Don't forget the non-digital experience
Ensure people who use the digital service can also use the other available channels if needed, without repetition or confusion.
- Understand why users rely on non-digital channels and their digital limitations.
- Build to make transition to a non-digital channel easy.
- Plan to shift non-digital users to the digital channel.
People often start using a service and have to come back to it later, or switch to a non-digital channel to complete the transaction. We need to make sure users transitions between non-digital and digital channels (when they need to happen) are as smooth as possible.
During Discovery stage and Alpha stage you should have developed a good understanding of where users will go for the service you are building. You should understand what proportion of users rely on non-digital channels, wholly or in part, and have a plan for how you will address this in your build.
During Alpha you should show you understand:
- all the touch points in users journeys, their contexts of use, and the digital limitations affecting different groups of users
- existing channels and how they interact with the service and with each other
- the channels required to support all groups of users of the service, and where a user may need to change channels
- if there are any repeat transactions by users over different channels
- the interactions occurring between the channels that deliver and capture user transactions.
During the Beta stage you will apply the knowledge gained in Alpha to design a service that works with the other channels, as appropriate.
By the end of Beta and launch, you should:
- detail the channels required to support all groups of users of the service
- understand the non-digital service channels and have a plan to move users to the digital channel where appropriate
- have developed and tested the service so that a user can change channels without repeating themselves