work identified several key insights which the company is now incorporating into its strategic business model :

●    Identified new target user groups and topic areas of value to them (e.g. military and expat families, newborn care, ensuring spouses have knowledge of birth) that are driving marketing efforts in 2023.

●    Clarified pain points in On-Demand registration process that contributed to reorganization of class offerings and clarity for potential On-Demand users.

●      Research contributed to company’s 2023 strategic effort to highlight its most popular and profitable courses and reach its fifth birthday (at which point 50% of small businesses have closed).