Ever tried to tackle a problem and didn’t know where to start or what the best-fit solution would be?
Well, user experience designers face this problem all the time during the ideation phase of the design-thinking process, when trying to figure out how to best tend to the needs of their users.
Problems can be defined a hundred times, but until designers can figure out specific user needs and the reasoning behind them, these will stay stagnant problems.
So, instead of simply defining the problem, designers turn to Point of View (POV) statements, a way of looking at a problem like no way before.
What exactly is this you may ask? Well, I’ll answer that pressing question below.
What is a POV Statement?
“A Point of View (POV) statement is a meaningful and actionable problem statement, which will allow you to ideate in a goal-oriented manner. Your POV captures your design vision by defining the RIGHT challenge to address in the ideation sessions. A POV involves reframing a design challenge into an actionable problem statement.”
(Dam & Siang, 2020)
According to this definition by Dam and Siang, we can take away that POV statements are what allow the free flow of ideas in the design-thinking process, enabling us to tackle specific challenges at their roots.
In regard to the field of user experience, this is really important because different types of users have different ranges of needs and motivations, and if we want our app, company, or organization to be successful, we must start here.
I did exactly this as I investigated apps Uber, Uber Eats, and Waze and looked at positive, negative, and suggestive reviews that revealed information allowing me to draw solution-driven POV statements using the following model:
[User . . . (descriptive)] needs [need . . . (verb)] because [insight. . . (compelling)].
Let’s look into this a little further in real time…
Uber
Uber is a popular app among the public with a 4.9 rating. It has been on the market for more than four years and continues to be placed as #1 on the iPhone Travel App Chart.
Although it is so popular, no app is without flaws, which is why I looked further into Uber’s reviews, both positive, negative, and suggestive.
Through this, I found that some customers viewed Uber as an app as convenient, kind, and compassionate, while others viewed it as suspicious, unsupportive, and unreliable. The only way to get to the bottom of this vast discrepancy was to see what users found to be most frustrating and problematic: late trip information, language barriers, and last-minute cancellations.
Based on these, I used the POV statement model to craft what I thought would lead to thoughtful solutions.
- Customers in a rush need to be able to rely on a driver to pick them up and take them to their intended destination because if not, the purpose of the app is compromised and frustration occurs.
- Customers looking for a convenient ride need to know that they aren’t going to randomly be charged a fee due to their driver’s actions because customers will then just turn to other apps that they trust like Lyft.
These statements are helpful in the long-term because they lay a clear pathway to what the app needs to fix in order to retain and satisfy its customers: improved reliability and trust.
Uber Eats
I conducted very similar research for Uber Eats, a 4.8 star, more than 12-year-old app, ranking #7 on the iPhone Food & Drink Chart, by going through the same process.
Through this, I found that many viewed the app as convenient, life-saving, and caring, yet many also thought it to be frustrating, untrustworthy, and confusing. The common themes of conflict included: poor customer service, stingy refunds, and increased fees.
Based on these, I came up with the following POV statements:
- Hungry customers who have been wronged by the app need to have 24/7 available support from customer service because they want to feel like they are being heard and that their problems are being taken seriously.
- Frequent customers looking for a convenient meal need to have lower or discounted prices because over time these charges add up and get to be too expensive and no longer feasible for the customer.
These revealed to me that in order to improve the app, efforts needed to be concentrated in the areas of customer service and pricing in order to truly address the concerns users were voicing.
Waze
The same went for Waze, a 4.8-star navigation app, that has existed for more than four years and ranks at #2 on the iPhone Navigation App Chart.
While conducting the process, I found that many viewed the app as safe, informative, and accommodating, while others thought it was unreliable, inconvenient, and misleading. This range of perspectives was rooted in the app’s technological glitches, bugs, and reporting process.
With these in mind, the following POV statements were formed:
- Customers who require directions to go somewhere need Waze to stay online and not crash because this is their lifeline in getting to their destination and not having the app operable becomes more stressful than helpful.
- Customers stuck in traffic or looking at anticipated traffic need constant traffic pattern updates made because this influences the time it takes to get to their destination and informs them if they will be on time or late.
These tended to the customers’ core struggles with the app’s availability and traffic pattern updates.
To go more in-depth on this process and my findings for the three applications, view my presentation below.
A Little Bird Told Me 