Empathy by Design
How Research-Driven Personas Guided a More Engaging Coaching Experience
Results
Delivered a set of actionable design principles and user personas that became the foundation for the program’s redesign. The research clarified how different user motivations, prevention, performance, and self-realization, should drive personalization and content flow. These insights enabled the client to realign the program toward greater engagement and accessibility, forming the strategic basis for the next design phase.
User Personas
Kerstin, 39
LOHAS
“I am looking for inspiration and self-realization.”
Frank, 47
The worried one
“I want to avoid stress to prevent physical impairments.”
Oliver, 28
The performer
“I want to optimize my daily work routine.”
Situation
Client:
Germany’s largest health insurance
A leading health insurance provider wanted to improve its existing online stress management coaching program. The program, delivered via a web-based platform using text and video lessons, showed significantly lower sign-up and completion rates compared to other coaching modules. The goal was to uncover the reasons for low engagement and define actionable requirements for a user-centered redesign.
Task
Position:
Lead UX Designer
Focus:
User Research and Concept Development
Identify user pain points, needs, and expectations to inform a redesign that increases engagement, supports personalization, and makes learning about stress management more intuitive and motivating.
Actions
- Conducted remote unmoderated user tests of the existing product via UserTesting.com to identify key usability barriers and motivational gaps.
- Designed structured test prompts and recruited participants based on behavioral and demographic data to match the target audience.
- Analyzed and presented findings to the client, highlighting critical friction points in content flow and navigation.
- Conducted in-depth user interviews with current and potential users to uncover motivations and emotional triggers related to stress and self-care.
- Synthesized insights into three personas representing distinct user mindsets and goals.
- Derived core design principles to guide the upcoming redesign:
- Clear structure enabling both quick overview and in-depth exploration
- Personalized content through adaptive questioning
- Improved user guidance for faster content discovery
Design princeples
Create structures
Design clear information structures that provide users with an instant overview while enabling deeper exploration whenever desired, balancing simplicity with flexibility.
Personalization of content
Use adaptive questioning to personalize content and recommendations — ensuring each user receives guidance that fits their individual goals, habits, and motivations.
Improve user guidance
Enhance user guidance and navigation to make content easy to find and understand — reducing friction and helping users reach their goals faster.