User Research &

Experience Strategy Portfolio

Lauren Ganley

Hello,

I'm Lauren!

I'm Lauren Ganley – a digital enthusiast with quite the journey in the world of digital experiences. My career, initially rooted in digital marketing, took an exciting turn 4 years ago when I transitioned to user research and experience strategy.

Having navigated the challenges of consultancy over the last 2.5 years, I've had the privilege of immersing myself in a variety of industries and honing my skills in various research methods. This journey has not only broadened my expertise but has also instilled a deep understanding of user behavior and strategic thinking.

Now, in this stage of my career, I'm ready to move away from the consultant model and focus my skills as a user researcher and strategist by deeply understanding a product and its customer base.

Join me as I embark on the next chapter, where every challenge is an opportunity, and every experience is a chance to refine and elevate the user experience.

Relevant

Skills

• Market Research & Analysis
• Interview Facilitation
• Journey Mapping
• Customer Experience Strategy
• Prioritization
  
• User Flows
  
• Process Maps
  
• Digital Marketing Strategy
  
• Competitive Analysis
  

• Qualitative Research Methods
• Quantitative Research Methods
  
• Roadmapping
  
• Usability Testing
  
• Presentation Creation & Design
  
• Survey Creation
  
• Strategic Planning
  
• Workshop Facilitation
  
• Persona Development
  

Leadership

Experience

Slalom

• Served as a Formal Manager for an Associate Consultant
  
• Led an internal initiative to design a dynamic skills matrix tool for the Chicago Experience Design Team
  
• Facilitated 5 Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity 101 courses
  
• Co-leader of our “Research Pod” which is a forum to learn new research methods and discuss best practices

Wunderman Thompson Commerce & Technology (previously Gorilla Group)

• Paid Search Lead
  
• Diversity & Inclusion Subcommittee Chair
  

Relevant

Projects

Blue Cross Blue Shield

Design Recs & Roadmap

Blue Cross Blue Shield noticed a high percentage of drop-offs in one of their plan enrollment journeys. Slalom partnered with the client, conducting 15+ usability tests through UserZoom GO to understand why the drop-offs were occurring. ​

​

As the sole User Researcher & Strategist, Lauren uncovered 70+ pain points and outlined recommendations into a 3-phase roadmap to improve the usability and accessibility of the product and address the drop off.

• Final Synthesis: The final synthesis included pain points, future recommendations, and prototypes to illustrate potential future state​
  

• Design Recommendations & Roadmap: In collaboration with the client, the final recommendations were prioritized based on impact and level of effort to help identify quick wins and long-term solutions​
  

Final Synthesis

Prioritized recommendations for near term

Recommendations split into a 3 phase roamdap

Culligan

Future State

Culligan sought an advisory partner to help create the future customer experience by understanding the employees’ pain points and providing product & technology recommendations to improve their day to day processes.

Through an experience-focused exploration, Slalom built a comprehensive understanding of the current customer experience, role-based capabilities, and technology landscape. ​We defined future state journeys for 3 business units, which we utilized to deliver a 2-year roadmap and a robust backlog for implementation.

Work Lauren contributed to:

• Interviews, focus groups, and observational studies with 60+ employees
• Current state process maps
• Current state pain point heat map
• 12 personas
• 3 future state service blueprints
• 6 co-creation and future ideation sessions with 18 key stakeholders
• 10 phase roadmap with 75 epics

Current State

Future state service blueprints

separated by journey stage built in Miro

University of Chicago Medicine

Implementation Plan

UChicago sought a partner to develop and support the implementation of a unifying Mission, Vision, and Values across three enterprises to drive cultural and operational alignment, guide strategic decision making, and provide a foundation to govern priorities over the next 5 to 10 years.

As part of the research team, Lauren engaged with 3700+ members of the UChicago Community (students, physicians, faculty, staff, etc.) via multiple channels including a survey, 20+ interviews, 40 focus groups, four ideation workshops, six validation workshops, and one school-wide launch presentation to understand the current state and how mission, vision, and values could impact purpose and future state.

Additionally, Lauren led the development of an implementation plan with action plans to support the institution in their launch and longer-term stewardship of the new MVV with a key aspect related to embedment of MVV so that everyone could connect to living these in their daily work lives.

Research & Analysis

Dedicated action plans for all

near term recommendations

Unilever

Unilever came to Wunderman Thompson Commerce & Technology (previously Gorilla Group) for experience recommendations and a design prototype for a net new loyalty program and digital couponing experience.

Lauren owned multiple deliverables during this project which included market research, competitive analysis, user flows and more.

• Competitive Analysis: Lauren analyzed direct and indirect competitors’ digital experience and the quality of the loyalty program offering to help identify white space in the industry for Unilever.

• User Flows: Lauren identified gaps in their current couponing experience and mapped user flows for customer adoption and retention. The user flows helped identify key recommendations for the site.
  

User Flows

Competitive Analysis

Get in

LaurenganleyPR@gmail.com

630.819.9413