Courtney Sizemore | Product Experience Designer

01 Overview

The Product

A smart, web-based inventory management solution for pharmacies in the retail, long term care, and acute space.

My Role & The Team

As the dedicated product designer on this team, I was responsible for performing research to uncover problem areas and create prototypes for testing with real users. Collaboration with the team was required across the whole study. I worked with the product manager to pull existing data, the account management team to solicit users for a usability test, and the development team to define cards and scenarios.


Upon completion of the research and testing, I was responsible for presenting our findings with the broader team which, for some, was their first experience with in-depth research of this kind.

02 Discovering the Problems

There was a deadline on transitioning users from the legacy version of the website to the new user experience. Unfortunately, the new user experience was deemed "MVP" but was still missing the necessary features to make switching to the new experience a reasonable ask.


Additional information that gave context to the issues users were faced with required digging into our customer feedback log from which we found that…


  • - There were over 50 comments related to purchasing workflow issues

  • - Prioritization of some of the largest issues had not yet occurred

  • - Purchasing workflow issues affected all customer personas and
  • pharmacy classes of trade

  • - 16% of new experience users converted back to the legacy version due to purchasing workflow issues

To better understand what essential information was not replicated from the legacy experience into the new experience, the team gathered to compare and contrast the two workflows.

03 Defining the Problems

The information available to us from the customer feedback log and the sales pipleline gave us the following insights:


  • - Users were unable to customize the view of the page that they were working on, impeding them from organizing the page in a way that made the most sense to them.

  • - Users were frequently forced to leave the page they were on as part of confirmation that an item had been added to their cart, requiring additional clicks to get back to the page they were previously on.

  • - Customers frequently changed the quantity of the item they wanted while in the cart, not beforehand. Inability to save quantity changes for later, before sending to the cart, slowed down the ideal experience for the user.

  • - Customers were unable to use the sum total of brand drugs versus generic drugs, which they value for making purchasing decisions.


04 Defining the Main Problem

How might we enable users to efficiently review the items we are suggesting for purchase so that they might reduce their time on task?

05 Designing the Solution

The product manager, development manager, and I created an assumption map to better define the knowledge and importance of aspects that would make our final outcome successful. 

06 Delivering the Solution

I created a high-fidelity prototype using Axure RP that would allow usability research participants to interact with proposed features such as…


  • - Drop down filter
  • - Show/hide toggle
  • - Price updates based on quantity entered
  • - Opening a link to drug information in a new tab
  • - New data presented on screen
  • - New table layout
  • - Ability to show/hide columns in a table
  • - Quick access to common filters

07 Testing the Prototype with Users

Research Plan

Test prototype of enhancements with…


  • - 10 current customers (both legacy and new platform users)

  • - Target customers who have expressed frustrations with the current experience

  • - Use GoToMeeting with screenshare to observe the interaction and reaction with the prototype

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Business Objectives (OKR)

  • - Minimize Customer Churn due to Product Dislike

  • - Establish prioritization of new features

Research Goal

  • - Establish patterns between users regarding what they look for on the recommended order page

  • - Determine what is the most important aspect of ordering (pricing, availability, branded vs generic, etc.)

  • - Determine what parts of the e-commerce site are essential/non-essential

Checkout My Favorite Moment

Actionable Findings About the User

  • - Customers that have been using the solution for more than 6 years have an inherent trust in the solution and the business

  • - Our users are incredibly adaptable

  • - Our users are typically not digitally proficient

  • - The majority of participants suffered from change blindness


Actionable Findings About the Experience

  • - Time on task averages about 50 minutes

  • - Expectations for operability are not complex

  • - The new experience forced changes in workflow, including adding too many clicks to accomplish simple tasks

  • Most requested enhancements from the prototype:
  • - Show/Hide columns
  • - More in-depth sorting
  • - Accessing drug information in a popup



Positive Feedback

Click to listen to some of the awesome positive feedback we received from this research with real users.

08 Final Deliverables

Research isn't useful until it is acted upon. I worked to inform the team at large – Marketing, Sales, Account Management – both about what we found and about how we were going to prioritize the features/workflow updates the customers liked best. Deliverables and artifacts from this project included…


  • - Research Plan
  • - High Fidelity Prototype
  • - Recorded Interviews
  • - Research Synthesis Mural Board
  • - Research Synthesis Powerpoint Deck
  • - 5 minute highlight reel from the interviews
  • - Assumption Map
  • - JIRA cards


Quotes from the Team

“I’d just like to state that this was fantastic and you guys did a fantastic job"

Account Management Manager



“Really really cool hearing directly from the customers and hearing the excitement in their voice."

Marketing Director



"From my tenure on the … team, this is probably the BEST information I’ve seen come through."

Operations Manager