User Experience Inventory (UXinv)
Jacob Moorman
Independent
[email protected]
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original PDF paper.
Abstract
User Experience Inventory (UXinv) is a model
designed to capture, itemize, or enumerate critical information
about a subject’s experience. UXinv can be used for information
about a user experience, a customer experience, or the experience
of an ally or adversary. This technique resists survivorship
bias.
This paper describes the UXinv model, identifying critical
information gaps, detecting misalignment between experience and
expectations, and providing additional analysis and optimization
paths.
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Disclaimers
User Experience Inventory does not represent the views or
experiences of any current, past, or future company or any specific
company, organization, or individual’s product, product experience,
processes, people, technologies, audit findings, security, risks,
or risk decisions. This research has been conducted independently.
See “License Terms” for terms,
including additional disclaimers.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The subject of our analysis might be a user who will access our
website, a customer who wants to purchase goods or services we
sell, an adversary we want to oppose, or an ally we want to
encourage.
When someone wants a product or service or to achieve a goal, we
might begin to form our understanding with some basic questions:
What do they want? Why do they want that?
By expanding our understanding of a subject’s experience, we
gain several benefits:
- We can counter biases that our subject will undoubtedly be
successful or unsuccessful.
- We can identify gaps in our available information and
understanding.
- We can form an informed view of whether the subject will be
successful or could become successful.
- We can form an informed view of where they will likely
encounter impediments or barriers.
- We can identify how changes in the experience could support our
objectives.
User Experience Inventory (UXinv) is a model that enables us to
examine critical aspects of a subject’s experience. UXinv can be
used at a macro level to understand a large-scale objective or at a
small scale to understand a specific critical component of a
large-scale objective.
UXinv can be used by individuals or teams. UXinv can be used
standalone to organize information or with other techniques such as
customer journey mapping, timelines, and structured analytic
techniques. Since UXinv does not enforce a timeline model of its
own, when used with other techniques, UXinv can be used across a
whole timeline for summary or on each segment of a timeline for
detail.
UXinv can be used to consider an existing or past experience or
when forming a future experience. UXinv supports examining or
re-examining existing information or can help identify additional
information to capture. If conditions change, UXinv can facilitate
a consistent refresh of our understanding.
UXinv can be used electronically, on paper, on a whiteboard, and
with generative AI.
UXinv Model
Basics
The UXinv Model
Populating the UXinv Model
Above the model, we should define our subject (e.g., user,
customer, adversary, ally) and describe what we are modeling. Next,
populate the model with the following information if the
information is available:
- Objective of Subject:
What does the subject want or want to do?
- Motivation of Subject:
Why does the subject want to achieve this objective?
- Gating Criteria:
What barriers prevent the subject from acting on their
motivations?
- Conditions Present at Onset:
When the subject overcomes any barriers to action, what conditions
are present, including any conditions they may want to change?
- Actions Subject to Perform:
What actions will the subject take to get what they want?
- Interfaces:
What systems, people, and tools will the subject interact with to
perform these actions?
- Success Measurement:
How will the subject measure their success?
- Supports:
What training, documentation, end-user support, accomplices, and
supporters enable successful use of the interfaces?
- System Events Triggered:
When the subject takes action, what response is triggered in the
system, including responses that are either visible or non-visible
to the subject?
- Transitions or Changes Occurring:
What impact on conditions will be caused by the subject’s
actions?
- Limiting Constraints:
What rules restrict the actions that the subject can perform?
- Variability of Behavior:
What variability can exist in the behavior of the subject’s
actions, such as quantity, size, color, material, duration, delay,
interruptions, participants, destination, sequence, or session
count?
- Resulting Impact:
What is the result produced?
UXinv Use Cases
Identifying
Misalignment with UXinv
We can determine possible outcomes by considering the
misalignment between a subject’s desire and ability to achieve
satisfaction. The following comparisons may be helpful:
- Measurement:
- Compare Success Measurement internally vs
externally:
- Does the subject measure success in the same way we measure
their success?
- Would they consider a partial result to be successful?
- How will the subject respond if they do not achieve
success?
- Usability:
- Compare Interfaces to
Supports:
- Does the subject have experience with the interface technology
and similar interfaces?
- What interfaces will cause the highest cognitive load on the
subject?
- Do adequate supports exist for the interfaces used by the
subject?
- How will the subject respond?
- Visibility:
- Compare Actions Subject to Perform to
Systems Events Triggered:
- Do the subject’s actions produce a result that the subject can
observe?
- Are there also results that they cannot observe?
- Are the results visible to us?
- Augmentability:
- Compare Conditions Present at Onset to
Transitions or Changes Occurring:
- Through action, can the subject change the conditions in the
way they desire?
- Can only some of the conditions be augmented?
- How will the subject respond?
- Understandability:
- Compare Gating Criteria to Limiting
Constraints:
- Are the rules that restrict the subject’s actions fully visible
to the subject at the onset?
- Is the subject able to understand these restrictions?
- How will the subject respond?
- Consistency:
- Compare Motivation of Subject to
Variability of Behavior:
- Moving from a general sense of the subject’s motivation to the
specifics, can the subject get what they want?
- Can the subject get part of what they want?
- How will the subject respond?
- Viability:
- Compare Objective of Subject to
Resulting Impact:
- Does the resulting impact align with the objective of the
subject?
- What are the repercussions of success, failure, or partial
success?
- What are the next steps, or what would happen next in each
case?
Identifying Gaps with
UXinv
We will evaluate our understanding based on information in the
model to identify gaps in our understanding. It can be helpful to
look for:
- Measurement gaps:
- Considering each segment from the Objective of
User to Resulting Impact, where do we
lack the ability to measure?
- Are we measuring in one way or multiple ways?
- Measurement source diversity:
- Do all measurements come from just one source, or do we have
multiple vantage points?
- Do measurements from multiple sources use the same methodology
for counting?
- Alignment of evidence:
- Does evidence from available sources align? If not, how can we
find what is true?
- Always, sometimes, never:
- What statements in the model are absolute (always or never) or
conditional (sometimes)?
- When isn’t this the case?
- If this is not the case, does measurement help us know what
alternative is true?
- What is the impact if we are wrong?
- Detail gaps:
- What aspects of the model have we insufficiently
populated?
- Have we accounted for mainstream behavior, shortfalls,
alternatives, and surpluses?
- What do we know we do not know?
- Do we know who to ask or how to find out? Can we ask the
subject?
Identifying
Potential Opportunities with UXinv
We can prepare an additional copy of the UXinv model to consider
potential opportunities, which contemplates a future state that
more optimally delivers the experience we want the subject to have.
If we hope for the subject to have a more positive experience, we
can consider how to reduce or eliminate the barriers and rough
edges present in the original inventory. To further guarantee our
desired result, we can consider hardening the experience to prevent
or compensate for potential failure points. We should consider
whether single ideas or groups of ideas may be best.
Updating an Existing
UXinv Model
Some environments allow or require a prior analysis to be
revisited when conditions change. Make a new copy of the UXinv
model to update an existing inventory. Include a date or versioning
information on the inventory to allow identification of the newer
copy. Make no changes to the original inventory.
Duplicate all still-relevant details from the original inventory
to the new inventory. Do not duplicate details that have become
inaccurate or irrelevant. Add new details to the new inventory as
appropriate. Perform a new evaluation of misalignment and gaps for
the new inventory.
Given updated information, it is possible for conclusions to
change or to stay the same. Determine appropriate next steps if
opportunities or recommendations have changed.
Working with
Generative AI and UXinv
AI is not one thing. It is dozens of technologies evolving with
new versions, behavior, and underlying data. It is
non-deterministic and can generate different outputs when given the
same inputs. It may comply with its instructions. It may be
firewalled from external data, refreshed periodically, or
continuously accessing new information. It may contain biases
within its weighting of information. It may produce viable and
non-viable results, and it may not be possible to determine which
we have been provided.
Prompt: Is this text accurate?
Response from ChatGPT 4o 2024-09-22:
Yes, the text is accurate in describing many key characteristics
and challenges of modern AI systems. |
UXinv Modelling
Prompt: Form a UXinv model for a purchaser of
haute couture attempting to access an invitation-only brand
ecommerce website, where the brand does not care who purchases from
them but does not want to allow resellers.
Response from ChatGPT 4o 2024-09-22, ending summary
omitted:
Here’s how a User Experience Inventory (UXInv) model could be
structured for a purchaser of haute couture attempting to access an
invitation-only brand ecommerce website, where the brand does not
care who purchases as long as they are not resellers:
- Subject:
- Haute couture purchaser attempting to access an exclusive
ecommerce site.
- Objective of Subject:
- What does the subject want or want to do?
- The purchaser wants to buy exclusive haute couture items from
the brand's invitation-only ecommerce website.
- Motivation of Subject:
- Why does the subject want to achieve this objective?
- The purchaser may seek unique, high-end fashion for personal
use, status, or luxury. The exclusivity adds allure.
- They might also value limited-edition items and are motivated
by the prestige associated with owning them.
- Gating Criteria:
- What barriers prevent the subject from acting on their
motivations?
- The site is invitation-only, so the purchaser needs an invite
or special access.
- There could be identity verification or rules to ensure the
subject is not a reseller.
- Purchasers may need to comply with certain purchase behaviors
to avoid suspicion as a reseller.
- Conditions Present at Onset:
- When the subject overcomes any barriers to action, what
conditions are present, including any conditions they may want to
change?
- Once access is granted, the site may allow browsing and
purchasing but with limitations on the quantity or type of
items.
- Restrictions on returns or resale may be in place, impacting
the subject’s actions.
- Actions Subject to Perform:
- What actions will the subject take to get what they want?
- Obtain or request an invitation to the ecommerce site.
- Navigate through the site to select the desired haute couture
items.
- Complete the purchase through approved payment methods.
- Interfaces:
- What systems, people, tools, etc., will the subject interact
with to perform these actions?
- The ecommerce website, possibly through a personal account or
invitation code.
- Payment systems, which could include luxury brand-specific
payment methods or high-end financial services.
- Customer support or live assistance, especially if access
issues arise or additional authentication is needed.
- Success Measurement:
- How will the subject measure their success?
- Successful purchase of the desired items without facing any
blocks or restrictions.
- Receiving the haute couture items within a reasonable time
frame.
- The absence of any challenge from the brand regarding
reselling.
- Supports:
- What training, documentation, support, accomplices, supporters
enable successful use of the interfaces?
- Luxury brand support documentation, potentially exclusive FAQs
or help tailored to high-end clientele.
- Personalized customer service for invitation holders.
- VIP support, either online or via phone.
- System Events Triggered:
- When the subject takes actions, what response is triggered in
the system, including responses visible or non-visible to the
subject?
- The system could log and verify user activity for signs of
reseller behavior (e.g., high purchase quantities or certain buying
patterns).
- Authentication events such as logging the invite or verifying
the purchaser’s credentials.
- Notifications to the brand regarding potential reseller
behavior for further monitoring.
- Transitions or Changes Occurring:
- What impact on conditions will be caused by the subject’s
actions?
- The brand may change or adapt access if the subject exhibits
behaviors aligned with resellers (multiple large purchases,
attempts to resell).
- Completing the purchase may trigger a record in the brand's
internal system for monitoring long-term buyer activity.
- Limiting Constraints:
- What rules restrict the actions that can be performed by the
subject?
- Purchase limits, such as restrictions on the number of items
bought or specific purchase behaviors to prevent bulk-buying.
- Prohibition of returns in some cases, especially for buyers
flagged as potential resellers.
- Specific terms of service limiting reselling or requiring
certain usage of purchased items.
- Variability of Behavior:
- What variability can exist in the behavior of the subject’s
actions, such as quantity, size, color, material, duration, delay,
interruptions, participants, destination, sequence, or session
count?
- The subject may want to buy multiple items but face
restrictions on quantity per purchase or time limits between
purchases.
- Delays or interruptions in access to the site could happen if
the subject is flagged as potentially engaging in resale.
- Buying habits (quantity, frequency, item type) could be
scrutinized for patterns aligned with resellers.
- Resulting Impact:
- What is the result produced?
- If the subject successfully completes the purchase, they obtain
the haute couture item for personal use.
- If flagged as a reseller, the subject might lose access to the
site or face account restrictions.
|
Commentary: It is noteworthy that ChatGPT did not consider basic
ecommerce factors such as supply limitations, the availability of
funds to the purchaser, or the impact of delivery delays.
Misalignment
Identification
Prompt: Based on the UXinv model details,
assess misalignment.
Response from ChatGPT 4o 2024-09-22:
Based on the User Experience Inventory (UXInv) model for a
haute couture purchaser accessing an invitation-only ecommerce
website, several potential misalignments can be identified between
the purchaser’s expectations and the brand’s actions to avoid
resellers:
- Measurement Misalignment
- Internal vs External Measurement:
- The purchaser's success is measured by the ability to purchase
exclusive items. They may see success in acquiring as many items as
possible, especially if they value collecting multiple pieces.
- The brand, however, measures success by ensuring the purchaser
is not a reseller. They may impose restrictions on the number of
purchases or closely monitor buying behavior. This difference in
success criteria (purchasing vs. preventing resellers) can lead to
frustration for buyers who aren't resellers but are still
restricted.
- Partial Success:
- If a purchaser is limited to buying fewer items or is flagged
as suspicious, they might perceive their experience as
unsuccessful, even if they manage to purchase some items.
- The brand’s need to ensure exclusivity could feel restrictive
or unfair to the purchaser.
- Usability Misalignment
- Interface vs Supports:
- The exclusivity of the invitation-only website can create
usability challenges. If the ecommerce system flags legitimate
users as potential resellers based on buying patterns (e.g.,
purchasing multiple items), the buyer could face unnecessary
roadblocks or even account bans.
- Adequate support needs to be in place to help users navigate
these issues. If a legitimate buyer faces restrictions but lacks
support to resolve the issue, they might become frustrated and
abandon the purchase process.
- The interface could place a high cognitive load on buyers,
especially if the system's rules for identifying resellers are
opaque.
- Visibility Misalignment
- Actions vs System Events:
- The purchaser might not be aware that their actions are being
monitored for potential reseller behavior. For example, purchasing
too many items at once or making frequent purchases could trigger
system events that the buyer cannot observe.
- This lack of visibility could lead to confusion if they
suddenly face restrictions or lose access.
- On the brand’s side, these system events are critical to
maintaining exclusivity, but the lack of transparency for the
purchaser could cause a disconnect between their actions and the
outcomes they experience.
- Augmentability Misalignment
- Conditions at Onset vs Transitions:
- Purchasers may not be able to adjust their actions if they
don’t know the thresholds for triggering reseller checks. For
instance, a buyer might assume they can purchase multiple items or
make frequent purchases, only to be flagged by the system
unexpectedly.
- If the brand does not clearly communicate the conditions under
which purchasing limits are enforced or the exact triggers for
reseller checks, it limits the purchaser’s ability to change
behavior and avoid being flagged.
- Understandability Misalignment
- Gating Criteria vs Limiting Constraints:
- The rules that restrict reseller behavior, such as purchasing
limits or account monitoring, may not be fully visible or
understandable to the purchaser.
- If the brand doesn’t clearly communicate the rules (e.g., max
number of purchases allowed, behaviors associated with reselling),
the purchaser may unknowingly violate them.
- This lack of clarity can lead to confusion and frustration,
especially if the user is restricted without understanding why or
how to prevent it in the future.
- Consistency Misalignment
- Motivation vs Variability of Behavior:
- The purchaser’s motivation is to access exclusive, high-end
fashion, but their ability to purchase may be inconsistent
depending on brand-imposed constraints.
- A buyer may want to purchase several items, perhaps as gifts or
to complete a collection, but if the system restricts them based on
perceived reseller behavior, it leads to inconsistency in their
experience.
- This misalignment between what the purchaser wants and what the
system allows can create dissatisfaction. The more the brand
imposes restrictions without clear reasons, the more the purchaser
feels alienated.
- Viability Misalignment
- Objective vs Resulting Impact:
- The objective of the purchaser is to acquire haute couture
items, while the brand’s objective is to ensure that the purchaser
is not a reseller.
- If the brand misidentifies a legitimate buyer as a reseller,
the impact could be severe—account restrictions, blocked purchases,
or even loss of access to the site.
- If the purchaser fails to meet the brand’s expectations, even
though they are a legitimate buyer, it could result in a negative
experience, loss of trust in the brand, and abandonment of future
purchases.
Summary of Misalignments:
- Measurement: The brand’s focus on preventing
resellers can undermine the purchaser’s goal of acquiring multiple
items, leading to partial or perceived failure.
- Usability: Lack of transparency in the
system’s monitoring of reseller behavior, coupled with insufficient
support, can frustrate legitimate buyers.
- Visibility: System responses to potential
reseller behavior may be hidden, leaving the purchaser confused
when restrictions occur.
- Augmentability: Purchasers may not have enough
information to adjust their behavior and avoid being flagged as
resellers.
- Understandability: The gating criteria and
limiting constraints may not be fully communicated, leading to
unintentional rule violations.
- Consistency: The variability in the system’s
restrictions can prevent purchasers from fulfilling their
motivation to buy exclusive items.
- Viability: Misidentifying legitimate buyers as
resellers can result in restricted access and dissatisfaction,
harming the brand’s reputation among genuine customers.
Recommendations:
To resolve these misalignments, the brand should:
- Increase Transparency: Clearly communicate the
reseller prevention rules, such as purchase limits and account
monitoring criteria.
- Improve Support: Offer robust customer support
that can quickly resolve issues if legitimate purchasers are
mistakenly flagged as resellers.
- Provide Feedback: Make system events more
visible so buyers know when and why their behavior is being
monitored or restricted.
- Adjust Flexibility: Allow purchasers to adjust
their behavior by providing clear guidelines on how to avoid
reseller-like actions.
|
Commentary: ChatGPT fixated on the
anti-reseller aspects of this situation and did not more broadly
consider other misalignment. This highlights the importance of
having a Human-in-the-Loop to identify critical analytic gaps. A
human could provide additional prompts to address limitations in
the original response.
Gaps Identification
Prompt: Where could gaps exist?
Response from ChatGPT 4o 2024-09-22:
In the User Experience Inventory (UXInv) model for a purchaser
of haute couture attempting to access an invitation-only ecommerce
website where resellers are restricted, gaps could exist in several
key areas. Identifying these gaps is essential for improving the
alignment between the purchaser's experience and the brand’s
objectives. Here’s an assessment of where gaps could exist:
- Measurement Gaps:
- Objective to Resulting Impact:
- The brand might not have a clear method for measuring the
effectiveness of its reseller detection system. If legitimate
purchasers are being flagged as resellers, there may be a gap in
measuring whether the right customers are successfully completing
purchases.
- There could also be a gap in how success is measured for the
purchaser. For instance, does the purchaser consider getting fewer
items than desired a success? Is the system measuring their
satisfaction, or just whether a transaction was completed?
- Diversity of Measurement Sources:
- The brand may rely on limited data points (e.g., frequency of
purchases or purchase quantity) to identify resellers. This could
create a gap in measurement, as relying solely on these metrics
might miss other important behaviors or lead to false
positives.
- Measurements might come primarily from internal systems, but
not from customer feedback or engagement metrics that show how
satisfied legitimate buyers are with the process.
- Information Gaps:
- Understanding of Gating Criteria:
- Purchasers might not fully understand what qualifies them as
resellers. If the brand doesn’t clearly communicate the gating
criteria (e.g., purchase limits, patterns to avoid), there’s a gap
in the purchaser’s ability to understand and navigate the system
without being mistakenly flagged.
- Visibility of System Events:
- The system may trigger events or actions (e.g., restricting
accounts or limiting purchases), but these may not be visible to
the purchaser. There’s a gap in the transparency of these system
actions, leaving purchasers unsure about why certain restrictions
are being applied or how to avoid them in the future.
- Missing Evidence Alignment:
- The brand might not have all the evidence it needs to
accurately differentiate between legitimate buyers and resellers.
For instance, if the system only tracks purchase quantity or
frequency without considering other behavioral factors, there’s a
gap in the alignment of evidence used to make decisions about
resellers. Misalignment of evidence can lead to false positives or
unnecessary restrictions.
- Detail Gaps:
- Incomplete Model Population:
- The brand might not have fully populated critical components of
the UXInv model. For example, if the support system for legitimate
buyers is underdeveloped or if the system’s behavior in response to
certain actions (like high-value purchases) is not well understood,
gaps exist in the detail level of the experience.
- Actions and Conditions: The brand may not have
fully considered all the possible actions a purchaser could take
(e.g., gifting items to family or buying for a collection) and how
those actions may be misinterpreted by the system.
- What’s Unknown:
- The brand might not know why some legitimate buyers are getting
flagged as resellers or how they feel about the restrictions placed
on them. There may be a gap in customer feedback or direct
communication with users to understand how they perceive the system
and its limitations.
- Support Gaps:
- Training and Documentation:
- There may be insufficient documentation or customer support to
help purchasers who are flagged by the system. If legitimate buyers
encounter issues, they may not have access to clear instructions or
assistance to resolve these issues quickly, leading to
frustration.
- There could be a gap in the brand’s ability to provide
real-time support to legitimate purchasers who experience
restrictions due to reseller suspicion.
- Reseller Detection Gaps:
- Limitations of System Monitoring:
- The system used to identify resellers may be too simplistic or
rely on easily manipulated factors (e.g., purchase frequency,
account history). There could be a gap in the brand’s ability to
accurately differentiate behavioral nuances between legitimate
high-end purchasers and resellers.
- Lack of Dynamic Updating:
- As purchasing patterns evolve or resellers become more
sophisticated in disguising their behavior, there may be a gap in
the system’s ability to adapt. The brand might not have a process
for regularly updating or improving its detection criteria, leading
to outdated or ineffective methods of monitoring.
- Experience Gaps:
- Usability and Cognitive Load:
- The website may be overly complicated for legitimate
purchasers, especially when restrictions or reseller detection
mechanisms are applied. There could be a usability gap if the
system creates unnecessary friction for legitimate users trying to
navigate the site or complete their purchases.
- Cognitive load could be too high if users have to manage
multiple steps to verify their legitimacy as buyers without clear
guidance or support.
- Opportunity Gaps:
- Improvement of Future State:
- The brand might be missing opportunities to optimize the
experience for legitimate purchasers by better tailoring the
ecommerce flow or providing more flexible rules for high-end
buyers. There’s a gap in how the brand could harden the system to
detect resellers without negatively impacting real customers.
- There could be missed opportunities to reward legitimate
purchasers who regularly buy items, such as through loyalty
programs or tiered access, which would help create a more positive
experience while reducing the focus on preventing reselling.
Summary of Gaps:
- Measurement Gaps: Lack of diverse or adequate
data sources and metrics for assessing both success and reseller
activity.
- Information Gaps: Purchasers may not fully
understand reseller prevention criteria, nor are they aware of why
their behavior triggers restrictions.
- Detail Gaps: Incomplete understanding of buyer
behavior and lack of clear communication about system actions and
restrictions.
- Support Gaps: Insufficient support for
legitimate buyers who face unnecessary restrictions or
misunderstandings.
- Reseller Detection Gaps: Simplistic or
outdated detection mechanisms that may falsely flag legitimate
users.
- Experience Gaps: Poor usability and high
cognitive load for legitimate purchasers trying to complete
transactions without reseller flags.
- Opportunity Gaps: Missed chances to optimize
the system for future improvements that benefit legitimate buyers
while managing reseller activity more effectively.
By addressing these gaps, the brand can better align with both
its own objectives and the purchaser’s experience, leading to a
more seamless, rewarding process for legitimate buyers while still
effectively managing resellers.
|
Potential Opportunity Identification
Prompt: Prepare a future state UXinv model
which integrates improvements to the customer experience.
Response from ChatGPT 4o 2024-09-22:
Here is a future state User Experience Inventory (UXInv) model
that integrates improvements to enhance the experience for
legitimate haute couture purchasers on the invitation-only
ecommerce website while maintaining restrictions against resellers.
This future state aims to address the gaps and misalignments
identified in the current model:
- Subject:
- Haute couture purchaser accessing the invitation-only ecommerce
website with enhanced customer experience and anti-reseller
mechanisms.
- Objective of Subject:
- What does the subject want or want to do?
- The purchaser seeks to buy exclusive, high-end haute couture
fashion items easily and confidently from the brand’s website
without facing unnecessary friction or restrictions.
- Motivation of Subject:
- Why does the subject want to achieve this objective?
- They desire unique and prestigious fashion pieces for personal
use, status, or collection, motivated by the exclusivity and
high-quality design.
- They value the ability to shop with ease and efficiency,
enjoying a seamless and luxury-focused experience that aligns with
the brand's exclusivity.
- Gating Criteria:
- What barriers prevent the subject from acting on their
motivations?
- Access is still invitation-only, but with clear, transparent
pathways for obtaining access (e.g., through high-spender loyalty
or direct contact).
- The system checks for reseller behavior, but the criteria are
communicated clearly in advance, allowing legitimate buyers to
avoid crossing the thresholds accidentally.
- Conditions Present at Onset:
- When the subject overcomes any barriers to action, what
conditions are present, including any conditions they may want to
change?
- Once the subject is invited, they enter a personalized
experience tailored to their status as a legitimate customer, with
a frictionless buying journey.
- Conditions include reduced friction for trusted buyers, with
clear feedback if any restrictions apply and an explanation of how
to address them.
- Actions Subject to Perform:
- What actions will the subject take to get what they want?
- Log in via invitation, browse, and purchase high-end fashion
items with confidence that their purchases won’t be restricted if
they follow the brand’s clear guidelines.
- Contact VIP support if they have any questions or concerns
about potential restrictions or reseller flags.
- Join a loyalty program to gain further benefits, increasing
their status and reducing any limitations they might face in future
purchases.
- Interfaces:
- What systems, people, tools, etc., will the subject interact
with to perform these actions?
- A user-friendly, streamlined ecommerce platform that
prioritizes ease of use for legitimate buyers, with intuitive
navigation and personalized recommendations.
- Clear, immediate communication through real-time notifications
explaining any restrictions and how to resolve them, with VIP
customer service support available via chat or phone.
- Dynamic prompts if potential reseller behavior is detected,
offering ways to correct or clarify their actions in real
time.
- Success Measurement:
- How will the subject measure their success?
- Smooth, unrestricted purchase of desired items without delays
or confusion about reseller detection.
- Receiving the purchased haute couture items without concerns
about future access restrictions or being flagged by the
system.
- Continuous ability to purchase high-end items, knowing that
their legitimate buyer behavior is recognized by the brand.
- Supports:
- What training, documentation, support, accomplices, supporters
enable successful use of the interfaces?
- Detailed onboarding materials provided with the invitation,
explaining purchase limits, restrictions, and how to avoid being
flagged as a reseller.
- Dedicated, high-quality customer support available 24/7 for VIP
members, including personalized account managers for repeat or
high-spending customers.
- A loyalty program that provides further support, such as
additional purchase privileges, early access to sales, and
concierge services for top-tier purchasers.
- System Events Triggered:
- When the subject takes actions, what response is triggered in
the system, including responses that are either visible or
non-visible to the subject?
- If the system detects reseller-like behavior (e.g., buying
multiple high-value items in a short time), it triggers a real-time
warning visible to the purchaser, explaining the behavior that
could be flagged and offering the chance to adjust their actions
(e.g., canceling or modifying the order).
- Purchase patterns that align with legitimate buyer behavior
(e.g., spacing out high-end purchases) trigger positive
reinforcement in the form of loyalty points, special offers, or
access to limited-edition items.
- Transitions or Changes Occurring:
- What impact on conditions will be caused by the subject’s
actions?
- If the subject adheres to the reseller-prevention guidelines,
they enjoy unrestricted access to future purchases.
- If a potential reseller flag is triggered, the system
transitions to offer corrective actions in real time, such as
suggesting alternative purchasing methods or offering a direct
support line to resolve the issue immediately.
- Participation in loyalty programs may cause enhanced access,
such as early shopping windows or increased purchasing limits.
- Limiting Constraints:
- What rules restrict the actions that can be performed by the
subject?
- Purchase limits and quantity restrictions remain in place but
are flexible for verified, legitimate buyers. These restrictions
are clearly communicated upfront so the buyer knows their
limits.
- Resale restrictions still apply, but buyers receive clear
guidance on how these restrictions work and why they exist. Special
offers or warnings prevent legitimate buyers from being
unnecessarily flagged.
- Variability of Behavior:
- What variability can exist in the behavior of the subject’s
actions, such as quantity, size, color, material, duration, delay,
interruptions, participants, destination, sequence, or session
count?
- The system allows greater flexibility for verified buyers to
purchase larger quantities or more expensive items without
triggering flags.
- Legitimate buyers can vary their purchase patterns (e.g.,
buying gifts or personal collections) without fear of being wrongly
classified as resellers, thanks to smart behavior analysis
integrated into the system.
- Resulting Impact:
- What is the result produced?
- Legitimate buyers can complete purchases without facing
restrictions, knowing they are recognized as valuable, trusted
customers.
- Resellers are still blocked by the system’s smart checks, but
the legitimate purchaser’s experience is enhanced with real-time
guidance, loyalty rewards, and clearer feedback on actions
taken.
- The brand maintains exclusivity, but improves overall customer
satisfaction by balancing anti-reseller policies with a smoother,
more luxury-focused purchasing experience.
Identifying Misalignment with UXInv (Future
State)
- Measurement: Success for both the purchaser and the brand is
better aligned. The purchaser’s success (getting their haute
couture items) aligns with the brand’s success in blocking
resellers while allowing legitimate buyers to thrive. Clear metrics
are in place to measure both.
- Usability: The user interface is now intuitive and fully
supported by documentation and customer service. The cognitive load
is reduced, and real-time prompts help users correct any actions
that might mistakenly resemble reseller behavior.
- Visibility: The system now offers real-time feedback on system
events. If a purchaser’s behavior could trigger a reseller flag,
they are informed in the moment and provided corrective steps.
- Augmentability: Purchasers are empowered to adjust their
behavior in real-time. The system offers options to change the
purchase process, preventing unnecessary flags or restrictions, and
allowing for more flexibility.
- Understandability: All reseller-prevention rules are clearly
explained upfront, and the system offers ongoing visibility into
purchasing limits or behaviors that could trigger
restrictions.
- Consistency: Purchasers can consistently buy items based on
their status, thanks to smart system checks that differentiate
between legitimate buying patterns and reseller activity.
- Viability: The system is better tuned to reward legitimate
buyers with a positive experience while restricting resellers.
Legitimate users can shop freely and understand the impact of their
actions.
Future Improvements Summary:
- Clearer communication on reseller detection criteria and
feedback mechanisms to help users avoid triggering system
restrictions.
- Dynamic real-time guidance allowing buyers to adjust actions if
potential reseller flags are triggered.
- Enhanced loyalty programs that reward legitimate buyers, making
them feel valued and encouraging repeat business.
- Flexible restrictions that adapt to verified customer behavior,
allowing more purchasing freedom for legitimate buyers.
- Streamlined support with VIP-level customer service, ensuring
that issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.
This future state UXInv model integrates all these improvements,
enhancing the overall customer experience while maintaining the
brand's anti-reseller objectives.
|
Commentary: It is noteworthy that even in the
improved experience, ChatGPT answers were fixated on the original
framing of the problem rather than the total experience. ChatGPT
has not considered the full details critical to the purchasing
experience, such as funds and website reliability.
The model could be enhanced with further guidance and multiple
rounds of improvement. Absent improvements to the model and deeper
evaluation of gaps, blind spots, and errors could result.
Whether generated by a human or AI, analytic quality should be
assessed before trusting conclusions. Measurement, User Testing,
User Acceptance Testing, Quality Assurance, and Risk Management are
vital in increasing the likelihood of successful implementation of
change.
Suggested Resources
- NASA-TLX (Task Load Index) https://humansystems.arc.nasa.gov/groups/TLX/
- KLM-GOMS https://www.usabilitybok.org/klm-goms
- “Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis”, 3rd
ed., Pherson and Heuer
- Mairiza, Dewi & Zowghi, Didar & Nurmuliani, Nur. (2010).
Towards a Catalogue of Conflicts Among Non-functional Requirements,
20-29.
- “How I Developed the 10 Usability Heuristics”, Nielsen,
https://jakobnielsenphd.substack.com/p/usability-heuristics-history
- Don Norman’s “Human action cycle”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_action_cycle
- John Boyd’s “OODA Loop”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop
- Additional UXinv materials are available at zerotrack.net including a comparison of
UXinv to other techniques and consideration of complementary
techniques, the example exercise performed with other AI models,
and UXinv model images.
License Terms
User Experience Inventory © 2024 by Jacob Moorman is licensed
under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.en
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User Experience Inventory was initially released on 2024-09-24.
This document is the third release of User Experience Inventory,
dated 2024-11-07.