In this modern era, new digital products are emerging rapidly. There is no alternative to UX for high user engagement and user-friendly products. It has several steps to solve the user experience issues. To know the target audience, their needs, pain points, user behaviors, motivations, and goals, user persona is the first and foremost step. It represents the people who will use the products or services. It is a fictional or semi-fictional representation of the user base with factors like demographics, personalities, and motivations. However, the user persona is unable to cover completely the depth of the user journey and good design decision process. Integrating the mental models, and user persona makes the final product more user-centric & effective. In this article, we will show the importance of mental models & how the integration of Mental Models can lead to more empathetic & effective design solutions.
What is a Mental Model?
Mental Model is the explanation of how something works in the real world. According to Nielsen Norman Group, Mental Model is based on belief, not facts. It is derived from observation, perception, experience, and culture. Using this model, designers can gain in-depth insights about the user’s behaviors, expectations, and needs.
Mental Models are found everywhere. For example, when users are visiting a physical grocery store, they walk by the aisles, searching for the products. Different categories of products are organized in different aisles with price tags and details. For any assistance, they contact the respective person. Usually, users use baskets or carts for the products they wish to purchase. The users go to the counter for payment. However, this concept is found in any digital product or service. Even before using them, we have some Mental Models for them. Users might have some Mental Models while visiting an e-commerce app based on the app’s representation. In real-life scenarios, they expect activities like browsing the products according to categories, adding to the cart, making payments, conducting transactions, etc. If the activities match the user’s Mental Model, they will feel delighted; otherwise, they will be dissatisfied. Mental Models help to maintain Usability Heuristics like Match Between the System and the Real World, User Control and Freedom, Error Prevention, Recognition Rather than Recall, etc.
Need for Mental Model:
Persona helps to understand the thought patterns of the target audiences, which in turn helps to make better design decisions. But it shows us a character ignoring the whole story. It misses out on how users might act differently in different scenarios. This makes the outcomes challenging in understanding the user’s needs and behaviors in depth. It needs to figure out the gaps during development. On the other hand, the Mental Model shows the extensive journey of a user, the reason behind their actions, and how to come up with useful solutions. By integrating the Mental Model with the user persona, designers can create a richer and more precise understanding of their users’ thoughts and behaviors.
An example is given below to understand how the Mental Model shows the extensive user journey of a food delivery app:
User Persona:
Name: Nindia SiddiquiAge: 30Profession: Technical Content WriterLocation: Green Road, DhakaTechnological Proficiency: Extreme usage of smartphone apps
| Goals: | Pain Points: |
|---|---|
| 1. Fast delivery: Nindia wants fast, hassle-free food delivery for busy schedules. | 1. Time issue: Nindia struggles to manage time to cook after a long day at work. |
| 2. Variations: She likes to try different types of foods. | 2. Decision-making: She sometimes needs help deciding what to order from the available options. |
| 3. Budget: She prefers budget-friendly, quality foods. She also looks for discounts and offers while ordering food. | 3. Unreliability: Late deliveries or incorrect orders have made her hesitant to trust some delivery apps. |
| 4. Real-time delivery: After placing the order, Nindia wants to see accurate real-time delivery estimations to track orders. | 4. Cost: Though she likes eating out, she seeks to ensure a cost-effective service. |
Mental Model:
1. Visiting app: After opening the app, Nindia finds a list of available restaurants, suggestions, previous history, favorite restaurant lists, offers & deals, etc. on the home screen with efficient navigation tools.
2. Browsing menus: Using the search & filter menus, she browses the list of restaurants & filters them by cuisine types, ratings, and promotions. For any unavailable restaurant or food, there should be a message.
3. Clear & precise information: Before placing the order, she checks the menu details, like taste & dietary preferences. Clear & concise information with images, user reviews, & ratings gives an idea about the restaurants and menus.
4. Order: She can add items to her cart and check for discounts or offers. After that, she can place the order. Different types of payment options like cash, debit/ credit cards, internet, or mobile banking. There should be a cancellation option if it is placed mistakenly.
5. Tracking: She expects real-time order delivery progress like the time of order confirmation, preparation time, and the estimated time for delivery. She prefers the ability to track the delivery rider’s location & chat or call the rider if needed.
6. Help, support & feedback: Nindia can provide feedback and ratings about the order or delivery process. Help or support can be provided if she faces any issues related to the overall process.
Methods of Improving Personas with Mental Model:
1. User Research: Different users have different mentalities and preferences. User Research is one of the methods to improve persona. It includes surveys, interviews observational studies, etc. There can be preliminary surveys, and interviews before developing the app. For example, users’ restaurants and food preferences, what are the reasons for developing the app, what are the reasons for ordering, what benefits they are looking for, and their pain points. After developing the app, user testing can be done to identify how the users interact with the app and what problems they are experiencing.
2. User Segmentation: As this app targets different types of people, user segmentation is a must. According to different user segmentation, different mental models can be used. There can be the following user segmentation:
- Busy professionals
- College/ university students
- Senior citizens
- Busy parents
3. Persona: Along with the segmented user groups, user personas can be segmented. But they need to include demographic information, goals, pain points, and expectations. For example, a busy professional orders food via the app. For the user persona, there should be some information like age, location, profession, goals, and pain points. Thus, it shows a clear perception of the user’s needs & wants.
4. User Journey Mapping: This map shows the user’s overall journey from visiting the app to completing the order. The user journey is described below:
- Decide to order from the app
- Visiting the app
- Browsing the restaurants
- Check favorite or previous order history if exists
- Take decision & add to cart
- Look for discounts & offers
- Pay online or cash on delivery from different payment options
- Receive order
- Give feedback & rating
- Call the helpline for any convenience
5. Use Case Scenarios: Different real-life scenarios show the user’s perception. This app has different user case scenarios like guest user view, new user view, existing user view, when no restaurant is available what will be shown, how a user will interact visiting the app, payment gateway, help & support, etc. Based on the different scenarios, user personas should be built. It helps to solve the corner cases of the app.
6. User Persona Validation: Each different user persona should be validated. As user testing & feedback data is taken, they should be compared with the user personas. For example, during the development, it was thought that the different payment options would not be shown. However, after the user testing & feedback, the result seems to be different. So the previous persona fails to fulfill the needs. It needs further modification based on the insights & will be continued till the goal is achieved.
Benefits of Integrating Mental Models with User Personas:
1. Empathy: Suppose a less technologically proficient user will use the app, but he/ she can not easily understand the app’s functionality. The design should be more user-friendly so that users can easily interact. This also needs to be accessible for person with disabilities. Empathy should be aligned with the mental models so that all types of user bases can be included.
2. Better user experience: By including all types of target audiences, it should have an easy, generic user interface for all. It helps to improve user satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
3. Usability improvement: There should be less friction while using the app. For example, for ordering food, a complex & lengthy journey is not an example of a good user experience. It should be smooth & hassle-free so that the user can complete their orders. It not only reduces the churn rate but also increases order completion, retention, satisfaction & engagement.
Conclusion:
User experience is the overall user journey when using a specific product or service. Every product requires a good user experience for impactful solutions and revenue growth. Integrating Mental Model with user persona can explain the user journey in detail. It provides a softer and more sensitive approach to the concept of UX design rather than any traditional methods. To deliver a successful digital product, this model can be a powerful and effective tool. It creates an empathetic user experience by embracing meets the user’s needs and expectations.
This page was last edited on 28 July 2024, at 5:52 pm
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