UX Research Interviews
Project Overview
Summary
I led a series of structured user interviews with customers of Shift4’s Lighthouse Business Manager (LBM) to uncover real user needs and pain points before any design work began. Through discovery calls, baseline research, and recorded interview sessions, I synthesized qualitative insights into a concise slide deck that revealed user frustrations and shaped the direction for future UX efforts. This research provided a critical foundation for the LBM Next redesign by aligning the team around genuine user feedback rather than assumptions.
Context:
Shift4 owns a restaurant management system called Lighthouse Business Manager (LBM), part of the Harbor Touch point-of-sale system (as seen on Bar Rescue). I was part of the LBM team, tasked with updating the platform. Before making any design decisions, I prioritized gathering user feedback to ensure our updates addressed real customer needs.
Approach:
I began by receiving training on the LBM platform and conducting a UX assessment. I also spoke with product owners and the customer support team, who interact with customers daily. These conversations gave me a baseline understanding and informed the design of the interview script.
To recruit participants, I collaborated with Drew, a support expert with strong customer relationships. Drew provided a list of contacts, and I sent standardized emails to schedule interviews. He joined the first few minutes of each session to introduce me and put customers at ease. Interviews were conducted via Zoom (mid-pandemic, 2021), with an analytics expert also present to discuss potential LBM dashboard improvements.
Execution:
Although I had a script prepared, customers often came highly prepared with specific issues, requiring me to pivot and adapt in real time. All interviews were recorded, and notes were shared with the team.
Synthesizing the feedback was challenging — customers were often frustrated with LBM, highlighting significant pain points. I distilled the insights into an 11-page slide deck, which was circulated internally.
Outcome:
The insights gained from these interviews directly informed a later redesign and re-architecture of LBM, ensuring the platform updates were grounded in real user needs rather than assumptions.
These user interviews served as the foundation for LBM Next, guiding the redesign and re-architecture of the platform. Insights from real customers informed key design decisions, ensuring that workflows, dashboards, and feature updates addressed actual pain points rather than assumptions. This research-driven approach helped LBM Next deliver a more usable, efficient, and actionable experience for operators.
Client
Services
- Customer Research