To help figure out what content would be relevant on the website, I encouraged the marketing team to talk to some students in order to get a better sense of how they conduct their job search, and what they look for in an internship/co-op position.
Unfortunately, the marketing team did not want to do user research. They pushed back, saying it was unnecessary and would take too much effort. Instead, they wanted to showcase RBCCM's global offices and opportunities to work abroad, because that is what another company was doing on their website.
To prove that user research can be less involved, but still extremely effective, I arranged a quick, 30 minute user interview with a co-op student on my team. I also I made a short, 10 question survey and asked the co-op student on my team to send it to other RBC co-op students that he knew.
I had 6 responses by the end of the day, and I synthesized the research data the next day.
Survey Insights:
Students don’t care about international offices/opportunities abroad. The more important criteria was learning opportunities and the reputation of the company.
Using the survey results, I concluded that showcasing global offices is not important, and that I should instead highlight the company's reputation, and student learning opportunities.
Research Results:
I was able to prove to the marketing team that user research does not have to be time consuming and complex, and it can still produce very viable data and design suggestions.
Using the research insights, I created a user journey map that uncovered opportunities for content, and the survey results debunked some of the marketing team's theories on what content would be useful to students.
Below: A "Thinking, Feeling, Doing" user journey map to show the process of a student applying to a job.
